This is a compilation of blues from the early 1920's to the mid 1950's. Music underwent vast changes in these decades. And Shout! Records has caught it all in this neatly packaged 2-CD set complete with a booklet outlining those changes in the years between the Roarin '20's and post war Jim Crow America.The recordings are arranged in the order in which they were released. This lends a nice flow to the evolution of the blues sound. You can listen to each artist as they build upon one another in an ever expanding sound that has evolved into the blues of today.
Just a quick look at this playlist will give you an idea as to the scope of music this album encompasses. Beginning with some very early Mamie Smith and Blind Lemon Jefferson, the 2 CD's take you through the entire history of the blues genre. Pinetop Perkins is represented well with his wonderful version of "How Long" and Big Joe Turner ushers in real Rock and Roll with his "Shake, Rattle and Roll", which really did shake and rattle the world of music when it was released.
The second disc begins with Muddy Waters doing "Hoochie Cootchie Man" and Little Walter doing "Rollin' and Tumblin'." It's interesting to note that Eric Clapton and Cream had mega hits with their version of these 2 recordings. The blues, it would seem, knows no lines of demarcation where race and generation are concerned. The CD finishes out with Big Bill Broonzy and Mississippi John Hurt (someday I'm going to do a post just on him) and actually closes with Big Mama Thorton's "Hound Dog", which made Elvis Presley a star. And 15 years later Janis Joplin would transform Ms. Thorton's "Ball and Chain" into her own raucous pyschedelic version.
Like I said, the blues neither knows, nor respects, any boundaries. It is a link we all share. And that's why each generation keeps on re-doing these basic standards. They are as relevant today as they were when first released. BB King said it best -"Everyday I Have the Blues."
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