Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} The Best of the The 101 Essential Blues Albums by Robert Santelli The Best of the Blues: The 101 Essential Blues Albums by Robert Santelli. Our philosophy is to present the artists that belong at the core of any good blues collection. We've decided (for reasons of space and sanity) to limit the choices to five artists in each of six categories: , classic country blues, female artists, harmonicas, , and vocalists, along with ten general "gotta-haves." Because the guitar is such a dominant instrument in the blues, we've opened that category up to include a dozen players. (Obviously, not everyone fits neatly into one of these categories, so if you don't find your favorites in the category you expect, you may find them somewhere else.) While we've tried (with some exceptions) to single out one or two representative discs for each artist, we urge you to be adventurous and try their other recordings. Narrowing this list down to a workable number was quite a task, and we've decided (for now, at least) to pass over such first-rate modern blues revivalists as Mike Bloomfield, Paul Butterfield, Johnny Winter, Bonnie Raitt, John Mayall, Robert Cray, Eric Clapton, Roy Buchanan, etc., in favor of the musicians who influenced them. Here are the categories. Select one to access that page of reviews. You'll also want to check out ROOSTER MUSIC: THE FIRST 2000 YEARS , 111 of the Rooster's core songs in blues, R&B, lost soul and gospel. These appeared in the Rooster Pickin's colums in issues #40-45. A couple quick notes: Several readers have pointed out to us that Gatemouth Brown's The Original Peacock Recordings is indeed available on CD from Rounder Records. Also, since this list was compliled, MCA released a B.B. King CD How Blue Can You Get? Classic Live Performances, 1964 to 1994 that provides one of the best recorded blues listening experiences we've had in a mighty long time. Had it been available then, it would have easily been one of our recommendations. Once you've absorbed all these and feel you're ready for some postgraduate work, pick up a copy of The All Music Guide to the Blues (Miller Freeman Books, San Francisco) for more than 2600 recommendations from other writers. Better keep a tight leash on your credit card, though. It's a big blue world out there. The Best of the Blues: The 101 Essential Blues Albums by Robert Santelli. Baraka, Amiri. Blues People: Negro Music in White America . New York: William Morrow, 1963. Barlow, William. Looking Up at Down: The Emergence of Blues Culture . Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1989. Brooks, Lonnie, Cub Koda, and Wayne Baker. Blues for Dummies . Foster City, CA: John Wiley & Sons, 1998. Charters, Samuel Barclay. The Blues Makers . New York: Da Capo Press, 1991. Charters, Samuel Barclay. The Country Blues . New York: Da Capo Press, 1975. Charters, Samuel Barclay. The Roots of the Blues: An African Search . New York: Da Capo Press, 1991. Cohn, Lawrence, ed. Nothing But the Blues: The Music and Musicians . New York: Abbeville, 1993. Edwards, David Honeyboy. The World Don't Owe Me Nothing: The Life and Times of Delta Bluesman Honeyboy Edwards . Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 1997. Evans, David. Big Road Blues: Tradition and Creativity in Folk Blues . Berkeley: University of California Press, 1982. Ferris, William R. Blues from the Delta . Garden City, N.Y.: Anchor Press/Doubleday, 1978. Garon, Paul. Blues and the Poetic Spirit . San Francisco: City Lights, 1996. Guralnick, Peter. Feel Like Going Home: Portraits in Blues and Rock 'n' Roll . Boston: Back Bay Books, 1999. Keil, Charles. Urban Blues . Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1966. Lemann, Nicholas. The Promised Land: The Great Black Migration and How It Changed America . New York: Vintage Books, 1992. Lomax, Alan. The Land Where the Blues Began . New York: Pantheon, 1993. Murray, Albert. Stomping the Blues . New York: McGraw Hill, 1976. Obrecht, Jas. Blues Guitar: The Men Who Made the Music . San Francisco, CA: GPI Books, 1990. O'Neal, Jim, and Amy Van Singel. The Voice of the Blues: Classic Interviews from Living Blues Magazine . New York: Routledge, 2001. Palmer, Robert. Deep Blues . New York: Penguin, 1981. Rowe, Mike. Chicago Blues: The City and the Music . New York: DaCapo, 1975. Santelli, Robert. The Best of the Blues: 101 Essential Albums . New York: Penguin, 1997. Santelli, Robert. The Big Book of Blues: A Biographical Encyclopedia . New York: Penguin, 2001. Tipaldi, Art. Children of the Blues: 49 Musicians Shaping a New Blues Tradition . San Francisco, CA: Backbeat Books, 2002. Titon, Jeff Todd. Downhome Blues Lyrics: An Anthology from the Post-World War II Era . Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1990 [1981]. Tracy, Steven C. Write Me a Few of Your Lines: A Blues Reader . Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1999. Wyman, Bill. Bill Wyman's Blues Odyssey: A Journey to Music's Heart and Soul . New York: DK Publishing, 2001. The Best Blues-Rock Albums Of The 1960s. Little did the bluesmen of the 1940s and '50s realize that the records they were making would be heard as far as halfway across the world, inspiring a generation of teenage musicians in England, and across Europe as well as the U.S. Beginning in the early 1960s, music from artists like , Big Bill Broonzy, Sonny Boy Williamson, John Lee Hooker, Howlin' Wolf, and others could be found in the record collections of the young soul rebels who would invent the sub-genre of rock 'n' roll that would become known as blues-rock. These are the albums that have helped define the blues-rock sound during the 1960s. Big Brother and the Holding Company: 'Cheap Thrills' (1968) The sophomore album from this San Francisco band featuring the blustery vocals of Janis Joplin, a Texas-born tornado with blues in her blood who delivered a performance as emotionally powerful as anything you'd hear during the decade. Led by the hit single "Piece of My Heart" and including a powerful cover of Big Mama Thornton's "Ball and Chain, Cheap Thrills would introduce the world to the charms of Janis. Big Brother was a mediocre band at best and would struggle when Joplin left shortly after the release of ​ Cheap Thrills to pursue a solo career. Canned Heat: 'Boogie With Canned Heat' (1968) Inspired by the boogie beat of John Lee Hooker's recordings of the 1940s and '50s, Canned Heat's sophomore album defined the band's trademark boogie-rock sound with a set of mostly original material. Yielding a Top Ten hit in "On The Road Again," Boogie With Canned Heat also featured the Albert King-styled rocker "Amphetamine Annie" and the country blues tune "Whiskey Headed Woman," based on a song by Delta bluesman Tommy McClennan. Canned Heat would have other hits, and continued to slog their way through the festival circuit well into the 2000s. Cream: 'Disraeli Gears' (1967) Working with producer Felix Pappalardi, later of Mountain, Cream's second album not only defined the power trio aesthetic, but it also took blues into an entirely different realm altogether. Featuring Eric Clapton's blistering fretwork and the explosive, heavy rhythms of bassist Jack Bruce and drummer Ginger Baker, songs like "Strange Brew," "Sunshine Of Your Love," and "Tales of Brave Ulysses" mixed blues and psychedelic rock to devastating effect. Disraeli Gears would help launch the late-1960s blues-rock explosion, resulting in bands like Rory Gallagher's Taste, Gary Moore's Skid Row, and Leslie West's Mountain, among many others. Fleetwood Mac: 'Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac' (1968) Blue Horizon Records. When Bluesbreakers alumni Peter Green left John Mayall's employ, he joined bandmates, John McVie and Mick Fleetwood, along with guitarist Jeremy Spencer, to form Fleetwood Mac (also known, early on, as Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac). The British band's self-titled debut album would become an unlikely hit in the U.K., it's inspired mix of blues covers of songs from Elmore James "Shake Your Moneymaker"), Robert Johnson "Hellhound On My Trail"), and Howlin' Wolf ("No Place To Go") balanced by Green's maturing songwriting and considerable six-string skills. Jeff Beck Band: 'Truth' (1968) Less than a year after his departure from British blues-rock legends the Yardbirds, guitarist Jeff Beck formed the Jeff Beck Band with vocalist Rod Stewart and bassist Ron Wood, later joined by drummer Mick Waller. The four young men recorded this explosive debut album, Truth mixing the amplified blues of artists like Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf with hard-rocking guitar and heavy, bombastic rhythms. Performances like the old Yardbirds gem "Shapes of Things," and 's "You Shook Me" and "I Ain't Superstitious" would drive Truth to best-seller status in the U.S. and