Amazon.com

Jonny Lang cut his debut album in Memphis when he was just 15, and, upon its release in 1996, the guitar prodigy from Minneapolis instantly became one of the leading lights of modern blues. He's a fast and flashy player whose approach rests equally on technical assurance and musical intelligence. Sizing up a dozen songs, he gets a pleasing, razor-sharp sound out of his ax while building excitement in his lead lines--thankfully, he steers clear of cliché and bombast. As a fledging singer, he acts out the lyrics of Ike Turner's age-old shuffle "Matchbox" and his own romantic ballad "Missing Your Love" with surprising poise and believability. Kudos to producer David Z for surrounding Lang with alert, first-rate sidemen and for helping select good material from Turner, Sonny Boy Williamson, Tinsley Ellis, and others. --Frank-John Hadley ... Read more

Reviews (120)

Jonny "Lie To Me" Anytime
When I first heard this CD I could not believe that it was a 15 yr old singing and playing guitar. Jonny's voice and guitar playing is amazing. The CD is great! The more you listen, the more you like. With a mix of songs like "Lie to Me" and "Hit the Ground Running" which are blues based rock songs, to "I Wonder" and "When I Come To You" where you can feel the emotion in his voice. It's amazing to think that this kid could even understand that kind of emotion at his age. Jonny Lang has made me a believer that "age means nothing" when it comes to the blues.

What does age have to do with it anyway?
I recently read through all the reviews, both editorial and customer, and offer the following thoughts. First of all, anyone who believes this kid lacks talent, either as a guitarist or a vocalist, is simply living in an alternate reality. As I read the negative reviews, what came through loud and clear was jealousy. How dare a mere "kid" try to be good?......Well, guess what?.....He is.... The kind of raw power Jonny demonstrates at the tender age of 16 on "Lie To Me" is nothing short of truly amazing. And while it is certainly true that you can hear the influences of bluesmen like Albert King, Albert Collins, and Luther Allison (I don't hear much Stevie) on "Lie To Me", it is also true that his own unique style is emerging. This is most noticable on the tracks, Missing Your Love and When I Come To You. His follow-up release "Wander This World", reaches down into the soul and literally drags the listener through an emotional rolley coaster ride. For the record, he plays a telecaster, not a Strat, a totally different sound. And would everyone PLEASE get off of this thing about his age! For God's sake,...who cares? Everybody's gotta start somewhere. Talent is talent, and the fact that he is so young only makes him that much more special. Think about where he will go with his music in the next 20 or 30 years....... Way to go Jonny! You will be in San Antonio on January 19 at the Majestic Theater, and I can't wait!

He's the Real Thing
This kid is the real deal. A natural talent if there ever was one. The maturity in this album is amazing, since it was recorded when he was only 15-16! Are his guitar solos melodic and well phrased? You bet. Some very nice work in that regard. But for me, the real magic of Jonny is those vocals - tortured, rich, raw, real and - dare I say it? - SEXY. His voice as an instrument is a very sensual sound. I love the blues - but I ADORE the sound of this kid's voice. If I had to take one album to a deserted island, this might be it.

Hey Jonny Lang... please do a dvd?
Just hoping my wish will come to reality.... check the reviews, beg borrow or steal a copy of this cd.... it's awsome..... I'd love to see Mr. Lang do a dvd. Being a father of two very young kids, I don't have the time to breath, yet alone see him in concert..... A dvd would surely be appreciated by more than just myself..... anybody reading this, and agree that the man should do a dvd, please find a way to let Mr. Lang know.

Jonny Lang
Lany is a master 6 string player no doubt. This recording documents the facts. His voice is young and his age leads one to wonder if he has had time to feel that pain. Jonny Lang and the Big Bang is a much better compliation of his abilities. ... Read more

Album Description

The Place You're In, Kenny Wayne Shepherd's long-awaited fourth album, marks a stunning stylistic shift for an artist who almost single-handedly introduced blues-rock to a new audience. One of the most acclaimed guitarists of his generation not only leans more heavily toward rock,but also releases his first album featuring his vocals. Says Shepherd, whose first three albums went gold or platinum and who has earned seven Top 10 Mainstream Rock cuts and three Grammy® nominations: "We're all growing and changing....We might as well get behind it and enjoy the ride." And enjoy The Place You're In. ... Read more

Amazon.com

"Yeah, it’s been a long time coming, never thought it’d take so long," moans Jonny Lang on the seemingly autobiographical title track to his first release in five years. But its stark acoustic, near demo quality is in contrast to the preceding 12 songs, which are buffed to an arena-rock sheen. The youngster has shifted from an up-and-coming bluesman into a tough, journeyman melodic rocker with a dab of R&B. He has also honed his songwriting skills, resulting in the majority of this album (except a rugged bonus live cover of Stevie Wonder’s "Livin’ for the City" and the first single "Red Light") being self-penned. Aiming for the back rows, Long Time Coming boasts booming, sing-along mid-tempo choruses in "Save Yourself" and "Goodbye Letter," perfect for the lighter-waving crowd. He has also transformed into a soulman of sorts, evidenced by the Prince/ Michael McDonald influences on "Touch," "Beautiful One," "The One I Got," and the funky "If We Try." Once a burgeoning guitar hero, Lang’s solos are now integrated into the material, further bolstering the hard rock/soul approach. Leaving the blues, Lang has moved towards the mainstream on his most polished and radio-ready album yet. --Hal Horowitz ... Read more

Reviews (246)

Jonny Lang's Coming of Age
I still think this guy's just a kid, but lose that thought quickly when I listen to him sing. I enjoyed his earlier stuff, but this album displays him as a true musician, not just a kid with a manly singing voice. The whole album is excellent, but a couple of tracks stick in your head and make you want to press repeat over and over again. "Red Light" immediately grabs a hold of you as the 2nd track. He didn't write it, but puts enough soul into it to make you think he did. I heard the song on XM radio a week before release, and after hearing it once,I had to buy the album, so that I could hear it again. The title track is a tune that makes you think of older blues superheroes. (Too many come to mind to even start listing them) The best lyrics on the album are in the song "Dying to live". Creative and catchy, with an R&B feel, definitely one of the best tracks on the album. All in all, the album was definitely worth the 9.99 that i spent on it, and definitely worth the time that I spent listening through it. Jonny Lang is no longer a boy playing the blues, he's a man making great music.

Different but still awesome!!
I was messing around on CDNOW and saw that this CD only had an average rating of 3 stars and proceeded to read some of the reviews and was astonished to say the least.

No, this is not the typical "blues-rock raspy-voice" Jonny Lang album that we're all used to but it's still awesome! It's great the he can step outside of that and experiment a little and still create an amazing album. We already know Jonny can play the guitar but this album even further displays how talented he is as a singer as well.

Props to Jonny for trying something different and being able to be so versatile. This is one of the best albums of the year, there's not a song that you will want to skip over! Go out and buy it!!!!

Great CD
Best CD I ever bought. I thought I loved Jonny before, well he made me love him even more with this CD. Others may think he's gone bad, but just because he isn't exactly the same as he has been does not mean it's a bad thing. I fell in love with this CD before I even bought it and when I found out that Jonny became a Christian before making this album it made it that much better for me. Jonny showed some changes in his life in a subtle way and I loved it!

An Old Soul with a Unique Voice
I love this album. Lang's voice is like none other I've ever heard. At once raw, anguished, and beautiful, it would draw you in if he was singing "Mary Had a Little Lamb." Instead, he sings some lovely and fresh songs. My personal favorites are the powerful "Dying to Live" and the reflective "Red Light." I recommend this album to someone who likes a bluesy, soul sound and is looking for something different from everyday radio singers.

Great songs - great ballads
I think all of the songs are high quality. My recommendation is to copy all of the torch ballads (tracks 1,5,6,8,10,12). Light some candles and fetch your partner for some very romantic slow dances. You never know what might happen later! ... Read more

Amazon.com

It's not hard to understand the appeal of Kenny Wayne Shepherd, currently being hailed as the heir to Stevie Ray Vaughan. He's young (an increasing rarity in blues and blues-related genres), he writes catchy songs, and his "Blue on Black" is widely played on rock radio. Trouble Is . . . is an enjoyable listen, from rockers like "Slow Ride" and "Chase the Rainbow," to swingy mid-tempo songs like "True Lies" and "(Long) Gone," to slower almost-ballads such as "Nothing to Do with Love" and the all-pervasive "Blue on Black". Expect to start hearing "I Found Love (When I Found You)" at high school proms and homecoming dances. It remains to be seen how Shepherd will develop, but he's among the most promising young guitarists out there today. -- Genevieve Williams ... Read more

Reviews (78)

Pretty good, but the Trouble Is......
Kenny Wayne Shepherd is a great guitarist, no doubt, and that's ultimately the appeal of his music. If you do not like guitar-based music, you'd do well to stay away from this CD. It's basically only for fans of guitar-heavy blues rock. On that level, it's a success. The songs are adequate, but mostly forgettable, and serve as little more than a backdrop for Shepherd's guitar. The lyrics are sometimes painfully derivative, and pretty uninteresting overall. However, the music is so good that the lyrics hardly matter. Vocalist Noah Hunt has a good voice, and sings with conviction but the words he sings just seem to be empty words. The songs about love and women just seem kind of phony coming from such young guys.

The best songs are Slow Ride, Blue On Black (a rock radio favorite), Chase The Rainbow and Somehow, Somewhere, Someway. The Hendrix cover I Don't Live Today is also fun.

Trouble Is... is a fine album for fans of blues-rock. If you like Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Winter and other bluesy guitarists, then I would recommend this CD as well as Kenny Wayne's debut, Ledbetter Heights.

It starts out great but...
Trouble Is... is the followup to Kenny Wayne Shepherd's killer debut Ledbetter Heights. While the band clearly sounds tighter and Shepherd's playing continues to impress, several tracks from the album's second half are mediocre, making it an uneven followup.

The first seven tracks on this album are all top notch whether it's the blues of "(Long) Gone" and "Somehow, Somewhere, Someway", the driving rock of "Slow Ride", the boogie of "True Lies", or the excellent hit single "Blue On Black". The versions of Jimi Hendrix's "I Don't Live Today" and Bob Dylan's "Everything Is Broken" are also excellent, with the band truly making the Dylan track their own.

Then the album starts to drag with the bluesy "King's Highway" and the closing instrumental title track being the only decent tracks. The remaining tracks "I Found Love (When I Found You)", "Nothing To Do With Love", and "Chase The Rainbow" are unmemorable and lack a strong hook. If you removed these tracks, you can argue that it's as strong as Ledbetter Heights. Still it's worth checking out for tracks 1-7.

A true talent! Unbelievable!!
It is so great to hear a talent like this is rising through the scene. He is so young and so talented! Love the sound. If you get a chance to see him live don't walk....RUN!!! I saw SRV twice and this guy's fingers burn on that guitar. Keep up the great work Kenny Wayne. We need your music!!

The Next Best Young Guitarist
Kenny Wayne Shepherd is without a doubt a great guitarist with alot of potenital, but he copies Stevie Ray Vaughan too much. I think he is the next best young guitarist out their proving his skills with the debut album Trouble Is. He is a great blues guitarist with a style of both himself, and Stevie Ray Vaughan. I will not knock him down for having influences such as Jimi Hendrix, and Steive Ray Vaughan I think every guitarist should carry on the guitar trait but I dont agree with copying anybody's style. This album is full of blues/rock including songs such as (Long Gone), hendrix's cover I Dont Live Today, and True Lies. This album will soothe any guitarist weither you like Hendrix, or Steive Ray Vaughan this one is most defiently for you. The only reason I gave this a 4 is because his copying of Steive Ray Vaughan other than that he is the next best guitarist. My favorite song on the album is Somehow,Somewhere,Someway. Other than that go buy this album and enjoy. Highly Recomened!

Not bad, i've enjoyed it
I really liked the album, I understand all the critizm for sounding to much like SRV. But it does have its strong points.
The guitar is amazing, wonderful rock and blues. I love Slow Ride, True Lies, and Blue On Black. But, it has all been heard before. ... Read more

Amazon.com

This Boston-bred blueswoman's follow-up to Just Won't Burn, which earned her a Best New Artist Grammy nomination in 2000, trades its predecessor's bar-band bluster for a sensual, soulful approach. By slowing the tempos, Tedeschi is able to make the most of the warm, middle range of her voice, pouring honey all over sweet ballads and making the Memphis funker "Alone" jump like a lost Hi Records nugget. Although her guitar-star husband, Derek Trucks, adds fire to two numbers, including Paul Pena's classic "Gonna Move," Tedeschi herself dishes out some fat-toned, terse solos that sting with the style of the late Johnny "Guitar" Watson.

Also here is a haunting take on Bob Dylan's "Don't Think Twice," which fits perfectly with Tedeschi's own songs about mature romance. And she teams with Handy Award-winning country-blues duo Paul Rishell and Annie Raines for the spare and touching acoustic tune "Blues on a Holiday." Wait for Me may not win Tedeschi the attention her last album drew, but it's far better, and it marks her arrival as a full-grown artist. --Ted Drozdowski ... Read more

Reviews (57)

AWSOME, Simply awsome!!
DO YOU LIKE THOSE ROCKING SOULFUL BLUES SONGS THAT JUST OOZE LOVE?

If you answered yes.

BUY THIS DISK!!

If you like songs that sound like they belong in a hot sweaty blues bar where everyone is dancing, drinking, and having a great time, well, this disk has those too.

For the party animal in you, Susan rocks hard on "I Fell in Love", "Gonna Move" and the funky "Hampmotized" which features a rhythm that would make Bootsy Collins groove.
"The Feeling Music Brings" is a straight up boogie blues guitar tune that has some of the hottest guitar playing of the disk. Accompanied by Susan's sultry vocals cooing along with the extended solo. It's so hot that it will bring up the temperature of the room it's being listened to in.

Susan's voice never sounded stronger then it does on the title track "Wait For Me" where she channels Etta James in a "belt it out" slow building blues number that had me dancing on the sofa.

Oh, it's not all Bar-Room-Sweat-Soaked-Blues.

There's the sweet spring morning of a song "In The Garden" that has an amazingly heart stirring violin solo mid way through it. "Blues On A Holiday" sounds just like the tile suggests, a song that you might hear Susan singing in front of her fireplace on a family holiday.

I'm Thankful For The Feeling This Music Brings!
Susan Tedeschi is one of the great artists in music today - blues, pop, rock, folk whatever you want to call her. Her 2nd album garnered her a best new artist nomination that she deserved to win. That album, Just Won't Burn, is her best! It combines blues, rock, folk, and a bit of country tinged blues for a kickin' record. Her first album, Better Days, is very rough-hewn and more akin to Just Won't Burn. Here on Wait for Me we see a more subdued Susan Tedeschi. She's seems to be staying strictly with the blues here and focusing less on pop, rock, etc. Whereas earlier we heard some of Janis Joplin in those vocals now we see more of Bonnie Raitt which isn't bad but one longs for an artist who can't be confined by genre. Still, this album is a major success for any fan of real music - blues or otherwise. Highlights here are Alone, Gonna Move, Wrapped in the Arms of Another (really more of a ballad)and The Feeling Music Brings and I Fell in Love which are really the only two songs where Susan rocks and she succeeds in spades. Blues on Holiday is the best track on this record though. It's simple guitar and harmonica accompaniment and Susan's sweet vocals make it one of Susan's best ever.

Susan Tedeschi is a phenom. I hope she gets the recognition in the music world she deserves. Still, something tells me she is just fine singing the blues in blues cafe in front of a small crowd of fans and selling 10 records. She's in the business for the music and that's what I call a true artist. Don't make us wait to long for another album and please folks if you get a chance to see Susan perform live - DO SO!

Still waiting
Susan Tedeschi has one of the most astonishing voices in the current musical landscape, and sadly, there's nothing on Wait For Me that stretches it to the extent the best moments from Just Won't Burn did.. That isn't to say it isn't worthwhile - Tedeschi spent the record going into more classic soul and r/b territory than finding the blues, which is absolutely her right, and with songs as fun as "I Fell in Love" or as lovely as "Alone" and "In the Garden", you'll certainly understand why. But for the most part, the record doesn't leave you with much of an impression, or, as in the case of "Hampmotized," it can get downright annoying. Tedeschi certainly hasn't lost any talent, but this record is a subpar showcase for it.

Wait For Me
I think Susan Tedeschi is one of the best Blues singer's I've ever heard and I am looking so forward to hearing her live this Friday, April 2, 2004 at the Tampa Bay Blues Festival. Go Susan!!! YOU ROCK!!!

wait for me
Several months ago I saw Susan preform in Charlotte,North Carolina.Her show was fantastic for the begining to the end.I only wish that after the show I could have stayed and had a chance to speak with her and have her sign an autograph.After the show my wife an I were leaving so that I could get a few hours sleep befor having to go to work (4 am).We spoke only for a minute with her and a band member on the back steeps.They were trying to enter just after we had shut the door.I wanted to ask her where she grow up and went to school.My former home town in upstate New York (Endicott) has several family by the name Tedeschi.By any chance did she once live there.

I would enjoy hearing her again and again in person,I play her cd's almost daily.Looking forward to her new release's

Bill Lambrinos ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Sexy, Romantic and Stirring!!!!
Thank You! Thank You! Thank You Mr. Earl for returning to our long awaiting hearts, mind and souls!!! It has been WAY TOO LONG, please don't wait so long next time! How can you describe a guitar virtuoso, it's simply not possible....so I'm telling you and everybody I know...JUST BUY THIS ONE NOW!!!!! Destined to be a top notch classic. Sexy, romantic and stirring, starting with Feel Like Goin On with soulful Greg Piccolo singing this one with his entire being!
Kim Wilson who is always incredible singing and on harmonica, joins Ronnie on most of the CD providing total compliment, "Abandoned" is as gutt wrenching as you're gonna hear anywhwere! This is a great blues CD, but let's not classify just in the blues genre, it's ROCKIN', sassy and jazzy, even Hallelujah Gospel.... because Ronnie knows no Bounds! So glad to finally add another of your CD's to my collection! And bring back reissues of "Test of Time" PLEASE!!

Scary good!
There is a shiver I get when good music hits me and really takes hold. Ronnie Earl's music has me shaking all over. The man gives you everything he has, heart and soul. Why he is not recognized as the greatest guitarist working today and among the best to ever picked up a guitar is beyond me. This is not as much of an instrumental album as last time. The great Kim Wilson and his smokin harp make numerous appearances on the album. The combination of the two men is dynamite! Show Ronnie Earl some love and pick this one up. You'll be glad you did.

On form
Reading the liner notes and listening to the heartfelt spoken message Ronnie places on this cd as a bonus track, one gets the feeling that Mr. Earl speaks as a man who knows his time is near. As a longtime fan, of course I hope this isn't the case, but Ronnie's playing on this album makes every note count, as if each were the last he'll ever play.

Now my Soul features Ronnie's trademark sound, but his playing reaches a higher level than before with fresh nuances on Blues for J and Double Trouble, among others. There's a new urgency to some of his phrasing; the kind made by a man pouring his entire soul into his music.

Kim Wilson's guest singing and playing are as good as ever. I wish these two would collaborate even more.

Inspiring music from an inspired man.

Mr. Earl Strike again!
Ronnie Earl is one of the best blues guitarists alive. This is a fact. With his new realise I believe he has gained a place in the short list of the greatest of all time. After many all-instrumental albums, on this one half of the tunes feature a singer. With the help of his all time friends Kim Wilson and Greg Piccolo, sharing vocals duty, and the former Broadcaster bass player Rod Carey, Ronnie delivers a very strong album that should definitively place him at the very top of the list of the greatest blues artists of our time. This is a straight blues album with just few concessions to other styles. His playing has never been so sharp and focused, so clean and crispy, he makes every single note counts and his playing throughout the album is just unbelievable. His version of the Otis Rush' classic Double Trouble worth by itself the price of admission. It is however the whole album that stands out from the crowd, not a bad tune to be found, no a weakness to be spotted. On the CD's notes Mr. Earl thanks and blesses lots of friends, I would just like to thank him with all my heart for all the fantastic sensations and the unbelievable feelings I always experience listening to his music. Thanks Ronnie, please carry on!

Everyone needs Ronnie Music in their life!
As a devotee of the man I regard as the finest living blues guitarist, his latest CD, "Now My Soul", doesn't disappoint, with the unique mix of jazz, blues and gospel that was christened "Ronnie Music" by the original Broadcasters still to my mind the most exciting music to be heard.

There are no weaknesses and therefore, relatively, no standouts but if pushed for a favourite I'd have to nominate "Double Trouble", an Otis Rush song covered by many (often badly - notably Eric Clapton's tepid rendering),is breathtaking.

If like me you know and love "Ronnie Music", you'll know in the nicest possible way what to expect, but if you're unlucky enough not to have come across Ronnie Earl before, welcome him warmly into your life and your CD player, you'll never regret it. He hasn't made a bad record in his career, everything he plays is not only technically phenomenal but is imbued with the soul of a man who has known the hardest of times but retains both his passion and compassion.

I first discovered Ronnie Music in 1997, having seen him play a devastating set at the Royal Festival Hall, London, in July that year - he even achieved the rare feast of making the headlining Robben Ford seem like an anticlimax. The above was shortly after I lost my my much-loved mother, and it's no exaggeration to say that the wonderful "Color of Love" album lifted my flagging spirits during the darkest period of my life, and also encouraged me to pick up my own guitar again having not played a note for fifteen years.

Enjoy!

Jonathan ... Read more

Reviews (14)

"So You See Why I Stuck With Blues."
This BB King quote, stated to David Ritz, was his conclusion to why he chose to play and sing blues over his other love, gospel music. "A gospel song would get me a pat on the head," he said. "But a blues would get me a dime." The blues earned King not only more than his share of dimes, but a spot among music's seminal performers and teachers. Despite Ritz properly mentioning that King's music was too blue for rock and roll or soul during his early career, he has become as much a caretaker of rock's traditions as of the blues themselves.

This one-disc collection, even at 16 songs, seems too little space for BB King's prolific, quality output, especially after 1992's expansive "King Of The Blues" box. But "Greatest Hits" timed to King's most recent rock-oriented successes: his "How Blue Can You Get?" sampled on a pop hit, his U2 collaboration, his Robert Cray duet on "Playing With My Friends" (from "Blues Summit," among the 90s best blues releases), even "Paying The Cost To Be The Boss" covered by Pat Benatar! With remarkable liner notes and references to original ABC/MCA LPs (nearly all in print), "Greatest Hits" is a sampler tour through BB King's immense, classic blues catalogue.

It's also another chance to hear King with much better sound, courtesy of compiler Andy McKaie (who handled MCA's exceptional Chess blues compilations) and Erick Labson's remastering. It freshly paints Johnny Pate's production on 1964's seminal "Live At The Regal" tracks, King's 1969-70 string of of rockin' blues hits ("Why I Sing The Blues," the original "Thrill Is Gone"), even overlooked gems like Doc Pomus/Dr. John's tailor-made "There Must Be A Better World Somewhere."

