Showing posts with label Bobby Blue Bland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bobby Blue Bland. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Top 50 Blues Albums of All Time

Blues:

The Top 50 Albums

This list started as a post on the DMDB Facebook page (Top 10 Blues and Blues/Rock Albums) on 2/23/2010. The list has since been expanded by aggregating more than 50 lists focused on blues and blues/rock albums. This list focuses on those albums which scored higher on the blues lists. Albums which made three or more lists were then sorted by overall status in Dave’s Music Database.

Check out other best-of-genre/category lists here.

1. Robert Johnson The Complete Recordings (compilation: 1936-37, released 1990)
2. Howlin’ Wolf Moanin’ in the Moonlight/Howlin’ Wolf (aka ‘The Rockin’ Chair Album’) (compilations: 1951-62, released in 1959 and 1962) *
3. Bessie Smith The Essential (compilation: 1923-1933, released 1997)
4. B.B. King Live at the Regal (live, 1964)
5. John Mayall & the Blues Breakers Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton (1966)
6. Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble Texas Flood (1983)
7. Charlie Patton Founder of the Delta Blues (compilation: 1929-34, released 1969)
8. Muddy Waters At Newport (live, 1960)
9. Robert Cray Strong Persuader (1986)
10. Albert King Born Under a Bad Sign (1967)

11. Eric Clapton: From the Cradle (1994)
12. Bobby “Blue” Bland Two Steps from the Blues (1956-60)
13. Willie Dixon/various artists The Chess Box (compilation: 1951-69, released 1988)
14. Elmore James The Sky Is Crying – The History of (compilation: 1951-63, released 1993)
15. Junior Wells Hoodoo Man Blues (1965)
16. Paul Butterfield Blues Band Paul Butterfield Blues Band (1965)
17. Muddy Waters The Chess Box (compilation: 1947-72 released 1989)
18. Skip James The Complete Early Recordings (compilation: 1930-31, released 1994)
19. Howlin’ Wolf His Best: The Chess 50th Anniversary Collection (compilation: 1951-64, released 1997)
20. Little Walter His Best: The Chess 50th Anniversary Collection (compilation: 1952-60, released 1997)

21. Howlin’ Wolf The Chess Box (compilation: 1951-73, released 1991)
22. Magic Sam West Side Soul (1967)
23. Albert Collins Ice Pickin’ (1978)
24. B.B. King Live in Cook County Jail (live: 1970, released 1971)
25. B.B. King His Definitive Greatest Hits (compilation: 1951-93, released 1999)
26. Etta James At Last (1961)
27. Muddy Waters Folk Singer (1964)
28. Muddy Waters Hard Again (1977)
29. Muddy Waters The Anthology (compilation: 1947-72, released 2001)
30. John Lee Hooker The Legendary Modern Recordings (compilation: 1948-54, released 1993)

31. Memphis Minnie Bumble Bee: The Essential Recordings (compilation: 1929-41, released 1997)
32. B.B. King Singin’ the Blues (1956)
33. Albert King Live Wire/Blues Power (1968)
34. T-Bone Walker T-Bone Blues (1959)
35. Blind Lemon Jefferson King of the Country Blues (compilation: 1926-29, released 1990)
36. Gary Moore Still Got the Blues (1990)
37. Robert Cray Bad Influence (1983)
38. Sonny Boy Williamson II Down and Out Blues (1959)
39. Blind Lemon Jefferson Best of (compilation, released 2000)
40. Gus Cannon’s Jug Stompers Best of (compilation: 1928-30, released 2001)

41. Mississippi Fred McDowell I Do Not Play No Rock and Roll (1969)
42. Huddie “Leadbelly” Ledbetter King of the 12-String Guitar (recorded 1935, released 1991)
43. Albert Collins with Robert Cray & Johnny Copeland Showdown! (1985)
44. Freddy King Let’s Hide Away and Dance (1961)
45. Otis Spann Is the Blues (1960)
46. Willie Dixon I Am the Blues (1970)
47. Magic Sam Black Magic (1968)
48. Hound Dog Taylor & the Houserockers Hound Dog Taylor & the Houserockers (1971)
49. Sonny Boy Williamson II His Best (compilation: 1955-65, released 1986)
50. Freddy King Freddy King Sings (1961)

* These were initially released as two separate albums, but are now typically packaged together.

