Customer Reviews

Ride On: The Chess Masters 3 - 1960-1961

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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.