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Landmark early 70s Buddy Guy on Vanguard! Titles include "Watermelon Man", "Hold That Plane", "I'm Ready", "You Don't Love Me", "Come See About Me", "Hello San Francisco" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

Not the Bay Area effort you might guess from the title – and instead a sweet Chicago session that's easily one of the funkiest records that Buddy Guy ever cut! There's a great mix of funk and soul mixed in with the blues – thanks to arrangements from Charles Stepney and Gene Barge, who groove Buddy up in the same new funky mode that Howlin Wolf and Muddy Waters got from Chess Records at the same time. A few cuts are more stripped-down and classic – but most have this great tight groove, with instrumentation by Stepney on some surprisingly funky drums, plus Matt Murphy on guitar, Phil Upchurch on bass, and Gene Barge on tenor sax. Titles include "Goin Home", "Buddy's Groove", "She Suits Me To A Tee", "Every Girl I See", "Too Many Ways", "Crazy Love", "Keep It To Myself", and "When My Left Eye Jumps". LP, Vinyl record album

Buddy Guy reached much bigger fame on later labels, but he sounds pretty darn great here in a set of early recordings done for Chess – all sides recorded in the first half of the 60s, when Buddy represented one of the best talents in a new generation of bluesmen rising up in Chicago! The style here is tighter and a bit more urban than some of the Chess work of the 50s – less rootsy overall, with saxophone often sliding next to the guitar – in a wickedly soulful mode that's got elements of R&B in the mix. Titles include "My Time After A While", "Ten Years Ago", "Watch Yourself", "Stone Crazy", "I Found A True Love", "First Time I Met The Blues", and "No Lie". LP, Vinyl record album

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The incredible mid 60s album from blues singer and harp blower Junior Wells and his Chicago Blues Band with Buddy Guy! This is a most pivotal set in which Junior & his players don't sound as if they're trying to imbue blues tradition with urban grit and electricity – it simply seems to happen naturally, and you can really imagine when you hear this how it blue the minds of so many Brit and American rock & blues fellows who would come the recast the style with their own life and experiences, and pretty much take over popular music with it. Titles include "Snatch It Back & Hold It", "In The Wee Wee Hours", "Hey Lawdy Mama", "Hoodoo Man Blues", "Yonder Wall", and "Chitlin Con Carne". CD

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We love our Buddy Guy here in Chicago – and this set cut for Vanguard, one of his first full solo albums with his own band will always be a favorite! Buddy's late 60s sound was as charismatic as he'd always be, but there's an understated approach to his lead that's really wonderful, and hits us much deeper than the showy, guitar solo heavy stuff that the blues club tourists want to hear! He's got the great Otis Spann playing piano, Wayne Bennett on rhythm, Jack Myers on bass, Lonny Taylor and Fred Below on drums, and Donald Hankins, Aaron Corthen and Bobby Fields on saxes. Titles include "A Man And His Blues", "I Can't Quit The Blues", "One Room Country Shack", "Just Playing My Axe", "Worry, Worry", "Jam On A Monday Morning" and more. CD

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We love our Buddy Guy here in Chicago – and this set cut for Vanguard, one of his first full solo albums with his own band will always be a favorite! Buddy's late 60s sound was as charismatic as he'd always be, but there's an understated approach to his lead that's really wonderful, and hits us much deeper than the showy, guitar solo heavy stuff that the blues club tourists want to hear! He's got the great Otis Spann playing piano, Wayne Bennett on rhythm, Jack Myers on bass, Lonny Taylor and Fred Below on drums, and Donald Hankins, Aaron Corthen and Bobby Fields on saxes. Titles include "A Man And His Blues", "I Can't Quit The Blues", "One Room Country Shack", "Just Playing My Axe", "Worry, Worry", "Jam On A Monday Morning" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

We're not normally ones to rave about electric blues albums, but this one's a lot nicer than you might think – recorded with plenty of deep soul touches, and even a dose of funk in the right places! We hate to admit it, but a big part of the credit here goes to Eric Clapton – who produced most of the record and gives Buddy and Junior a tightness that's missing from some of their other records of the time. There's almost a post-Cream sort of groove to the record – that "hipper than rock" sensibility that colored many of Clapton's old group members' projects for Atlantic in the years after Cream disbanded. But of course, Buddy Guy & Junior Wells are the real stars of the set – and the record's good enough to make even jaded Chicago residents like us appreciate their talents here! Titles include "A Poor Man's Plea", "My Baby She Left Me", "A Man Of Many Words", "I Don't Know", and "This Old Fool". LP, Vinyl record album

