Ride On: The Chess Masters 3 - 1960-1961

Bo Diddley | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 21, 2009)
• Original Release Date: 2009
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Hip-O Select
• ASIN: B002CPD5KI
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #96,069 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

By the time of these recordings, Bo Diddley was a recording star with a string of hits and classic tracks and was living in Washington, D.C. with a fairly basic recording studio in the basement of his Rhode Island Avenue home. There, he self-produced demos, finished recordings and sent them to Chess Records in Chicago. This was, at the time, simply revolutionary; recording artists didn't own their own studios and produce their own recordings. Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, and James Brown were soon to change that, but these recordings and Bo Diddley were there first.

All 54 tracks on these two CDs were recorded over a 13 month period in Bo's basement studio and delivered to Chess. Many went on to be the crux of such classic Diddley LPs as In The Spotlight, Bo Diddley Is A Gunslinger, and Bo Diddley Is A Lover, and included such key Bo tracks as "Ride On Josephine," "Live My Life," and the title track to Gunslinger. 17 others are previously unreleased, while many others are simply rare.

Some of the recordings are demo raw, while others as polished as any Bo Diddley track. The music is also as lively and as diverse as you'd expect from Bo: rockers, novelties, instrumentals, blues, doo wop ballads et al. His band at the time is present more often than not: Jerome Green on maracas; Peggy Jones on guitar; Clifton James on drums; with a rotating piano seat including Otis Spann, Lafayette Leake and more.

Like the previous two Hip-O Select collections of Bo Diddley's historic Chess recordings, this double CD comes with great period photos, in-depth liner notes and track-by-track research courtesy of George R. White, Bo's biographer and discographer.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Bo: Volume Three, August 2, 2009

By 

William Lynd "lynd8" (Poestenkill, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ride On: The Chess Masters 3 - 1960-1961 (Audio CD)

This is the third volume of Hip-O-Select's (hopefully) complete review of Bo's amazing and pioneering output from the late 50's & 60's (and maybe the 70's?). The first set was released in 2007 and is called "Bo Diddley - "I'm A Man / The Chess Masters, 1955-1958". That first volume covered every recorded track from 1955-1958. The Second Volume followed in 2008 and covered 1959 into early 1960. Both in my opinion are 5 star releases and just incredibly enjoyable to listen to.

This third volume continues the thorough review and picks up with the 1960 tracks not included in Volume 2 and continues into 1961.

The set begins begins with some fun studio chatter and launches into an unreleased track - "My White Horse". This is a good track with classic Bo sound and is a great harbinger, as this set - even more than the first two, includes many unreleased songs and unreleased versions of songs you know. Classics like "Craw-Dad", "Ride On Josephine", "No More Lovin'", "Somewhere", and the fun "Bo's Vacation" round out this generous 54 track set.

Bo's album from 1960 entitled "Bo Diddley is a Gunslinger" is thoroughly represented on this set with the finished tracks in nicely remastered sound and one or two early versions of the same tracks. 1961's "Bo Diddley Is a Lover" is also heavily represented and the tracks sound much better than any previous release and this particular CD has been a bit hard to find in the past 10 years or so, so it's great to have these songs readily available again.

There are a few tracks are on here for the hardcore fans only, but this set in general is probably for the hardcore fans. The tracks I'm referring to are many of the home demos that were done at Bo's home in D.C.

The liner notes are thorough and informative and the packaging is decent, but could be better - I'm not a big fan of digipak - the durability sure does not equal a jewel case. You may want to put the discs in hard case for travel in a car or backpack.

As with the earlier releases in this series, completeness was job#1 by the prducers, so sometimes you endure two or three versions of the same song. Sometimes it's fun to hear the growth of a song, but other times can be a bit boring hearing the same song repeatedly - sometimes for only a small change. This is a small complaint however and I'd rather have all the versions than not and it's easily rectified with a little programming of your CD player or iPod. Overall - a great set and I'm looking forward to the next volumes. The quality of the music is a notch below the first two columes, hence the 4 star rating versus 5, but still a "must-have" for any serious Bo Diddley fan.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars yep, a man., February 25, 2011

By 

M. SMITH "tiny" (Music Heaven) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Ride On: The Chess Masters 3 - 1960-1961 (Audio CD)

For those who can't get enough of the now famous beat. There's plenty here and maybe for those who want to draw the direct link from some of Bo's guitar duels w/ fellow gunslinger Peggy Jones (see "Mumblin' Guitar" from v.2 "Roadrunner..." comp. and you'll swear you were listening to the Velvet Underground live in 69). What's surprising here is the number of good pop songs (not to mention the straight blues songs: "Look at My Baby"), including doo wop--Bo could sing and was correct in voicing his opinion that he never received his due. I count 21 great tracks in this the first volume, "I'm a Man: The Chess Masters....However, I count 20 great cuts from the third volume, "Ride On: The Chess Masters..., and a mere 13 from the second volume, "Roadrunner: The Chess Masters....The percussive, rhythmic influence are astounding. Here is a list of tunes not to miss from the 3 volumes(and note, I did not include the more obvious hits): Spanish Guitar, Bring It to Jerome, Hush Your Mouth, I Love You So, Crackin' Up, Scuttle Bug, Gun Slinger, Hey, Hey (What Are You Going To Do?), All Together, Mess Around, Doodlin', Is A Lover, Congo, Mama Mia, Mumblin' Guitar, I Love You So, Gonna Tell It Like It Is, Cadillac, Limbo, Let Me In, Little Girl, You Don't Love Me (You Don't Care), She's Fine, She's Mine, I'm Looking for a Woman, I'm Bad, Say Boss Man, Bo's Guitar, Willie and Lillie, Live My Life, Walkin' And Talkin', Mule Train, Say You Will, Somewhere , Huckleberry Bush, Shank, Love Is A Secret, Come On Baby, Nursery Rhyme, The Story Of Bo Diddley, Spend My Life With You, Willie Fell In Love, Look At My Baby, I Love You So, Crackin' Up, Willie Fell In Love, Look At My Baby
*Most of these you can dance to.