set the template for much of the blues-rock (and heavy metal) to follow. Jimi Hendrix Experience: 'Are Your Experienced?' (1967) The stunning debut by the Jimi Hendrix Experience blew so many minds because nobody had ever heard anything quite like it. The album's soulful vocals; dazzling guitar pyrotechnics; solid, heavy rhythms; and brilliant original songs like "Foxy Lady," "Purple Haze," "Hey Joe," and "Fire" blended blues, jazz, soul, and psychedelic rock unlike anybody before or since. Although British and American releases included different songs – a situation since corrected by CD reissues of Are You Experienced? – one thing was certain on both sides of the pond. Jimi Hendrix was an artist of exceptional vision and ability. John Mayall's Bluesbreakers: 'Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton' (1966) One of, if not the most influential blues-rock album in the genre, Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton made a star of guitarist Clapton and cemented John Mayall's reputation as one of the forefathers of the British blues scene. With a smattering of Mayall's original songs and rockin' covers of music from Willie Dixon ("All Your Love"), Freddie King ("Hideaway"), and Moses Allison ("Parchman Farm"), Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton brought the blues to a Beatles-crazed England and opened the floodgates to a tidal wave of blues-rock bands. Johnny Winter: 'Johnny Winter' (1969) By 1969, blues-rock music was already giving up ground to the popularity of psychedelic and hard rock in England, setting the stage for the proto- metal of bands like Black Sabbath and Deep Purple. In the states, however, interest in the blues was rekindled by the fiery fretwork found on Texas guitarist Johnny Winter's self-titled debut album. Leading a classic power-trio line-up, Winter offered up blustery houserockin' blue covers like Sonny Boy Williamson's "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl" alongside smooth blues like B.B. King's "Be Careful With A Fool." Original material like "Leland Mississippi Blues" and "I'm Yours And I'm Hers" offered a perfect showcase for Winter's roaring guitar. Led Zeppelin: 'Led Zeppelin' (1969) Originally known as the "New Yardbirds," Led Zeppelin took the blueprint written by Cream and pushed it further towards the hard rock end of the spectrum. First, however, Jimmy Page's blues roots would be displayed on the band's self-titled debut, which reinterpreted the blues in a heavy metal vein with songs like "Dazed and Confused" and "Good Times Bad Times," as well as a pair of Willie Dixon songs, "You Shook Me" and "I Can't Quit You Baby." Zeppelin's plundering of the blues tradition, fueled by Page's ripping fretwork, Robert Plant's bluesy wail, and the dynamic rhythm section of bassist John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham, would make them the biggest band in the world during the early 1970s. Paul Butterfield Blues Band: 'Paul Butterfield Blues Band' (1965) The self-titled debut effort from Paul Butterfield Blues Band would turn the blues world in America on its head, much as Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton would a year later in England. A multi-racial band comprised of Chicago blues veterans, Paul Butterfield's gruff-n-tumble vocals and raging harp would be complimented by guitarists Mike Bloomfield and Elvin Bishop, and supported by a stellar rhythm section in bassist Jerome Arnold and drummer Sam Lay, both from Howlin' Wolf's band. The album's mix of original material, including friend-of-the-band Nick Gravenites' "Born In Chicago" and the collaborative "Thank You Mr. Poobah" sit comfortably alongside covers of songs from Willie Dixon, Little Walter, Elmore James, and Muddy Waters. Genre: This list started as a post on the DMDB Facebook page (Top 10 Blues and Blues/Rock Albums) on 2/23/2010. It has been expanded and refocused on just blues albums, although some albums still making the cut are arguably more in the blues/rock genre (Rolling Stones, ZZ Top, Stevie Ray Vaughan). The list was created, as are most DMDB lists, by aggregating multiple best-of lists (see sources at bottom of page), both those focused specifically on the blues and those on all albums regardless of genre, alongside sales, chart data, and album ratings. 