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Lists Focused on Blues Albums:

First posted 9/10/2018; last updated 3/19/2024.

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Sunday, August 22, 2021

Dave's Music Database Hall of Fame: Albums (Aug. 2021)

Originally posted 8/22/2021.

January 22, 2019 marked the 10-year anniversary of the DMDB blog. To honor that, Dave’s Music Database announced its own Hall of Fame. This month marks the eleventh group of album inductees. These are amongst the top twenty blues albums of all time, excluding previous inductees Robert Johnson’s The Complete Recordings, Bessie Smith’s The Essential, and Charley Patton’s Founder of the Delta Blues.

See the full list of album inductees here.

Muddy Waters At Newport (live, 1960)

Inducted August 2021 as “Top Blues Albums.”

This was “a great breakthrough moment in blues history.” AMG “Though his ‘50s recordings…revolutionized modern blues, it wasn’t until his raw, plugged-in steer blew up the Newport Folk Festival that whites in America gave Muddy (and the blues) proper respect.” VB “This was many white folks’ first exposure” BL “to live recorded blues.” AMG It was also significant because “the jazz audience opened its ears and embraced Chicago blues.” AMG Read more.

Bobby “Blue” Band Two Steps from the Blues (recorded 1956-60, released 1961)

Inducted August 2021 as “Top Blues Albums.”

“Two Steps from the Blues is the definitive Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland album and one of the great records in electric blues and soul-blues. In fact, it’s one of the key albums in modern blues, marking a turning point when juke joint blues were seamlessly blended with gospel and Southern soul, creating a distinctly Southern sound where all of these styles blended so thoroughly it was impossible to tell where one began and one ended.” STE Read more.

Howlin’ Wolf Moanin’ in the Moonlight/Howlin’ Wolf (aka “The Rockin’ Chair Album”) (1959/1962)

Inducted August 2021 as “Top Blues Albums.”

Howlin’ Wolf’s first two albums were compilations covering the years 1951 to 1962. Amongst the songs are “How Many More Years,” “Smokestack Lightning,” “Spoonful,” and “The Little Red Rooster,” all of which have been inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame. In the CD era, they were packaged as one release, making for an effective overview of “the cream of Wolf’s Chicago blues work.” SC Both albums have been inducted in the Blues Hall of Fame. Read more.

B.B. King Live at the Regal (recorded live 1964, released 1965)

Inducted August 2021 as “Top Blues Albums.”

B.B. “King, who has been called ‘The King of the Blues’ and the ‘best blues artist of his generation,’ has been a primary influence on a number of artists, including Buddy Guy, Eric Clapton and Mike Bloomfield.” NRR “King is not only a timeless singer and guitarist, he’s also a natural-born entertainer, and on Live at the Regal the listener is treated to an exhibition of all three of his talents.” DG The album was significant in King’s career because it graduated him from a largely black following to a much larger white audience. Read more.

John Mayall’s Blue Breakers Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton (1966)

Inducted August 2021 as “Top Blues Albums.”

“Rarely has any single record album induced such a shift in popular music.” LP This is “perhaps the best British blues album ever cut.” BE It reinvented “the American blues for a fresh audience” LP giving “rise to subgenres such as heavy metal and other roots-related rock.” LP The album significantly featured guest Eric Clapton on his “first fully realized album as a blues guitarist,” BE coming in between his stints with the Yardbirds and Cream. His work “catapulted him” LP “to the helm of the burgeoning British blues-rock scene” LP and “international exposure as well as legendary guitar rock idol status.” LP Read more.

Albert King Born Under a Bad Sign (1967)

Inducted August 2021 as “Top Blues Albums.”