A strangely rootsy set from Buddy and Junior Wells, with the surprise addition of Junior Mance on piano – all recorded with a "live in studio" feel that's even sparer than some of the pair's other studio work! The tracks are done in very much the down-home electric mode that was still burning in the southside clubs of Chicago a few years before – and although the set was clearly recorded for the college crowd, it's a lot freer from hoke than you might expect! Titles include "Five Long Years", "Riffin", "Talkin Bout Women Obviously", and "Ain't No Need". LP, Vinyl record album

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Although we were never big fans of Buddy, we can endure him for this nice relaxed Verve session, because it offers some great playing by Prez in a very stripped down setting. The record also features an obscure pianist named "Aye Guy", who is actually Nat King Cole – not named on the cover because of contractual reasons! Cole and Young trade lines in a very nicely relaxed format, and even though the record's mostly all standards ("The Man I Love", "Mean To Me", "I've Found A New Baby", etc), the group works well with the material. The one original track – "Back To The Land" – is a live improvised one, recorded in the studio with no overdubs, and with great results! LP, Vinyl record album

Classic mid 50s jazz takes on Gershwin! As the title indicates, the session features Buddy DeFranco and Oscar Peterson – but the real guy we wanna thank here is arranger Russ Garcia! Unlike some of the other Verve "soloist with the Peterson Trio" albums of the 50s, this one is more of a shared effort that has Buddy and Oscar both acting as soloists over larger backings directed by Garcia. Russ takes a lot of cues from Ralph Burns on the session – and like Burns on earlier Verve recordings, he sets things up so that the orchestrations never overwhelm the players – and instead simply augment their moods and shade in the colors of the tunes. We especially like Peterson in this format – as he was so often recorded heavily in trio format – but DeFranco is great too, snaking out over the top of the strings with a lean and angular tone on clarinet. Players include Herb Ellis, Ray Brown and Bobby White, augmented by wind & strings. Titles include "S Wonderful", "Strike Up The Band", "I Wants To Stay Here", "Someone To Watch Over Me", "I Was Doing All Right", "I Got Rhythm", "The Man I Love", and "It Ain't Necessarily So". LP, Vinyl record album

Slim may have "Memphis" in his name, but the set's a reunion with southside Chicago players Buddy Guy & Junior Wells – recorded in France in 1970, when the players were backing up the Rolling Stones on tour! The album also features AC Reed and Jimmy Conley on saxes – and has a full modern electric blues sound, of the sort that Guy and Wells would popularize strongly in the 70s. Most titles are originals credited to Peter Chatman – and titles include "Good Time Charlie", "When Buddy Comes To Town", "You Called Me At Last", "You're The One", "No", and "Help Me Some". LP, Vinyl record album

A great follow-up to the Doldinger Jubilee album of a few years previous – easily one of the most successful Passport records for Atlantic, thanks to a host of great guest stars! The format is followed again for this recording too – by augmenting the core Passport quartet with players that include Philip Catherine on guitar, Johnny Griffin on tenor, and Les McCann on Fender Rhodes – plus a surprising bit of vocals and guitar from Buddy Guy! Les steps out on their rendition of his "Compared To What" – and other tracks are more fusion-centrist numbers in the Passport mode – with titles that include "Albatros Song", "Abracadabra", "Jadoo", and "Angel Wings". LP, Vinyl record album

Features collaborations with Moby, Buddy Guy, John Mayer, Van Hunt, Joss Stone, Will I Am, Maroon 5, The Roots, Chuck D, D'Angelo, Issac Hayes, and others! CD

2 Muddy Waters classics! On the first record, the Big Bill in the title is Big Bill Broonzy – a key influence on midcentury bluesmen all over the US, and paid tribute to nicely here by Muddy Waters! Given this tribute approach, the sound's a bit rootsier than some of Waters' other work for Chess at the time – a bit more emphasis on some of the acoustic elements in the instrumentation, and a recording style and approach to rhythm that's sometimes a bit more down home than postwar Chicago. Many titles are Broonzy originals, and titles include "Tell Me Baby", "Southbound Train", "Just A Dream", "Double Trouble", "I Feel So Good", "I Done Got Wise", and "Mopper's Blues". Folk Singer is a seminal album by Muddy – recorded in a style that's rootsier, and more down to earth than a lot of his other chess sides! Muddy's playing acoustic guitar, and the rest of the group features Buddy Guy, Willie Dixon, and Clifton James. The sound is really spare, and very moody – and tracks include "You Gonna Need My Help", "Cold Weather Blues", "Feel Like Going Home", and "My Home Is In The Delta". CD