11. Eric Clapton: From the Cradle (1994) 12. Albert King Born Under a Bad Sign (1967) 13. Junior Wells Hoodoo Man Blues (1965) 14. Eric Clapton & B.B. King Riding with the King (2000) 15. Robert Cray Strong Persuader (1986) 16. Muddy Waters Best of/His Best 1947-55 (compilations: 1947-55, released 1958 and 1997) 17. Charlie Patton Founder of the Delta Blues (compilation: 1929-34, released 1969) 18. Paul Butterfield Blues Band Paul Butterfield Blues Band (1965) 19. Willie Dixon/various artists The Chess Box (compilation: 1951-69, released 1988) 20. Magic Sam West Side Soul (1967) 21. Albert Collins Ice Pickin’ (1978) 22. Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble In Step (1989) 23. Eric Clapton Me and Mr. Johnson (covers: 2004) 24. Muddy Waters Hard Again (1977) 25. Elmore James The Sky Is Crying – The History of (compilation: 1951-63, released 1993) 26. Howlin’ Wolf The Chess Box (compilation: 1951-73, released 1991) 27. Rory Gallagher Irish Tour ’74 (live: 1974) 28. Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble Couldn’t Stand the Weather (1984) 29. Skip James The Complete Early Recordings (compilation: 1930, released 1994) 30. B.B. King Live in Cook County Jail (live: 1970, released 1971) 31. Muddy Waters Folksinger (1964) 32. Paul Butterfield Blues Band East West (1966) 33. Big Joe Turner Boss of the Blues (1956) 34. Muddy Waters The Real Folk Blues (compilation: 1947-64, released 1966) 35. Blind Willie Johnson Praise God I’m Satisfied (compilation: 1927-30, released 1977) 36. B.B. King Singin’ the Blues (1956) 37. John Lee Hooker The Ultimate Collection (compilation: 1948-90, released 1991) 38. Albert King Live Wire/Blues Power (1968) 39. Ry Cooder Paradise and Lunch (1974) 40. Little Walter His Best – Chess 50th Anniversary Collection (compilation: 1952-60, released 1997) 41. Robert Cray Bad Influence (1983) 42. Blind Lemon Jefferson King of the Country Blues (compilation: 1926-29, released 1990) 43. Johnny Winter The Progressive Blues Experiment (1968) 44. Mississippi Fred McDowell I Do Not Play No Rock and Roll (1969) 45. Sonny Boy Williamson II Down and Out Blues (1959) 46. Gary Moore Still Got the Blues (1990) 47. T-Bone Walker T-Bone Blues (1959) 48. Henry Thomas Texas Worried Blues – Complete Recorded Works (compilation: 1927-29, released 1975) 49. Is the Blues (1960) 50. The Blues Brothers The Blues Brothers (soundtrack, 1980) * These were initially released as two separate albums, but are now typically packaged together. The business of the blues isn’t what it once was. Robert Cray, the blues singer, guitarist and songwriter has been part of the nation’s soundtrack for 40 years. He’s just released a new album, “4 nights of 40 years live.” It looks back on his career. But how viable is the blues genre in 2015? The business of the blues isn’t what it once was. “You can hear and see the progression that’s taken place over the years,” said Cray, a five-time Grammy winner. Cray said it’s tough to find blues on the radio these days, and the internet has changed things for all types of music. “The people today who listen to the blues are the same type of people who search out that kind of music, and then realize how much they enjoy it,” Cray said. Latest Stories on Marketplace. The numbers show the decline in the blues audience. In 2012, according to Nielsen and Billboard’s music industry report, 3 million digital blues tracks were sold, compared to 323 million rock digital tracks. Nielsen’s 2014 year-end music report doesn’t even mention the blues, because it’s such a small genre. “Blues right now has some serious challenges,” said Robert Santelli, executive director of the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles. He’s a blues historian and the author of “The Best of the Blues: The 101 Essential Blues Albums” and “The Big Book of Blues: A Biographical Encyclopedia.” The way people consume music now is a challenge for blues artists, because the people who get their music through streaming services, for example, don’t develop a commitment and relationship with the genre, Santelli said. “It’s in danger of becoming a historic music form,” he said. Cray said he’s fortunate that he’s been established for some time now, and he he has a lot of different audiences that make touring possible. But, Cray added: “ It’s not the same as it was in the ’80s.” Both Cray and Santelli think the blues will survive into the future. Cray believes upcoming artists will be inspired by the past, and Santelli hopes some young people will get the music and support it.