This Grammy Hall of Fame and National Recording Registry inductee features two songs (“Born Under a Bad Sign,” “Crosscut Saw”) which are Blues Hall of Fame inductees. The album marked King’s arrival at Stax Records where he recorded with Booker T & the MG’s and found the crossover appeal he’d previously been missing. AllMusic.com’s Stephen Thomas Erlewine calls this “one of the very greatest electric blues albums of all time.” AMG Read more.

Willie Dixon The Chess Box (compilation: 1951-69, released 1988)

Inducted August 2021 as “Top Blues Albums.”

“Songwriter, producer, and talent scout, singer-bassist Willie Dixon essentially built Chicago's Cobra and Chess labels with his sweat.” AZ This collection features 13 different artists including Bo Diddley, Howlin’ Wolf, Little Walter, Koko Taylor, and Muddy Waters, but with one unifying theme – all of these songs are written by Dixon, making a case for him to be crowned “king of the blues composers.” BF Read more.

Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble Texas Flood (1983)

Inducted August 2021 as “Top Blues Albums.”

“Produced by legendary talent scout John Hammond,” TD1 Texas Flood “captures the rising guitar star” TD1 “as rockin’ blues purist.” TD2 “Critics claimed that, no matter how prodigious Vaughan’s instrumental talents were, he didn’t forge a distinctive voice” STE but “that was sort of the point of Texas Flood. Vaughan didn’t hide his influences; he celebrated them, pumping fresh blood into a familiar genre” STE and becoming the “torchbearer of the ‘80s-‘90s blues revival.” TD2 Read more.

Robert Cray Strong Persuader (1986)

Inducted August 2021 as “Top Blues Albums.”

Strong Persuader, Cray’s fifth studio album, was his mainstream breakthrough, opening up blues to a wider audience than it had received in decades. The Village Voice, Robert Christgau called it “the first album to break out of the genre’s sales ghetto since B.B. King was a hot item” WK and “the best blues record in many, many years.” WK Read more.

Eric Clapton From the Cradle (1994)

Inducted August 2021 as “Top Blues Albums.”

No white man did more to expose blues to mass audiences than Eric Clapton. Before launching his solo career, his work with groups virtually established the blues-rock genre. As a solo artist, he regularly slipped blues covers into his albums. When his Unplugged album became the most successful of his career, selling 20 million copies and winning the Grammy for Album of the Year, he used his new-found clout to record his first all-blues cover album. Whle “he doesn’t have the strength to pull off Howlin’ Wolf’s growl or the confidence to replicate Muddy Waters’ assured phrasing” STE “the album manages to re-create the ambience of postwar electric blues, right down to the bottomless thump of the rhythm section.” STE Read more.
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Friday, January 3, 2020

Today in Music (1950): Sun Records opened

January 3, 1950

Sun Records opened.

Sam Phillips opened the Memphis Recording Service in Memphis, Tennessee, on January 3, 1950. The building served as the headquarters for the failed Phillips Records and his later Sun Records label. He used the studio to record amateurs such as B.B. King, Howlin’ Wolf, and Junior Parker and then sold their performances to larger record labels. During its 16-year run, Sun produced 226 singles and more rock and roll records than any of its contemporary record labels. WK One of the most significant songs to come out of Sun was “Rocket 88” by Jackie Brenston & His Delta Cats. The song was released by Chess in 1951 and has been called the first rock and roll record by some historians.

Phillips was interested primarily in the blues, an art form which he thought both white and black people understood. As he said, it was how people “relieved the burden of what existed day in and day out.” WK In addition to the blues artists mentioned above, Bobby “Blue” Bland, Little Milton, and Rufus Thomas recorded there.

Part of the company’s appeal, however, was its broad range of genres. Sun has become most associated with launching the careers of more rockabilly-oriented artists like Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Roy Orbison. Of course, the label benefited most from its discovery of Elvis Presley. When Sun was experiencing financial trouble in 1955, Phillips famously sold Elvis’ contract to RCA Records. The sale helped boost some of the other artists, most notably the distribution for Carl Perkins’ “Blue Suede Shoes”, the first national hit for Sun Records.