What "Greatest Hits" shows most is King's guitar playing and vocal economy; no melismatic vocal trills or guitar hyperspace, even live where crowds needed pleasing. Instead, King's solos in "I Like To Live The Love" and "Don't Answer The Door" press the melody forward, and his underrated vocals show occassional collaborator Bobby Bland's strong "Sinatra Of The Blues" influence. King shared (or at least impressed) these traits on his most recent collaborator, Eric Clapton, and here does with just-enough help from friends like Joe Walsh and Leon Russell (on Russell's "Hummingbird") and Stevie Wonder (on "To Know You Is To Love You..")

"Greatest Hits" is THE King album for casual fans or those who enjoy his rare spins on classic rock or oldies radio. Blues fans wanting to dig deeper should pick up any of the original LPs, including "Live At The Regal," "There Must Be A Better World Somewhere," "Indianola Mississippi Seeds, " or the Bobby Bland collaborations. "Greatest Hits" covers quality ground quickly, and thus remains an essential one-stop blues shop.

Too focused on mediocre latter-day material
This certainly isn't everything you could ever want from the Beale Street Blues Boy, but it does give the first-time listener a pretty accurate idea about what to expect from B.B. King. For better or worse.

His excellent and highly influential 50s singles are missing, which is a shame, especially since some of those were actually sizable hits and this compilation has the audacity to call itself "Greatest Hits".
Still, there are lot of great moments here anyway...the swinging "Paying The Cost To Be The Boss", the epic "Why I Sing The Blues", and the slow burner "How Blue Can You Get" among them, and they sit next to two cuts from King's highly succesful "Live At The Regal" album, an excellent "Sweet Little Angel" and a hideous "Every Day I Have The Blues" which falls miles short of Memphis Slim's potent original ("Nobody Loves Me").

But there are too many mediocrities on this album...King experimented with some sort of pop-blues fusion in the 70s and 80s, and the compilers have included "To Know You Is to Love You", "I Like To Live The Love" and "Hummingbird" from that unfortunate era. The duets with Robert Cray on "Playin' With My Friends" and rock group U2 on "When Love Comes To Town" are not much more uplifting, and too much of this material was recorded well after King's prime.

If you like B.B. King at his most pop-friendly, you will probably enjoy this compilation. If you like him at his grittiest, you will certainly be disappointed. May I suggest the double-disc "Anthology" instead, along with "Do The Boogie: B.B. King's Early '50s Classics" instead.

Ohhh, man, ain't nuttin' like the blues by way'a the King...
I like to think that my musical tastes run very deep an' very broad; I also like 'ta think that I can jus' pick up any album by any artist of any genre an' feel it at any given time. But, there are those days, yep, there ARE those days when I need me some blues music. Some straight-forward, no apologies, no variations, an' no deeper meaning to any of it, than jus' bein' the BLUES. I've got a few different selections by B.B. King (not enough to call myself a die-hard or anything), but I think I get the MOST outta this hits collection. Is' got ALL the classics that e'ybody knows; so much so that there's no need for me to liste 'em. Every song on here is equally good; in other words, THERE IS NOT ONE BAD SONG ON THIS DISC! You better believe it, too. An' I really can't get enough of it.

Here's a situation: This morning I said my prayers, I watched a lil' tube, I smoked my first cigarette in two weeks an' decided that my attempt to quit jus' isn't gonna take jus' yet, I hadda argument with my ex (we were doin' so good the past week too), so what that all amounts to is that tonight I'm'a sit back, drink a few beers, smoke some cigarettes, an' listen to this CD, blues at it's best. Then I'm'a say my nighttime prayers, lay my head down, an' hope that tomorrow will be a better day. Thas' what it all means to me.

I'll definitely explore some more'a the King's work in the near-future, but for now, I'm good with this. It keeps me toned down enough to not get lost in my pain, but it allows me to not give in to the "look on the bright side" bullcrap an' jus' wallow for the time being. I love me some blues music. 'Specially when is' done right. An' the King ALWAYS did it right.

His Bluesy Best
A nice compilation of this blues legend. Some catchy lyrics and strong guitar solos exist throughout this collection. The first seven songs are strictly three chord blues progressions which can be a bit tiresome for some audiences. However, the catchy lyrics make you pay attention to such gems as Paying The Cost To Be The Boss, How Blue Can You Get?, and The Thrill Is Gone.

The next few tracks have a more varied arrangement and get away from the standard three chord progression. BB King gets funky in spots and the use of strings and horns in the background add a nice touch. The duets with Bono and Robert Cray are quite good. A nice intro to this legend, indeed.

Teriffic Blues music
BB King: Greatest Hits is a tremendously wonderful Blues CD. It has all the music you could expect. It's too bad my family has only one BB King CD. But now knowing how good BB King is, I'm going to collect more. So if you like BB King, you'll LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this. ... Read more

Reviews (25)

Where The First Blues Revival Really Began
It's only too easy to overrate the original Butterfield Blues Band, who kick-started the original mid-1960s blues revival and, as it happens, sent the folk "revival" of the earlier part of the decade all but packing as a mass phenomenon, both with their own electrifying workshop performances at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival and with a few of them (guitarist extraordinaire Mike Bloomfield, drummer Sam Lay, and bassist Jerry Arnold) limbering up behind Bob Dylan for the latter's long-legendary electric set. But there's no overrating the Butterfield gang's music or debut album - almost forty years after the sextet first laid it out, it's riveting, elemental, and demands to be heard all through each layer of the thrustingly sensitive sound.

They may have anchored themselves with Howlin' Wolf's rhythm section (Lay and Arnold), but Butterfield's heart seemed more to belong to Little Walter, both in the preponderance of Walter's material covered (and with reverence but not redundancy) here and in elements of his own harmonica style. (As it happened, Butterfield, Bloomfield, and second guitarist Elvin Bishop had each known, played with, and learned from the Chicago electric blues masters previously, and never lost the old masters' respect.) Bloomfield, of course, was already an outsized talent in his own right - he's not quite the sleek, polished old pro who would go from drop-dead to existentially expressive (by way of his luminous work with first the Electric Flag and, later, the Al Kooper "Super Session" projects), but he's exuberant, committed, and passionate, and he's already figuring out how to temper his chops and subordinate them to taste and to melodiousness in his solos by the time the set begins to wind down. Not that it's so bad when he just lets fly - in fact, he's the main instigator behind "Screamin'," possibly the wildest instrumental to spring up from any of the decade's blues revivalists, both as its co-composer and its prime cattle prod, dropping off a solo here and there to deliver little sharp stings to either Butterfield (with some choice harmonica sweeps and cries), Bishop (an occasional spiky lick here and there and effectively), and keyboard ace Mark Naftalin while letting the rhythm section whomp it up shamelessly.

Still, the band was wholly accessible, from the romping "Shake Your Moneymaker" to the strolling "Last Night"; from the rocking "Born in Chicago" to the galloping "Thank You, Mr. Poobah"; from the dripping "Our Love Is Drifting" to the bristling boogie joyousness of Sam Lay taking the vocal for "Got My Mojo Workin'." Butterfield was a passable vocalist with perhaps more feeling than voice, but he proved himself a legitimate comer as a blues harp specialist and bandleader. That the elders from whom he and his merry men learnt their blues directly accepted them as one of their own testifies even more potently to how powerful this album was then...and now. But even without its time-and-place importance, it's just good music.

Blues for Big John's
From November 1964 until September 1966, I had the good luck to work at Big John's, the legendary Chicago blues club in the city's Old Town area a couple of miles north of the Loop. The Paul Butterield Blues Band really took off during its many engagements at Big John's.

This is the band's first album. The cover art shows Mike Bloomfield (left), Paul Butterfield, Sammy Lay, Elvin Bishop, and Jerome Arnold. The photo was taken on Chicago's Maxwell Street.