Music from BB King, Charles Brown, Lightnin Hopkins, Memphis Slim, Johnny Otis, Canned Heat, Buddy Guy, Joe Liggins, Joe Turner, Roy Brown, Dr John, Pee Wee Crayton & more. CD

Music from Sonny Boy Williamson, Willie Dixon, Otis Rush, Muddy Waters, Junior Wells, Howlin' Wolf, Bo Diddley, Sunnyland Slim, Willie Mabon, Buddy Guy, Elmore James & more. CD

Two classics by Muddy Waters – back to back on a single CD! On the first record, the Big Bill in the title is Big Bill Broonzy – a key influence on midcentury bluesmen all over the US, and paid tribute to nicely here by Muddy Waters! Given this tribute approach, the sound's a bit rootsier than some of Waters' other work for Chess at the time – a bit more emphasis on some of the acoustic elements in the instrumentation, and a recording style and approach to rhythm that's sometimes a bit more down home than postwar Chicago. Many titles are Broonzy originals, and titles include "Tell Me Baby", "Southbound Train", "Just A Dream", "Double Trouble", "I Feel So Good", "I Done Got Wise", and "Mopper's Blues". Folk Singer is a seminal album by Muddy – recorded in a style that's rootsier, and more down to earth than a lot of his other chess sides! Muddy's playing acoustic guitar, and the rest of the group features Buddy Guy, Willie Dixon, and Clifton James. The sound is really spare, and very moody – and tracks include "You Gonna Need My Help", "Cold Weather Blues", "Feel Like Going Home", and "My Home Is In The Delta". CD

54 tracks from this rare Chicago blues label – including some unissued material! Music from Otis Rush, the Clouds, Shakey Horton, Sunnyland Slim, Little Willie Foster, Harold Burrage, Magic Sam, Betty Everett, Shakey Jake & Willie Dixon Band, Ike Turner's Kings Of Rhythm, Buddy Guy & more. CD

Music from Muddy Watersm Jimmy Rogers, John Lee Hooker, Bo Diddley, Buddy Guy, Elmore James, Sonny Boy Williamson, Albert Collins, Bobby Blue Bland, Howlin Wolf, John Mayall's Bluesbreakers & BB King. CD

A fantastic collection of rockers from the Decca/Coral family of labels – companies that gave the world key recordings by Buddy Holly and the Johnny Burnette Trio – and who also had a huge commitment to other lesser-known acts as well! This overstuffed package is a great illustration of the wealth of material that Decca, Coral, and Brunswick recorded back in the late 50s and early 60s – a time when they seemed to have a very open door policy with both rockabilly and hillbilly artists – who they often recorded with the raw power that you might normally find with a smaller indie label. If you know the classic sound of "Train Kept A Rollin" by Johnny Burnette, you'll know what these guys are capable of – and even though that track's not here, there's plenty more great numbers – including "Big Town" by Ronnie Self, "Crazy Dream" by Terry Noland, "Broke Down Baby" by The Tyrones, "Rock Of Gibraltar" by Hank Penny, "Man Hunt" by Dodie Randle, "Where'd You Stay Last Night" by Joe Hudgins, "Gonna Have Myself A Ball" by Lance Roberts, "Honky Tonk Freeze" by Sandy Coker, "The Raven" by Jackie Brooks, "Midnight Monster Hop" by Jack & Jim, "Blue STreet" by Arnie Derksen, and "Tarzan" by Glenn Reeves. 33 tracks in all! CD

Jimi Hendrix brings his cosmic cool and electric psychedelic swirl to Christmas and New Years! Jimi is backed by bass player Billy Cox and drummer Buddy Miles on the "Little Drummer Boy/Silent Night/Auld Lang Syne" medley – recorded at a rehearsal session in late December 1969 – this is no lame label or radio requested holiday tie-in, nope, the guys were really into it that night! This little 3 track EP Includes a 4 1/2 minute version of that and a 7 1/2 minute extended version, bookending Hendrix's own fun "Three Little Bears", backed by Noel Redding & Mitch Mitchell in May of '68. 12-inch, Vinyl record

The debut album by Weezer! The now-dubbed Blue Album was released at the height of the post-Nirvana rock era, with whom the much more enthusiastic Weezer even shared label – and that very enthusiasm made them heroes to some and pariahs to others at the time. Now, of course, it's a classic – a prime example of nerdy guys with electric guitars living the dream. Produced by elder nerd turned rock god Ric Ocasek of The Cars. Includes "My Name Is Jonas", "No One Else", "Buddy Holly", "Undone - The Sweater Song", "Surf Wax America", "Say It Ain't So", "Holiday", "In The Garage" and "Only In Dreams". LP, Vinyl record album