In 1959, Phillips Recording opened to replace the old facility. Phillips sold the label in 1969. Gary Hardy reopened the original building in 1987 as Sun Studio and attracted artists such as U2, Def Leppard, Ringo Starr, and Bonnie Raitt. In 2003, the building was recognized as a National Historic Landmark.

Resources:

First posted 1/3/2012; updated 12/30/2023.

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Saturday, January 1, 2011

Today in Music (1961): Bobby “Blue” Bland Two Steps from the Blues released

Two Steps from the Blues

Bobby “Blue” Bland

Released: January 1, 1961

Recorded: 1956-1960

Peak: --

Sales (in millions): --

Genre: blues

Tracks:

Song Title (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to charts.

  1. Two Steps from the Blues (1960)
  2. Cry, Cry, Cry (10/10/60, #71 US, #9 RB)
  3. I’m Not Ashamed (5/4/59, #13 RB)
  4. Don’t Cry No More (7/24/61, #71 US, #2 RB)
  5. Lead Me On (4/11/60, #9 RB)
  6. I Pity the Fool (2/6/61, #46 US, #1 RB)
  7. I’ve Just Got to Forget You (1960)
  8. Little Boy Blue (10/6/58, #10 RB)
  9. St. James Infirmary (1960)
  10. I’ll Take Care of You (12/21/59, #89 US, #2 RB)
  11. I Don’t Want No Woman (recorded 1/22/57)
  12. I’ve Been Wrong So Long (1960)

Rating:

4.189 out of 5.00 (average of 13 ratings)

Quotable:

“One of the key albums in modern blues” – Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

Awards:

(Click on award to learn more).

About the Album:

“Without a doubt, Two Steps from the Blues is the definitive Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland album and one of the great records in electric blues and soul-blues. In fact, it’s one of the key albums in modern blues, marking a turning point when juke joint blues were seamlessly blended with gospel and Southern soul, creating a distinctly Southern sound where all of these styles blended so thoroughly it was impossible to tell where one began and one ended.” STE

From 1956 to 1960, Bland had some success on the R&B charts – five of those songs are gathered here. He also recorded two albums (Blues Consolidated and Like ‘Er Red Hot) for Duke Records. WK He moved to Chicago in 1960, WK and recorded another seven songs at Universal Studio which would be compiled on this album. WK

The first session, on August 3, 1960, produced Two Steps from the Blues, Cry, Cry, Cry, and the ballad I’ve Been Wrong So Long, WK on which biographer Charles Farley praised Wayne Bennett as “the most articulate blues guitarist ever.” WK At a November 12 session, the crew recorded a cover of Joe Primrose’s St. James Infirmary and “the moody” I’ve Just Got to Forget You,” WK which didn’t emerge until 1970 as the B-side of “Keep on Loving Me (You’ll See the Change).” WK That session also produced Don’t Cry No More with a faster rhythm, and the Joe Medwick-penned I Pity the Fool. WK

The new songs were done at Universal Studio with “a tight, well-rehearsed, bombastic, blues band.” WK Joe Scott, producer and arranger, crafted the “wailing horn arrangements that sounded as impassioned as Bland’s full-throated, anguished vocals.” STE These songs “form the core of Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland’s legend and the foundation of soul-blues.” STE They “blur the division between Ray Charles soul and Chess blues, opening the doors for numerous soul and blues sounds, from Muscle Shoals and Stax through the modern-day soul-bluesman.” STE

Mojo’s Geoff Brown said: “No song is wasted and hardly a note sounds false as Bland's blues-wearied voice, driven to anguished screams, grapples with the vicissitudes of life and love, his torment echoed and bolstered by Joe Scott’s memorable horn arrangements.” WK

“Since this, like many blues albums from the late ‘50s/early ‘60s, was a collection of singles, it’s possible to find the key tracks, even the entire album, on the numerous Bobby ