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Recomended Blues Albums

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(@phillyblues)
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Joined: 16 years ago
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Topic starter  

Not sure if this is the proper place for this question, but I'm just starting to get into the blues and I'm looking for suggestions on some good albums to add to the collection.


   
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(@scrybe)
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Joined: 16 years ago
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Eric Clapton with John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers - nicknamed the Beano album, since EC is reading that comis on the cover. Loads of 'standards' on it and a great album generally.

Stevie Ray Vaughan - I'm sure people will offer other suggestions, but I'd go with the Slow Blues album or a live disc as I think the 80's production detracts from his sound. There's a great Live DVD of him too.

Robert Johnson - he only did like 29 tunes, so there's a bunch of compilations about. just go for one with the highest number of tracks on it.

Hendrix - Blues (great playing)

Howlin Wolf - again, a 'best of' will do. I'd make sure it has I Aint Superstitious and Killing Floor on it. And, um, Little Red Rooster, too (I think, tho' that might be a Muddy Water's tune now that I think about it).

Muddy Waters - again, see 'best of.' I think I have a Complete Chess Recordings triple-disc which is smokin. Again, look for something with his 'standards' on, like Hoochie Coochie Man.

Sonny Boy Williams - if you can get something with the song "Help Me' on it I'd suggest it - the harp riff can be mimicked (sp?) v. well by judiciously using a wah pedal.

Buddy Guy - key songs include Damn Right I Got The Blues, Every Girl I See.....He also did a kicking live album with Junior Wells back in the 70s or so. I've got it downstairs somewhere so I'll post the title tomorrow.

FreddieKing - I only have a best of of his stuff, but he's totally kickin' and inspired Clapton, Peter Green and hundreds others. He's got some great instrumentals (e.g. Hideaway)

Other artists worth checking out include.....B.B. King, John Lee Hooker, Jonny Lang (if you like really blusey vocals), Albert Collins, Mike Bloomfield, the Allman Brothers (there's an album they did from 1969 which is probably their best cut), T-Bone Walker (more sophisticated, jazzy blues, using 9th chords more than dominant 7ths), Albert King, Little Walter (another harp player, but some good tunes, like My Babe, although Luther Allison does a great guitar-heavy rendition of this on Luther Allison Live in Paris). And a whole bunch of other people I'll kick myself for not mentioning once I've hit the send button, lol.

Oh, if you get some Howlin' Wolf, try to make sure it has Hubert Sumlin on guitar - he was Wolf's sideman for a long time and worked on many of Wolf's key songs. I'm pretty sure he did a solo album back in 2002 or thereabouts.

Most of those guys were electric players. If you want country/acoustic blues, try these - Son House, Charley Patton, Bukka White, Reverend Gary Davis, Lightning Hopkins, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGee (last one is both them artists ST and BM together). And Leadbelly, can't forget him, lol. Odetta is kewl also. I'd also peep Dirt Floor by Chris Whitley - beautiful resonator sounds.

the reason I've not mentioned many album titles is because a lot of this stuff got recorded as singles not albums, so the same recordings turn up on loads of different 'albums' or compilations. I'm not sure if the stuff I've got hold of is available where you're at, so I'd suggest either trawling through Tower Records or similar, or picking up a blues music mag from your area and browsing that for suggestions.

Oh, and Mick Taylor of the Stones did a solo album in...........2001, I believe. its caled A Stone's Throw. If you can get that ther's some blody brilliant guitar playing and tone on it and you'll pick up a lot from it.

And for more recent stuff - try googling Ruf Records - I think they're a fairly well established blues label. And Buddy Whittington (John Mayalls long standing guitarist) has just cut a solo album, so check his stuff on myspace.

hope this helps, lol

Ra Er Ga.

Ninjazz have SuperChops.

http://www.blipfoto.com/Scrybe


   
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(@kent_eh)
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Joined: 18 years ago
Posts: 1882
 

It's not albums specifically, but...

You could listen to CBC's Saturday Night Blues on the web on (duh) Saturday nights between 10 and midnight (pick any north American time zone) on the web or on a real radio if you happen to be relatively close to Canada.
And if you tune in a couple hours earlier, you'll hear a show that Randy Bachman does, which often features blues (but not exclusively)

Another site that I like is Year of the Blues
There is a list which they call 52 great recordings that has fairly in-depth reviews of each.
And they have 13 hours of streaming audio, from a radio series that was aired on Public Radio International back in 2003. Hosted by Keb Mo (another player you might want to find some recordings of).

Another that I just remembered.
A few years ago Rhino Records put out a compilation series called the Blues Masters Series. They seem to be out of print, but if you can find them used, there's a lot of good music.
I'm listening to vol.6 (Blues Originals) as I type this.

I wrapped a newspaper ’round my head
So I looked like I was deep


   
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(@phillyblues)
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Joined: 16 years ago
Posts: 127
Topic starter  

Thanks guys, looks like I'll be hitting the iTunes store tonight.

Not sure if you all of had a chance to see the Clapton 2007 Crossroads Guitar Festival DVD (justed picked it up a couple of days ago) but it's just awesome. As a side note, I've never been a particularly big country fan, but I was really impressed with the bands from that genre that were part of the show.


