The title is a bit of a ringer, since this isn't a collaborative effort in any way, shape, or form. Muddy & the Wolf contains a half-dozen live Muddy Waters tracks with backing from Mike Bloomfield, Paul Butterfield, and Otis Spann, the material culled from the Fathers & Sons sessions. The set also features tracks by Howlin' Wolf from his London sessions with Eric Clapton and Ringo Starr. File under "just OK."

More from Joe Louis Walker's searing Slim's engagement, Live at Slim's, Vol. 2 includes Joe Louis ripping through Ray Charles' "Don't You Know," and Little Milton's "Love at First Sight," and Rosco Gordon's overworked "Just a Little Bit," along with his own gems. Huey Lewis turns up again as the harpist on Walker's version of Haskell Sadler's "747."

Bob Margolin's goal with this CD was to perform the type of blues-oriented music that he plays at home for his family. Through overdubbing, he is very much a self-sufficient one-man band. The variety of music that he performs spans several idioms, ranging from jump blues and "I'll Be Glad When You're Dead, You Rascal You" to lowdown blues, Bob Dylan's "Tears of Rage," a few songs reminiscent of Muddy Waters (with whom he played regularly for seven years) and an occasional instrumental. Margolin's musicianship is impressive, his vocals are heartfelt, his originals are colorful and his spoken word story on "You Never Know" is realistic while containing a moral. This CD is easily recommended for blues fans.

Mission accomplished, with The Soul Of The King making a bracing return to some of King's greatest cuts. There's a heartfelt turn from Michael Lee on The Thrill Is Gone. Mary Griffin and Taj Mahal combine their vocal and guitar talents on Paying The Cost To Be The Boss. Kenny Neal lends poignant vocals and licks to Sweet Little Angel. 'Recording with the different artists and the band was an enlightening experience,' reflects Harvey. 'Everyone came in prepared, but when Mary Griffin came to record, she came in all bubbly - and nailed her vocals in two takes.'

Stevie Ray Vaughan had always been a phenomenal guitarist, but prior to In Step, his songwriting was hit or miss. Even when he wrote a classic modern blues song, it was firmly within the genre's conventions; only on Soul to Soul's exquisite soul-blues "Life Without You" did he attempt to stretch the boundaries of the form. As it turns out, that was the keynote for In Step, an album where Vaughan found his own songwriting voice, blending blues, soul, and rock in unique ways, and writing with startling emotional honesty…

Born in Alexandria, Egypt and migrated to Perth in 1963, Ivan Zar was drawn to the Blues at an early age and taught himself the harmonica and Delta Blues style Guitar. In 1968, he formed his first band "King Biscuit Co", as well as writing his own songs. After playing in several bands, Ivan formed a band called The Elks in 1975, which was to introduce the Chicago style of Blues to the mainstream. The band toured the South West and across to major cities in the Eastern States. They had the opportunity to support B.B King, Rory Gallagher, Joe Cocker and Ike and Tina Turner, and recorded an album Refer to Drawer, which is now a sought after Australian Blues album by blues affeciandos. In 1981, Ivan recorded some of the material that he had written and worked in a duo with Brian Fitzgerald called The Deltatones…

For the middle album of his Johnny Winter-produced, late-'70s musical trilogy, blues giant Muddy Waters brought a new spirit to some familiar material. Starting with members of Waters' touring band – pianist Pinetop Perkins, bassist Bob Margolin, and drummer Willie "Big Eyes" Smith – Winter added underrated guitarist (and longtime Waters foil) Jimmy Rogers and extraordinary harp player Big Walter Horton to the mix. The songs recorded for I'm Ready offer a mix of new material and vintage hit singles like the title cut, the mid-'60s jewel "Screamin' and Cryin'," or the Willie Dixon-penned "I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man." Waters and band provide these well-worn gems with a little new studio polish, but it is with the newer songs that the performers really shine.

Canned Heat - Live At Montreux 1973 (2011) {Eagle Records EAGCD450}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 400 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 159 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 120 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1973, 2011 Eagle Records | EAGCD450
Rock / Blues Rock / Boogie Rock / Modern Electric Blues

A fine little blues-rock jug band from the 1960s, Canned Heat had already been bitten hard by the rock & roll tragedy bug, losing key member Alan "Blind Owl" Wilson to a fatal drug overdose by the time they'd made their sole appearance at Montreux in 1973. Luckily for history's sake, the great bluesman and multi-instrumentalist Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown was on hand to step in with the band for this appearance, sparking things along nicely, and luckily, too: the set was filmed and recorded, eventually appearing on both DVD and CD, making it, particularly because of Brown's contributions, a valuable and fun archival historical release.

Best known for his association with Muddy Waters in the 1970s, Steady Rollin' Bob Margolin is reunited with three other former Waters sidemen on this inspired solo effort: pianist Pinetop Perkins, bassist Calvin "Fuzzy" Jones, and drummer Willie "Big Eyes" Smith. The title sums it up - the album may have been recorded in various parts of the South, but the style is pure, unadulterated Chicago blues. A number of gutsy originals are included (most notably, "She and the Devil" and "Born in the Wrong Time") along with such time-honored Muddy Waters classics as "Mean Disposition," "She's So Pretty," and "Rollin' and Tumblin." As enjoyable as the band recordings are, the most inspired offering is the unaccompanied solo number "Born in the Wrong Time"….

As part of MCA's Chess Records 50th Anniversary series, Buddy's Blues sweats Guy's multi-disc retrospective, The Complete Chess Studio Recordings down to a scintillating 15-track package and comes up with a bare-bones winner. There are loads of great guitar on classics like "First Time I Met the Blues," "Let Me Love You Baby," "Pretty Baby," "My Time After Awhile," "Stone Crazy," and Guy's voice is at its whiplash exuberant best. Unexpected bonuses pop up in the comp's kickoff track, a full-length version of "Worried Mind," issued here without the overdubbed applause and crowd noises that accompanied its original release on Folk Festival of the Blues (see Muddy Waters' entry). Also noteworthy is Junior Wells' appearance on chromatic harp on "Ten Years Ago," and Guy's stellar guitar behind Lacy Gibson's vocal on a Buddy Guy original, "My Love Is Real."

Broke, Black & Blue delivers multiple surprises within its 100 songs of prewar blues. Arranged chronologically by Joop Visser, the set admirably covers the first 22 years of recorded blues, 1924 to 1946, from vaudeville and Delta to boogie-woogie and jump blues. It's a swell gift for anyone wanting to learn more about the history of blues. But old-timers will be pleased, too, as special attention has been paid to culling rare and idiosyncratic tracks by the well-known and the obscure. The first three discs present single tracks by artists as diverse as the Memphis Jug Band, De Ford Bailey, Tommy Johnson, Son House, Skip James, Peetie Wheatstraw, Lonnie Johnson, and Bukka White, alongside unknowns such as Isaiah "The Mississippi Moaner" Nelson, Barbecue Bob and Laughing Charley, Ed Andrews, Chicken Wilson, and Bumble Bee Slim. On the fourth disc, this convention is jettisoned to luxuriate in a series of very rare sides of lovely, oddly subdued boogie-woogie and jump blues by Jimmie Gordon, Johnny Temple, and Lee Brown.

Six time 'Blues Award' winner Duke Robillard is one of the most respected blues and roots music guitarists working today. Guests on Blues Full Circle include Jimmie Vaughan, Sugar Ray Norcia and Kelley Hunt. Robillard has worked with Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, Roomful Of Blues, Fabulous Thunderbirds and dozens of blues legends. “On Blues Full Circle, Duke Robillard slams out the blues like the all-time great he is, with impeccable support.”

Rooted in the Blues and spanning out to include a variety of rock, tropical and blues styles, while using all the spare keys available to an accomplished guitarist, this music rocks, rolls and captures emotions. Jimmy Thackery has been writing and performing his original music for over 40 years, hitting the stages of large venues and getting down at your favorite neighborhood bars. An impeccable crowd pleaser, his loyal fans never miss the chance to see his live performances, and he relishes their commitment by giving the best show possible every time he and The Drivers set the downbeat. Spare Keys is a showcase of Jimmy's styles, many of which he gained by playing with and learning from some of the famous original Bluesmen, such as Muddy Waters and Otis Rush. Jimmy leads you on an emotional journey through the jungle, around some heartache and into the floating clouds that you'll want to ride as long as possible.