This is the band that opened the doors at Big John's to all of the great black blues bands on the South and West Sides: Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Buddy Guy, Otis Rush, and others. This is the band that inspired other young white blues musicians who appeared at Big John's: Corky Siegel and Jim Schwall, Barry Goldberg and Steve Miller. This is the band that turned heads at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival when it backed Bob Dylan. This is the band that paved the way for the blues revolution in the 1960s and beyond.

Some of the songs on this album are blues classics, while others were written by South Side native Nick "The Greek" Gravenites and have since become blues classics. Nick is a blues legend himself and was a close friend of Butterfield and Bloomfield.

All of us at Big John's were excited by this album when Elektra released it. We felt we were riding the crest of a wave. Hearing this album always evokes warm memories of a wonderful time in my life, when I couldn't wait to go to work each night to hear more of this great music. And I was able to so for almost two years, until Big John's was closed by the powers that be in Chicago. The club was gone forever. But not the music.

You may read more of my memories of those great days on my jazz and big band web site...

the start of it all
Although the real roots lie with the black artists who inspired these guys, the PBBB is where the hippy generation,(this is a couple years pre-San Francisco, and before the Stones and Beatles began stretching their arrangements out on record),learned to JUST PLAY. Their next record was more representative of what they were actually doing live at time time, and is the single greatest influence on what became the San Francisco sound of the late 60's and early 70's, (REALLY long and experimental jamming), so this is in fact the "roots of the roots of the roots" of todays jam bands and guitar-heavy blues bands, mixed-race bands, and, for all practical purposes, the white-blues-man in todays' world.

A Milestone In Music
In the early Sixties, the prevailing wisdom was that the blues was a music based on the shared experience of African Americans and that any attempt by a "Caucasian" to play the blues would..er, uh...pale in comparison to the authentic renditions of the blues by African Americans. In 1965, Paul Butterfield broke that color barrier, not by successfuly "imitating" black blues musicians, but by developing his own signature playing and singing style that demanded that audiences and critics accept Butterfield on his own terms. Butterfield's passion and intensity transcended any formulamatic notions of authenticity simply because of Butterfield's refusal to be evaluated as an imitator. His playing and singing were so uniquely stylized and original that when Butterfield played "Look Over Yonder's Wall" nobody used the Elmore James original as a litmus test of authenticity. I've heard enough bad imatators of B.B.King, both black and white, to know that racial authenticy is not a very reliable benchmark to evaluate good blues. Mediocrity is color blind, as is brilliance and any argument to the contrary is simply, as they say, academic.

Butterfield's band was bi-racial with rythym section consisting of Howlin' Wolf Band veterans Jerome Green on bass and the mighty Sam Lay on drums. Elvin Bishop, a University of Chicago student from Oklahoma learned guitar under the tutelage of another Howlin' Wolf veteran, Smokey Smothers. From 1963 until 1965 Bishop and Butterfield played together at Little John's a smokey blues joint on Chicago's northside. Near the time of this recording, Mark Naftalin was added to the band. Naftalin, a former University of Chicago student, played understated but tasty solos on Hammond organ. Naftalin was a nuanced jazz player having received a year of formal training at Mannes College of Music, where he was recruited by Butterfield for the band.

Many of the tracks from this album were originally recorded without Michael Bloomfield's guitar, but Butterfield reluctantly added Bloomfield, an out of work session player under contract to Columbia Records, at the urging of Paul Rothschild, the brilliant producer at the budding Elektra record label. Bloomfield was a young guitar savant whose signture guitar style contained elements of Albert King's tension, release and sustained feedback; Wes Montgomery's cascading flurries of jazz notes; Elmore James' electrifying bottle neck; and even unconvential modalities like atonal Indian ragas and swaying samba rythyms. The diffence of the in the master tapes with and without Bloomfield is startling. The addition of Bloomfield's explosive guitar playing appears to have ignited the entire band

On the opening cut, "Born In Chicago" Butterfield wastes no time in dispelling the white blues efficacy argument with his take no prisoners approach to blues shouting. The hard edged lyrics to Nick Gravenites's song,"...I was born in Chicago in 1941, and my father told me, son you had better get a gun", seemed to be issuing a challenge to the Doubting Thomases with staid intellectual theories of black authenticity. Butterfield's haromica playing is so uniquely sculpted that comparisons to either Little Walter or Sonny Boy Williamson are futile. The approach of the Butterfield Blues Band raises the ante to new sonic levels. The decibel level is so high and the playing is so intense that it appears that the band can generate enough electricity to light up the Chicago skyline. Butterfield and his guitarist Bloomfield appear to be circling each other like caged lions in the crossfire between the harmonica and guitar solos. Elvin Bishop's rippling and bracing guitar solos are almost an afterthought because Butterfield and Bloomfield remained locked in a tense struggle for sonic domination of the band that rages like a prarie fire until the last note of the final song, "Look Over Yonder's Wall."

Such was the legendary mutual ambivalence between Paul Butterfield and Michael Bloomfield...the twin towers of the Butterfield Blues Band. Both men were so endowed with rare musical talent that only an act of serendipity placed them on the same stage together. They were linked forever by this hellaciously good band, but each seemed to be saying to the other the equivalent of, "This band ain't big enough for the both of us." It was this brinksmanship between Butter and Bloom that often pushed the band into uncharted territory.

I saw this edition of the Butterfield Band twice in concert and their approach to both jazz and blues was so intense that they appeared to be tearing a hole in the fabric of the cosmos itself, armed with the sword of Damocles. The brilliance of Paul Rothchild's production was that he captured this raw intensity and seamless playing skill on vinyl. One can take a snapshot of the eye of a hurricane, but few photos capture the fury of storm, itself. Rothchild seemed to have bottled a raging force of nature, using some form of trickery at the studio mixing console. Bloomfield was partially responsible because he was the rare musician could play on a both a concert stage, or the clinical setting of a studio booth with the same pulse stopping immediacy.

For better or for worse, Butterfield's first album was an early statement of a generation of musicians who were unwilling to accept the arbitrary limits of conventional wisdom. It was 1965; and the musical revolution that about to change everyone's lives so dramatically was just budding forth. As the Sixties unfolded a hundreds of self-styled musicians bloomed into musical maturity and like Butterfield and Bloomfield, they challenged conventional wisdom and often their creativity crossed the divide between the sacred and the profane, but we are all better people for it.

El mejor grupo de blues de los 60.
Mientras los grupos Ingleses de mediados de los 60 redescubrían el blues y lo llevaban a grandes audiencias, al otro lado del Atlántico Paul Butterfield y su banda inician ya en forma definitiva el blues rock, dejando bien en claro el tema a los entusiastas jóvenes Ingleses.

Aunque no exactamente blues blanco (un tercio del grupo no lo es), las verdaderas estrellas son Butterfield y Bloomfield, que con 23 y 22 años más bien parecen veteranos maestros del blues que dos jovenes aprendices. Lo cierto es que el dominio y seguridad que muestra Butterfield tanto al canto como en la armónica están muy por encima de los típicos cantantes blancos de la época. Mención aparte merece Mike Bloomfield, quizás el guitarrista menos reconocido en la historia del rock. ni Clapton ni Beck tsonaban como Bloomfield en 1965, un guitarrista verdaderamente genial que en los instrumentales Thank You Mr. Poobah y Screamin' y en Blues With A Feeling muestra lo mejor de su talento.

Si John Mayall y compañía se llevaron el crédito en Inglaterra, Paul Butterfield y su banda (gran compañía también) merecen un destacado lugar en la historia por su enorme influencia en el desarrollo del blues y su variante más rock. ... Read more

Reviews (8)

don't believe the hype
I've been hearing about Jason Moran for a while now and got a chance to hear this group live last night.I echo what someone else said--the guitarist is lame--but then so is the bassist--and Jason Moran is a noodler.He has nothing to say and he has no touch on the piano. If you like a lot of pointless noodling this is your record.

