An album named after a genre, but one that offers up the very special focus that BB King brought to blues music – especially in these early years of his career! King's a giant at this point – a hell of a singer, with a sound that's a key bridge between gospel and soul – and a equally solid guitarist, able to grace his tunes with searing solos, but in a way that's never as showy or overcrowded as all the later bluesmen who tried to copy his act! Instead, King's balance here is perfect – and often set to romping backings that link his approach not only to a postwar R&B tradition, but maybe even to the jazz world as well – with a vibe that's a lot less downtrodden than you might expect from a record called "the blues". If you've never dug BB at this early point in his career, you'll find plenty here to love – and titles include "When My Heart Beats Like A Hammer", "What Can I Do", "Troubles Troubles Troubles", "Early In The Morning", "You Don't' Have To Cry", and "Why Do Everything Happen To Me". CD features bonus tracks – "Sweet Little Angel", "Tickle Britches", "I'm In Love", "Bye Bye Baby", "Don't Keep Me Waiting", and "Don't Break Your Promise". CD

Solid electric blues from the great Earl Hooker – a great guitarist who played this weird double-neck electric, making for lots of weird sounds and wobbly bits on the record! There's not as much funk as we know it on the set, but the whole thing's got the down and dirty feel of other sides on the Blues On Blues label – rootsy and indie, and a good indication that the Chicago scene still had some quality to it in the 70s. Titles include "Ball Game On A Rainy Day", "Wa Wa Blues (parts 1 & 2)", "Soul Cookin", and "Hooker Cooker". LP, Vinyl record album

Music from Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five, Joe Liggins & His Honeydrippers, Roy Milton & His Solid Senders, Nat "King" Cole Trio, Cecil Gant, Charles Brown with Johnny Moore's Three Blazers, Ivory Hunter* with Johnny Moore's 3 Blazers, T-Bone Walker with Marl Young & His Orchestra, Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup, Julia Lee with Tommy Douglas' Orchestra, Helen Humes with Bill Doggett's Octet, Dinah Washington with Lucky Thompson's All Stars, and more - 36 songs in all. (Jazz, Blues) CD

An incredible record from Bobby Blue Bland – and quite possibly the greatest one he ever made! The set's got an amazing something special that's unlike most other material of the time – a bit blues, but a lot of soul too – still with some echoes of R&B in the jazzier charts used for the backdrop, but presented with a rock-solid style that definitely points the way towards many sounds and styles to come in the 60s. And although Bland recorded many of these tracks as separate singles, there's a way they're put together here that makes the whole thing sound completely marvelous together – a really well-conceived track list that shows that Bobby's an even greater artist in the space of a full record. The arrangements are perfect, and Bobby's rough soulful voice is blended in this amazing way with killer horn arrangements that are far more sophisticated than most stuff that ever came after this, and which never get in the way, but only back up his deep emotion. The album's a motherlode of classics by the man, with gems that include "Two Steps From The Blues", "Cry Cry Cry", "I Don't Want No Woman", "I'm Not Ashamed", "Don't Cry No More", "Lead Me On", and "I Pity The Fool". And hell, even his version of "St James Infirmary" is pretty wonderful – something we never thought we'd say about that song. LP, Vinyl record album