Reviews (7)

Blues masterpiece
Every single one of the 42 tracks is a gem. All of the original liner notes and artwork are reproduced and augmented with additional notes for a total of 47 pages of blues history with lots of great period photography. I have two complaints though. The first is that the CDs are in hard cardboard sleeves which subjects them to possible scratching and difficulty in returning them to the sleeves. The second is that the song credits are not shown in the 3-CD set. If you buy the individual CDs, however, the song credits are shown! Just sloppiness I suppose.

Three in one, or one in three
I bought all three of the albums in this set separately a few years ago, but you can get all three in a set for this ridiculously low price. It would still be a great deal to buy each of the three discs for whatever it was that I paid, probably [cheap], because this is an utterly superb collection of electric blues that you could never find anywhere else. For my money the Otis Rush contribution is the best thing he ever recorded, the Junior Wells version of Help Me is better than the Sonny Boy original, and every single track on all three albums is absolutely choice. One of the strengths of the set is that with three acts on each disc, there is no space whatsoever for inferior or filler material. If you want Chicago electric blues, this set should be your first purchase.

Great music, horrible packaging!
Wow, this is one of the crown jewels as far as the electric blues is concerned!

You can't go wrong with this although for those of you who think the electric blues started with Stevie Ray Vaughan and Gary Moore, then this might be too 'ethnic' and not 'heavy' enough for you.

That would be a sad thought really, since without albums like this, there wouldn't have been people like two mentioned up above, imo.

However the packaging is terrible. The CDs were scratched when I opened it for the first time, prompting a return to the store for an exchange. The second copy was just as scratched leading me to believe that the paper sleeves themselves were the problem. A very poor design.

If this is a big concern, then stick with the older CD reissues in their individual jewel cases. I believe they're still widely available through Vanguard.

If You Want To Know What Real Blues Is........
If you want to know real Blues is, then buy this CD set. From the hard, honest singing of Johnny Shines to the soulful guitar of Otis Rush, to the Sheer Power of James Cotton to the sincere crooning of Junior Wells: Its all here! This album reads as virtual yearbook and testament to 1965 Chicago. If you want to know what the Chicago Blues scene was like in the 60's, then look no further. This stuff is too good die, it will just keep getting better!

Chicago Blues Heaven
Quite simply, blues heaven. This compilation is a whole lot of bang for anybody's buck. Produced on a limited budget back in 1965, the musicians just streamed into the studio and did what they were known to do best. A barebones approach to recording, you won't find much in the way of studio wizardry here, but who cares?

Legend has it that Johnny Shines and his band just walked in, unpacked their instruments and powered into a version of "Dynaflow Blues" that pasted the onlookers in the studio to the wall and that song is captured forever here as that one take. The onlookers themselves happened to be some of the finest blues musicians of the day.

I later met some of the people bearing witness to that memorable day and they were still talking about it. Two decades later, Charles Musselwhite was still impressed enough to name one of his bands the Dynatones, in honor of the "Dynaflow Blues." Johnny Shines's voice is exciting and electric, his guitar playing has an electrified delta sound, and his music is pushed along by back-beat drumming. Johnny Shines and band continued pushing hard in the studio that day, laying down their tracks, I think recorded in the same sequence as they were played. They blistered through an essential hard blues, "If I Get Lucky" and at the end one of them shouts "Roll the tape!" as if that was all just a warm up session for the band. Man!

That's Johnny Shines on two of his six tracks. But elsewhere on different tracks on the disc there's also a young Charles Musselwhite disguised as Memphis Charlie ... Johnny Young, Otis Spann, Otis Rush ... I don't have room here to say all that I want to say, just read the list of names on all the tracks and take a chance on this. I think it's superlative. Chicago/The Blues/Today has always been one of my favorite blues series, and one that will continue to inspire people for as long as it's played. There's a beautiful little book with this collection, full of photographs and stories, some 47 pages. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

An excellent souvenir of the current Chicago blues scene.
If you've had a chance to visit Chicago and the blues clubs, you'll appreciate this cd as a souvenir of the experience. If you haven't, it could be an introduction to the current scene (and even includes a map)! ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Small amount of music, wrong album notes
Any collection of music should have at least 60 minutes of music--this CD only has 38 minutes. The 38 minutes are good(almost all 1960's blues is good), but there are many, many, many better blues collections which have over 60 minutes of equally good music for the same money. Also the album notes are totally wrong for the two Junior Wells selections. The album notes talk at great length about how the two Jr. Wells selections were taken from the great Jr. Wells Album "Hoodoo Man Blues" for which it gives the history, influences, etc. This is totally wrong!! The Jr. Wells selections, Key to the Highway and You Gotta Love Her with a Feeling are not on the "Hoodoo Man Blues" album!!!

Hot Harps
Chicago Blues Masters

This CD is a solid bit of blues history featuring some of Chicago's brightest stars. Right from the get go the legendary Magic Sam tears through 'Sweet Home Chicago,' followed by Bell's 'I'm Ready.' Crudups take on 'Look on Yonder Wall' is one of my favorite versions of this classic. This CD is laden with hot harp work from Carey Bell, Big Walter Horton & Magic Sam. The only draw back to this title is the quality of recording and overall lack of information. I own it and listen to it often! ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Fine sampler
This is one of the best installments in the "Blues Masters" series, showcasing a wide scope of late-40s-to-mid-60s electric blues by some of the best and most renowned artists on the Chicago blues scene.
Not every selection is perfect...they could have done better by Muddy Waters and Junior Wells in particular, and where the heck are Elmore James and John Lee Hooker?