So talented it's disgusting
I can see why a lot of folks struggle with this one.It's loud (mostly).And irreverent, if not outright bizarre.And kinda THICK sounding, as if the mix isn't quite right.And even sorta scatterbrained, in an odd way.Plus, the vibe's a little difficult to lock into.Those were my first impressions.And I generally trust first impressions.

But since I have so much respect for Mr. Moran, I decided to set the disc aside for a while and see when I came back to it if I'd somehow in the meantime figured out what was going on.Well, I'm not sure I've completely done that, but I've got a few ideas.

First off, if this is a blues album, it's one of the strangest ones ever released.Containing at the most three authentic blues numbers, it rather scopes out lots of sentiments and sensibilities akin to but not really blues.Plus, there's a rather striking and firmly rooted classical thing going on.Second, no matter what anyone says to the contrary, Marvin Sewell, a longtime favorite of mine and a practically criminally neglected guitarist, plays his butt off.Third, the leader is in finest fettle both from a playing standpoint and compositionally.

The blues contained herein--"Jump Up" and "I'll Play the Blues for You"--are so good it's scary, especially the latter, which evokes huge waves of badness, fueled equally by Sewell's electrifying guitar statements and Moran's crazily apropos pianisms: Roadhouse blues on steroids.Several other numbers ("Fire Waltz" by that blues-drenched piano maestro, Mal Waldron; "Restin'," almost but not quite a down-and-dirty country blues, with as much nostalgia and jest plain trouble as Townes Van Zandt meets Mississippi John Hurt; and "The Field," dripping distress and age-old injury) flirt with the blues while operating substantially in related but ancillary sonic and emotive venues.

Special mention should be made of the "Gangsterism" numbers bookending the performance.I'm thinking they're largely responsible for many listeners' ambivalence toward this disc.Both feature disturbing low-end pianisms, gnarly raucousness, and that muddily annoying mix.And yet, as much as any of the other performances, they define this disc's vibe, for better or worse.I admit they were the most difficult pieces for me (and, probably, lots of other listeners) to track with.Thus, they represent artistic integrity of the first order.Surely, someone as savvy (despite his tender years) as Jason Moran knows full well the risk he's taking placing these sonic anomalies front-and-center.Yet, that he went ahead and did it anyway, not only displays outsize Conejos but chutzpah above and beyond the call of duty.

All in all, this is a MONSTER disc, vaulting the leader and his empathetic band into the very front ranks of modern jazz.

First impression a good impression
This is the first of Jason Moran I have heard. It is the best modern jazz I have heard. If it is the blues, etc.. the whole point is it comes from the same mother. Good stuff

Was there a Zero Stars option?
I actually enjoyed Jason's outing with Sam Rivers,
who brought some mastery into an otherwise suspect
conceptual situation. Jason admits that sometimes
he is playing non-sensical phrases in an attempt
to be modernistic. Then there's his jive stuff with
the tape machine, which I won't elaborate on.

But he really went the distance this time by hiring
truly one of the worst guitarists I've ever been
forced to listen to. This Sewell guy does nice things
in the background on Cassandra Wilson's various joints,
but leave the soloing to someone else. The resonator
bits are tasty enough, but that solo on "I'll Play
The Blues" is worse than a high school frequenter of
the local music store and his truly lame attempt to
play uptempo free improv is an embarrassment. Maybe
"JaMo"(which I agree, is corny) hired this poser to
make him sound better, which he does. Jason has some
stuff going on, and his rhythm section is on fire.

But he can, and should do better. Fire the guitar player,
or at least hire any one of the hundred or so players who
could contribute something of worth. Sewell is a real
stinker on this one. Just awful.

I tried to like this, but...
I love piano ensembles, and Jason is very talented, but I sure don't enjoy anything on this recording.I kept it in the CD player for five days straight, and for me anyway, there is too much pointless noodling around.I have no problem with the "new take on the blues", but what take?Some sparse twanging, some nervous bass lines that I simply am not moved by and can't connect with at all, and some pounding.Perhaps this is just not my kind of music.But in fairness to myself, I can handle adventure, dissonance, noise, looseness; this just doesn't amount to much.I sure love the playing on Black Stars and the live Badwagon recording (except I still get too distracted by the nervous bass that seems like somebody playing in a diferent band in the next room), but this CD leaves me flat.I'll watch Jason because he is certainly "the real deal", no doubt about that, but I'd pass on this one.
... Read more

Amazon.com

Taj Mahal's been chasing the blues around the world for years, but rarely with the passion, energy, and clarity he brought to his first three albums. Taj Mahal, The Natch'l Blues and The Real Thing are the sound of the artist, who was born in 1942, defining himself and his music. On his self-titled 1967 debut, he not only honors the sound of the Delta masters with his driving National steel guitar and hard vocal shout, but ladles in elements of rock and country with the help of guitarists Ry Cooder and the late Jessie Ed Davis. This approach is reinforced and broadened by The Natch'l Blues. What's most striking is Mahal's way of making even the oldest themes sound as if they're part of a new era. Not just through the vigor of his playing--relentlessly propulsive, yet stripped down compared with the six-string ornamentations of the original masters of country blues--but through his singing, which possesses a knowing insouciance distinct to post-Woodstock counterculture hipsters. It's the voice of an informed young man who knows he's offering something deep to an equally hip and receptive audience.

Soon, Mahal turned his multicultural vision of the blues even further outward. The live 1971 set, The Real Thing, finds him still carrying the Mississippi torch, while adding overt elements of jazz and Afro-Caribbean music to its flame. But it's overreaching. His band sounds under-rehearsed, and the arrangements seem more like rough outlines. Nonetheless, these albums set the stage for Mahal's career. (For a condensed version, try the fine The Best of Taj Mahal.) Today, he continues to make fine fusion albums, like 1999's Kulanjan, with Malian kora master Toumani Diabate, and less exciting but still eclectic recordings with his Phantom Blues Band. --Ted Drozdowski ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Great Place to Get a Taste
This collection focuses on the very early Taj Mahal and contains most of his early classics. For anyone not familiar with this artist this is a great place to start. You get a full taste of "Taj Mahal", "The Natch'l Blues" and "The Real Thing"(with the tuba band), his first 3 excellent albums, and it is obvious from these how eclectic a blues performer he is. Taj Mahal has always been one of my favorites, and he presented one of the best live shows I have ever seen. He is touring this summer so check him out if you get a chance, and delve deeply into the rest of his recorded material, particularly "Senor Blues".

What A Find!
I had heard the name Taj Mahal over the years but never took the time to investigate his music. Then one day I heard the song "Fishing Blues" on the radio and it sparked my interest. When I saw that he had this "Best Of..." collection I figured I'd take a chance, I haven't stopped playing it since then. What a find, this is great music! Every track on this cd touched me in some way. Songs like "Statesboro Blues", "Leaving Trunk", and "She Caught The Katy" are gritty, bluesy, and soulful. Taj sings with a voice that was made for the blues, and plays a mean harmonica to boot.
Aside from the songs on this collection that really cook, there are others that seem to transend the blues and create a different feeling. "Corinna", "Take A Giant Step" and "Johnny Too Bad" are more thoughtful and laid back, making for a good mix of tempos'. All in all this is a collection of incredible music from a great artist,and track for track, it's one of the best albums I have ever purchased.

Great Summary
I absolutely agree that one should own the box set, but this disc is worth owning alone for "Chevrolet." That song really gets me going, and I play it for my wife all the time to let her know how I feel. This disc will only fuel your longing for more taj mahal, so get it and save up for the box set!! If you get the chance check out the grammy-winning "Shouting in Key." That is the best disc of all.