   
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(@dogbite)
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Joined: 19 years ago
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one album you absolutely must have is
HoodooMan Blues. with Junior Wells and Buddy Guy. it is old. I have worn out one vinyl and two CDs.

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=644552
http://www.soundclick.com/couleerockinvaders


   
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(@elderberry)
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Joined: 16 years ago
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Stevie Ray Vaughan - I'm sure people will offer other suggestions, but I'd go with the Slow Blues album or a live disc as I think the 80's production detracts from his sound. There's a great Live DVD of him too.

Indeed. I remember hearing the studio version of "Crossfire" with the big gate on the drums and all squeaky clean... it was quite disappointing after hearing the gritty, beautiful live versions.

Oh, and this may be a stretch of a "blues" suggestion, but I'm a big fan of The White Stripes, especially their first four albums. Get Behind Me Satan has far too much piano and stuff. When he rips into his old pawnshop axes with a slide and plenty o' reverb, it's a regular blues bonanza.

King Harvest has surely come.


   
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(@jamminejohn)
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Anything by Johnny Winter {not winter of '88}.
Any Albert Collins.

JJ


   
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(@the-dali)
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Joined: 18 years ago
Posts: 1409
 

For a smoother Blues, check out Robert Cray's greatest hits. Smooth.

Great lists guys!

-=- Steve

"If the moon were made of ribs, would you eat it?"


   
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(@scrybe)
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robert cray is kewl - another suggestion for him is the album Strong Persuader

the SRV dvd I mentioned in my earlier post is caled Live At The El Mocambo

the Buddy Guy and Jr Wells album I mentioned is Live at the Checkerboard (from 1979). The album is v. v. funky (as is the Luther Allison Live In Paris album I mentioned). You can also check the acoustic Last Time Around (Live At Legends) - Legends is/was Buddy's club and the record is from 1993 and the last Buddy Guy & Jr Wells performance. (EDITED FOR SCREWUP)

If I didn't mention Elmore James, I really should have done. Again, a best of or anthology will do fine - key tracks include Dust My Broom, and The Sky Is Crying

For jazzier blues, you could go with Robben Ford - Truth, Talk To Your Daughter, and Discovering The Blues would be good places to start. He also did a record with Joe Diorio that is more jazz than it is blues, but is worth a listen if only for the guitar-version of Miles Davis' So What. And if you go to Hank Van Sickle's myspace page there's a track on there called Driftin' Blues which is a live and unreleased cut with Ford doing guitar and vocals with John Mayall's Bluesbreakers (Vna Sickle is Mayall's bassist, hence the track - googling his name and 'myspace' should get you the page url).

I'm still not remembering the name of the Allman Brothers album I mentioned yesterday, but another great album by them is Live At The Filmore East - great Stormy Monday (and if you get T-Bone Walker's original of the song, it makes for a great arrangement compare).

Ra Er Ga.

Ninjazz have SuperChops.

http://www.blipfoto.com/Scrybe


   
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(@cyranodb)
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Joined: 22 years ago
Posts: 178
 

Eric Clapton's Frome the Cradle CD is awesome. Great mix of blues. There's also a compilation CD I got once called Pure Blues. Might be able to find it on Amazon.com that also has a great mix of different blues artists. Of course SRV's Texas Flood is a must have. I suggest getting CDs from the three kings of blues also: BB King, Albert King, and Freddie King. That's some awesome stuff and if you listen you can see how they influenced others. Howling Wolf's stuff is pretty good. Also want to recommend John Lee Hooker. I think that's good for a start :)

"I use heavy strings, tune low, play hard and floor it. Floor it, that's a technical term." - SRV


   
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(@phinnin)
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Joined: 18 years ago
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These guys have all been mentioned in earlier posts but they were all down on the lists. They really should be much higher if you want "reference" blues stuff:

John Lee Hooker
BB King
Albert Collins

Go get some BB King and listen to how he makes brilliant solos with 2 notes.


   
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(@crazyhorse)
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Joined: 17 years ago
Posts: 27
 

All Rory gallagher ' s Albums , and if I had to mention one :

"Irish Tour 74 "


   
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(@scrybe)
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Joined: 16 years ago
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yeah, I should make it clear that I wasn't posting suggestions in any kind of order. the more you get into the blues the more you realise how wide-spread and innovative it is.

and props of the Rory Gallagher nominate - he's kewl. I love him doing As The Crow Flies.

I'd also suggest listening to this - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yGB6d_3n58 masterful use of a wide variety of tones and expression techniques.

Ra Er Ga.

Ninjazz have SuperChops.

http://www.blipfoto.com/Scrybe


   
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(@jakestauble)
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Joined: 17 years ago
Posts: 10
 

Get albert collins: frozen alive. its, in my humble opinion, one of the greatest albums ever. my playing style has changed so much (and for the better) since listening to it.


   
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(@rparker)
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Joined: 20 years ago
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I gotta +1 the Robert Johnson. Nice and raw. It's as if everything else evolved from there.

Roy
"I wonder if a composer ever intentionally composed a piece that was physically impossible to play and stuck it away to be found years later after his death, knowing it would forever drive perfectionist musicians crazy." - George Carlin


   
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