But what is here is mostly great, from Buddy Guy's slow, anguished "First Time I Met The Blues" to J.B. Lenoir's upbeat "Mama Talk To Your Daughter", and Rhino have included excellent songs by Eddie Boyd (the slow blues "Five Long Years"), Howlin' Wolf (the menacing "Smokestack Lightnin'"), Jimmy Reed (the swinging, lethargic boogie of "Bright Lights, Big City"), Sonny Boy Williamson II (the magnificent, harp-driven "Don't Start Me to Talkin'"), Otis Rush (the fiery "All Your Love"), and several others.
"Blues Masters vol. 2" ranks alongside MCA/Chess' "Chess Blues Classics: 1947 To 1956", "Chess Blues Classics: 1957 To 1967", and "Chess Blues Guitar" as the best "various artists"-compilations available. A really good place to start. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Man Oh Man! Great Listening! Chicago Blues Unplugged!
This is an unusual CD. Chicago Blues, in common parlance, is electric music, played in smoky nightclubs. This CD visits individual legendary Chicago Blues artists and records them at home, in the living room or kitchen, solo. There are some beautiful performances here. The relaxed setting does several of these artists great justice. They can stretch out and play what they feel. As you listen, you feel like you are right there with the artists making the music.

Great listening, highly recommended. ... Read more

Album Description

15 disc box set, a painstakingly thorough retrospective of the remarkable Chess label's repertoire of blues, soul & rock'n'roll artists. An individually numbered, limited edition release, it contains 13 CDs that trace the history of the label (340 tracks from the likes of Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry, Clarence 'Frogman' Henry, Willie Dixon & many others), plus an 18 track interview disc featuring conversations with Phil Chess & Marshall Chess) and a CD-ROM disc (the15th CD) that functions as an interactive journey through the 'Chess ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Excellent music,useless liner notes
Good news: all the "Chess" hits and rarities collected in this priceless Box where Muddy Waters,Howlin'Wolf and Elmore James are rubbing shoulders with Chuck Berry,Bo Didley and Etta James. Bad news: CD-Box is rich with completely obscure and long forgotten names,singers who had they 5 minutes of fame in say,1953. but liner notes are completely useless as the essay which is spread on 53 (!) pages is exclusively focused only on the explanation that "Chess" was very important company and counting big names.(CD-Room does not provide any more informations either) Now,its nice to have all "Chess" hits,but they are easily available anyway - the juice of this CD-Box is the presence of LOTS and LOTS of obscure names,great singers who were not commerically sucessful and instead of explaining who these people were,the essay is full of Muddy Waters photos.There is a singer (L.C.Cooke) who is a spitting image of Sam Cook - nothing about him (I had to search high and low to find out that he was actually Sam Cook's brother).There is a funny guy called Clarence "Frogman" Henry,nothing about him.There is a vocal group called "Barbara & The Browns" where lead vocal sounds like young Tina Turner (I am listening Tina's records for 20 years now and I never stumbled upon such similarity),no informations about her whatsoever.On a disc 7 instead of Chuck Berry's "Rock and Roll music" there is another song from different performer. It is a very expensive CD-Box and for me the information about musicians are VERY important,I want to know who is it,so if I like it,I can look further in that direction and discover something else.Instead of useless CD-Room and CD with interview,they should have better essay with complete explanations who these performers were.

Pricey but well worth it.
This box set is a great representation of the blues, R & B, and rock n' roll the Chess brothers produced. The tracks are clear and captivating. The CDROM is worthless (my computer actually told me it had a virus on it) but you shouldn't buy this set for anything but the music. I highly recommend this box set despite its price. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

One of the best live blues albums ever
This is simply one of the best blues albums you can possibly buy. Most of the tracks are culled from the movie Chicago Blues (some are from the cutting room floor). No studio tracks here - these are all recorded live in Chicago blues clubs in the early 1970s. While the sound quality isn't great, the performance are riveting. Mighty Joe Young, Koko Taylor, and Johnny Young all put on solid performances. Other highlights include J.B. Hutto's raw Elmore James style slide guitar, Muddy Waters at the height of his powers, and an unknown Johnny Lewis playing spectacular unaccompanied Delta style guitar. However, the high point is the Buddy Guy/Junior Wells set. Other than Wells' album "Hoodoo Man Blues" and their tracks on "Chicago the Blues Today", there probably isn't better representation of these two legends. Of special interest is Buddy Guy's guitar playing. The opening track of the album is an inspired instrumental full of surprising twists and turns while Buddy's version of his own "The First Time I Met the Blues" contains what may be his best recorded solo. ... Read more

Album Details

Tracks Include: Muddy Waters' 'she's Nineteen Years Old', 'the Foxtrot' by Earl Hooker, Sonny Boy Williamson's 'all My Love in Vain', Eddie Clearwater's 'came Up the Hard Way', the Bo Diddley Classic 'evalena' and More. ... Read more