Good But Not The Best!
Taj has become the torchbearer of the blues and, over the years, has developed a very large following and a comprehensive catalog of releases. In order to put this recording into prospective it's necessary to look at what is here. What you find on this disc is a collection of some very fine material dating from 1967 to 1974. So, while the material may be the best of Taj for that period, and that is debatable, it would be unfair to Taj and to his fans to call this a collection of his best works. Anything short of a box set could not possibly cover the broad array of excellent releases put out by this individual. That being said, the reproduction of "Leaving Trunk" and "Corinna" are not of the best quality. However, the rest of the CD is a good representative sample of Taj's early releases. While I would encourage individuals to buy this disc, I feel a certain obligation to the man that has produced so many quality songs over the past 30 plus years to also suggest the box set "In Progress & In Motion".

refreshing
this album was a refreshing taste of blues history for me. It was my first Taj Mahal album and I love it. The songs, Leaving Trunk, Corrina, Further On Down The Road, and Take a Giant Step are all beautifully written and performed. If you are a blues fan you will not be disappointed with this album. ... Read more

Amazon.com

One would think that jumping into the pop-rock marketplace after being branded a blues player might confuse a 17-year-old guitar whiz. No way. Jonny Lang, with the lucid advice of ace producer David Z, understands the role of the blues as solid ground for someone who wants to take flight with intelligent, well-crafted music that has a wide audience. His second album's strengths lie with his gruffly appealing singing voice and his lean, razor-edged guitar phrases. The material is solid, with songs that range stylistically from the ingratiating funk number "I Am" (a hitherto unrecorded David Z and Prince composition), to the it-sure-sounds-like-a-rock-hit "Still Rainin'" (complete with thunderous chords and soulful female backup singers), to a griddle-hot take on the late Chicago blues guitarist Luther Allison's "Cherry Red Wine." All 12 songs are of a piece, tied together by Lang's unassailable musical integrity and his freshness of vision. And R&B master guitarist Steve Cropper is on hand in the Minneapolis recording studio to insure the soulful vibe. --Frank- John Hadley ... Read more

Reviews (157)

A BLUES LEGEND IN THE MAKING!!
After hearing Lie to Me, I was hooked. The song Still Rainin' was a good song to make a single, but I also like some others on the CD. I love Breakin' Me and Leaving to Stay mostly because they are different from his other hard-rock songs. I also bought the Kid Jonny Lang and the Big Bang CD, and I was surprised. I thought since the songs were made a long time ago he would sound like the lost Hanson brother, but I was wrong. Jonny is an amazing talent and I can't wait to hear some great new tunes. Keep up the great work, Jonny!! P.S.-If you ever get a chance to go see him in concert, definitely go because he sure puts on a great show!

Getting a lot better, but not quite there yet...
When I first heard "Still Rainin'" on the radio this summer I thought it was pretty good, seeing as how Lang himself doesn't write most of his own songs. I know a lot of people are really in love with this guy, and that's fine, but I personally don't think that Lang's music is THAT wonderful. I think he sounds like a lot of the current crop of blues musicians (i.e. Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Corey Stevens, etc.). He's a real good technician, and one thing that I liked about this new album is that he doesn't sound quite as coached, not quite as mass-produced. Frankly, if I were on the marketing staff at A&M, if I could turn back time, I would've released this album as Jonny's major-label debut and saved "Lie To Me" for an album of unreleased demos and b-sides to come out on the artists' 50th birthday. The songs sound a lot better this time around, but what I can't stand is the way the production team dresses up everything to sound like a pop record, just like they did the first time. I also think "Wander This World" could use some looser drumming. If you heard the cover "Good Morning, Little Schoolgirl" from "Lie To Me", you might get an idea of what I'm talking about. I think that in regards to Jonny Lang, everyone needs to chill out and let this little sprout grow some more before we go hacking the fruit off the vine. Overall, the picture's better, but I still think Lang's music could benefit greatly from a little more textural variety (beyond clavinets and echo pianos) and a little more stylistic variety as well.

Don't Put too Much faith in it
This is a classic example of follow-up disc. In this case, the album has gone too much to the producers. The songs themselves are good, but on most of the tracks, Jonny's voice is so mixed out that you can hardly here him. Which is a shame, because Jonny has an amazing voice. There are some good songs on there, and his guitar playing is good. But compared to Lie To Me, this just seem weak

Age ain't nuthin' but a number
Jonny Lang has it -- whatever it is -- call it musical integrity, roots, passion, feel or a simple and real sense of the song. His age is irrelevant. He had it as a kid and is only getting better and more refined. And his songwriting is just as inspired. I'm a huge fan of the blues and you cannot deny the wondrous blues foundation of Johnny's music. It's in the heart of his performance. No wonder it's so soulful, free-spirited and without any posturing or self-importance. I fell in love with this record on my first play. There's no need to keep Jonny in the traditional 16-bar blues format -- he's got a lot to say and he needs a mosaic of musical styles in which to create. Bravo Jonny! This endorsement comes from a 30-something-year-old singer/songwriter who takes her music very seriously. You have captured my attention and I look forward to all you have to offer now and in the future! You're a breath of much-needed fresh air in this "business" of music.

A CD that will make you a True Lang Fan
A friend gave this CD to me for a birthday present. Since listening to the songs the first time, I have been hooked on Jonny. This CD has everything from Rock/blues, ballads, to Louisana Blues! There is something for everyone. This CD also shows how much this young man is maturing in his talents. A MUST have for anyone that likes good music! It hooked me on this man...and I have no doubt that it will do the same for you!

Walkin' Away, Breakin' Me, Cherry Red Wine, I Am....my very favorites...but ALL are great tunes.

Enjoy your purchase, it's worth every penny! ... Read more

Amazon.com

The title's baloney. Sure, some of Buddy Guy's most blistering guitar playing has been captured on his '90s recordings for Silvertone, but with albums like Muddy Waters's 1964 Folk Singer and his own 1967 solo debut A Man & the Blues on his résumé, Guy's status as a Chicago blues giant was assured long before his 1991 comeback Damn Right, I've Got the Blues. Nonetheless, that tune, the instrumental tribute "Remembering Stevie" (for the late guitar-slinger Vaughan), "Five Long Years," and the previously unissued "Miss Ida B" testify that at age 65 Guy still possesses rare depth and fire. His singing is big and soulful, capable of cheerleading a party or hurtling down to the depths of Delta blues heartache. His six-stringing remains wildly inventive and unpredictable, even on slight numbers like "She's a Superstar." And the inclusion of blatant stabs at the pop charts such as his "Midnight Train" duet with Jonny Lang take nothing away from the passion he puts into true blues performances like "I Need Your Love So Bad" and "Innocent Man," leftovers from earlier sessions that surface here. Baddest or not, this CD spotlights one of our greatest bluesmen in fine form. --Ted Drozdowski ... Read more

Reviews (13)

Buddy is the baddest!!!
To the fan from Vienna, VA: Buddy is not in his 70's. Actually, as of the date I'm writing this, he is 63. Regardless, no one I've ever seen packs as much energy into a live performance as Mr. Guy. And I recommend to anyone who hasn't seen him live, do it before it's too late. He truly is the master!!

Anyway, about this CD. It is a compilation of some of best tracks off his Silvertone recordings of the 90's, plus 5 previously unreleased tracks. Definitely for the more casual fan, who doesn't own "Damn Right I've Got the Blues", "Feels Like Rain", "Slippin' In"(the best of the individual studio Silvertone recordings), and "Heavy Love". Also with the Silvertone label, Buddy released a live album w/the Saturday Live Band called "The Real Deal". The only track on "Buddy's Baddest" from "The Real Deal" is "Let Me Love You". "The Real Deal" is definitely worth buying separate because live is how Mr. Guy is meant to be heard.

