Music » Modern Blues Music

Those familiar with the Live Adventures album these two recorded at the Fillmore West know how brilliant they could be on stage, and here's another gem, recorded at the Fillmore East this time and featuring 'One Way Out,' 'It's My Own Fault' (with Bloomfield trading licks with Johnny Winter...Johnny was signed to Columbia after this gig!). Newly remastered & now with 4 bonus tracks, 'Albert's Shuffle' (2002 Remix w/o Horns), 'Season of the Witch.' (2002 Remix w/o Horns), 'Blues For Nothing' (Studio Outtake) & 'Fat Grey Cloud' Previously Unreleased Live Track). Features 12-page booklet with unpublished photos from the recording session, new liner notes by Al Kooper & the Rolling Stone Hall Of Fame review by David Fricke. 60 scintillating minutes! 13 tracks. Colunbia/Legacy. 2003.

New York guitar phenom walks tall in the blues tradition with this third album, jettisoning fiery riffs inspired by John Lee Hooker, B.B. King, Elmore James, and Albert Collins into the future with furious playing, a hard-rock sensibility, and a grizzled voice that owes a debt to Gregg Allman. Equally inspired by the Delta blues and the mid-'60s British blues boom, the young firebrand--who titled this CD after a Rod Stewart song penned while in the Jeff Beck Group--is able to fuse those two schools together, creating edgy blues rock. --Jaan Uhelszki

John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton

"The House Is Rockin" on this collection of ten of Stevie Ray Vaughan's very best songs, including the never-before-commercially available "Taxman."
No Track Information Available
Media Type: CD
Artist: VAUGHAN,STEVIE RAY & DOUBLE TROUBLE
Title: GREATEST HITS
Street Release Date: 10/31/1995
Domestic
Genre: ROCK/POP

It sounds like the beginning of a story: "So, Slowhand and the King of the Blues were riding in a car ..." If this is a musical journey, it's the kind that rolls down long, empty stretches of country highway at 80 miles an hour, with the top down and the stereo blasting. Clapton and King may be more city than country, but this collection has the relaxed, laid-back feel that only comes from a pair of veterans doing what they do best. What they do here is cover 12 classic blues songs, many of them staples of King's repertoire, so the title of this album makes sense. Whether it's the rollicking rock & roll of the title track, or the acoustic shuffle of "Key to the Highway," or the sweet notes of "When My Heart Beats Like a Hammer," a real sense of pleasure comes through on this album, the kind of pleasure one gets from jamming late at night with a good friend. --Genevieve Williams

Release Date: 1999-03-23, Audio CD, Sony

Every few years, an acoustic guitar player decides he wants to be the next Robert Johnson and endears himself to the blues world--Rory Block, John Hammond Jr., and Taj Mahal have crossed this road in the past. Veteran backup guitarist Kevin "Keb' Mo'" Moore has the freshest approach to pulling it off, turning Johnson's devil-obsessed classics "Come on in My Kitchen" and "Kindhearted Woman Blues" into friendly folk music on this 1994 debut. Unlike many of the great bluesmen, the personable Moore doesn't aspire to be evil or even rebellious; he writes terrific songs (most notably the opening "Every Morning" and "Dirty Low Down and Bad") and performs them with talent and charisma. --Steve Knopper

Release Date: 1999-03-23, Audio CD, Sony

The real deal is that this is not so much a hits package as a hyped collection of songs that made the charts, album tracks, and rarities like Stevie Ray Vaughan's "Pipeline" duet with surf-rock king Dick Dale. (At least SRV completists no longer have to buy the God-awful Back to the Beach soundtrack.) Blending blues classics, rockers, and instrumentals was a signature of Vaughan's sets, but it doesn't work for these 16 tunes. Lesser numbers like "Empty Arms," "Shake for Me," and "Wall of Denial" seem filler between thrillers like "Telephone Song," "Scuttle Buttin'," and a version of "Leave My Girl Alone" that had been available only on a promotional CD. Remember, Vaughan's recording career lasted seven years--too short a time to merit two hits discs. Yet his guitar acrobatics and gut-deep vocal testimonials are never less than satisfying. --Ted Drozdowski

Release Date: 1992-05-05, Audio CD, Curb Records