Overall, I would say "Buddy's Baddest" is a good introduction to Buddy Guy. If you love it, then follow up with "The Real Deal", the individual Silvertone recordings, "Stone Crazy", and "DJ Play My Blues". Also, you can't go wrong with "Live at Montreaux" or "Drinking TNT and Smoking Dynamite"(better), both live recordings with harmonica legend Jr. Wells.....Enjoy!

The best of Buddy Guy? Not likely
This overview of Buddy Guy's Silvertone recordings ought to be titled "Some of the best of Buddy Guy's 90s tunes, and a few throwaways as well", or something along those lines.

The first ten songs are almost all good, but the four previously unreleased songs aren't among Guy's best work, and since almost all of the previously released material here is taken from just three albums, there is really no good reason to pick up this mediocre sampler. Go with "Damn Right I've Got The Blues" and "Slippin' In" instead, and perhaps the "Feels Like Rain" album, from which "She's Nineteen Years Old" and of course "Feels Like Rain" are taken.
Only one track comes from the forgettable "Heavy Love", which is actually a credit to the compilers, and the last one, the live "My Time After Awhile", is from "Live: The Real Deal".

If you want an overview of Buddy Guy's career prior to his 90s comeback, go for Rhino Records' excellent "The Very Best Of Buddy Guy", or check out the best of his classic Chess singles on MCA/Chess' "Buddy's Blues". This is a decent sampler, but considering that it only spans four studio albums, one of which is bland at best, it is not really that much of a necessity.

could have been more tracks
this cd is a great starter for anyone who is just getting into great blues music (i have been into blues for about 12years) and enjoy everything that buddy guy has recorded. this cd should have contained more tracks, alot of great songs missing on this cd. i give it 5 stars anyway.

Baddest? Best!!!
This album will show you a man that is blues, blues and nothing but blues! Blues comes out his feet, his fingers, from every vain the man has in his whole body! This album is a good way to start if you want to dive into Buddy Guys world of the blues and blues as a whole. Guy combines various blues styles to one, very much his own style. That makes him a true living legend, and I am sure that if you buy this album you're soon will buy the original ones as well!

good collection
of course with greatest hits there are always songs that you feel of great that are left off. the cd kicks off with" damn right ive got the blues" to five long years. good thing that there are three unreleased songs on the cd is why i brought it. good starter cd for any new fans ... Read more

Reviews (43)

Horn Charts! Mr. Acker Bilk! St. James Infirmary Blues!
Yeah, maybe I'd chop off a half star for Van's obsession with his career, but...I've been a fan forever, and this CD, building on his return to form with "Down The Road", is the first Van disc in a long time that I just can't stop playing. His voice, although inevitably pitched down from his youth, is strong and limber; he shouts, moans, blip-blops, swings, goes into under and around the melody, phrases like an ace jazz singer, and blows alto with verve.

The production is top-notch, the horn charts are sweet, gritty, and rousing, the bass lines echo doo-wop and funky R&B. The songs are Van to the hilt; how many other writers could work "existential dread" into a soul/blues piece and get away with it? And the two covers - "St. James Infirmary Blues", done as a drag/blues/moan, and the impossible-to-sit-still "Stop Drinking" - are great.

If you're a fan, you'll love this one. If you're not, pick up this and "Down The Road" to hear Van at his contemporary best, then go back to "Astral Weeks" and "Moondance", and work your way forward.

I can only hope that this first Blue Note disc is a sign of music to come.

Baby, That's Not Rock and Roll
If Al Green is our #1 favorite singer of all time, Van Morrison is #1a. Or vice-versa. To have both release superb new albums at virtually the same time is a double-decker treat. Like Al, Van has never sounded better. Between the 2, just about every sound that man can produce with his voice, every grunt, growl, groan, harrumph, wail, moan, sigh, you name it, is on these records. And it is a blast to listen. As usual, Van surrounds himself with top of the line musicians and gives them more than ample room to stretch. Van himself gets to jam on alto sax and seems to enjoy himself as much playing as singing. Morrison continues to pare down and refine his musical scope. No pipers piping. No ships sailing to or from Caledonia. As he declares in his bluesy and curmudgeonly rant 'Goldfish Bowl', "I'm singin Jazz Blues & Funk, Baby that's not Rock & Roll, Folk with a beat, And a little bit of Soul". As long as he keeps singing with passion like that displayed here, that's enough for us.

Going through the motions
This isn't as bad as the garbage tracks Morrison did to get out of his Bang recording contract (nothing like "Ringworm" in this collection), but this is not even a mediocre Van release. I like most of his releases, even COMMON ONE, INARTICULATE SPEECH, and BEAUTIFUL VISION. Here, Van just seems commited to getting the "product" out on time. DOWN THE ROAD was much stronger, and DAYS LIKE THIS.

I wasn't a fan til now
I went to his concert in Minneapolis 2004 not much of a fan, and purchased this CD prior, to hear some of his latest work, to get aquainted with the performer he is today. The CD was okay. But after seeing him live at an incredible show,this CD is now my new favorite!....He rocks, and in a good way. DRINKING is a particular favourite song. He is not for everyone, but if you aren't familiar with his music, this is the CD to buy...

PERFECTIONIST
I KEEP THINKING HE CAN'T GET ANY BETTER AND HE BLOWS ME AWAY!BEAUTIFUL MIND THAT MAN ... Read more

Amazon.com

Texas guitar-slinger Johnny Winter bares some of his deepest roots on his first album of new recordings since 1998. In a rare turn on acoustic slide six-string, he performs fellow Lone Star State legend Hop Wilson's "That Wouldn't Satisfy" with the sweet, lovely simplicity of a street corner singer. Then Winter plugs in for Lazy Lester's stomping primal rocker "Sugar Coated Love." But after years of health issues, Winter, who's 60, has lost the roaring vocal authority of his earlier albums and no longer takes dizzying solos at jet speed. Instead, he makes all the notes of a tune like "Lone Wolf" count, whether he's crafting a slide melody or literally howling. "The Monkey Song," a playfully sleazy double-entendre number, proves his sense of humor is intact. And harmonica ace James Montgomery, who recently joined Winter's band, provides perfect accompaniment to Winter's vocal and guitar lines. Ex-Stevie Ray Vaughan keyboardist Reese Wynans also contributes to this overdue addition to Winter's dynamic blues-rock legacy. --Ted Drozdowski ... Read more

Reviews (16)

My Style of Blues
Muddy Waters once said that Johnny Winter was the only white man he ever met who understood the blues. There is something about JW's style that I like. It's the rural and southern type of blues I have always preferred. Unfortunately, his voice is not as strong as it was. As a result, he is slightly flat sometimes. But the arrangements are great and his guitar playing is still solid, albeit slower. Johnny Winter uses a thumbpick and finger pick rather than a flatpick to get a fuller country picking effect. My favorite songs are "I'm A Blues Man", "The Monkey Song", and "Let's Start All Over Again." I know he's getting old but let's not forget that Johnny played for Muddy Waters when he couldn't play as well anymore and Debbie Davies played lead for Albert Collins in his later years. The man still has great taste in music and I'm glad he's around.

The most disappointing JW release to date
Every time I see a new Johnny Winter CD, I'm excited to hear what the most amazing guitar player has laid down. Covers or originals, I've never been let down yet. At least until I put this CD in.

While I realize Johnny has been thru a lot over the past few years, my original take on this album is "why did he bother?" The guitar licks lack the trademark intensity, and his tone even sounds compromised. Add to that the mediocre vocals, a far cry from the yellin' style he branded throughout his Muddy and solo days, and this recording does little to satisfy a real Johnny fan.

While I can appreciate the fact that Johnny is still putting out an effort to make more music, I'm disappointed that he hasn't put something more cohesive together for this CD. While his band isn't lacking, he certainly leaves more to be desired.

I certainly wish the best to Johnny and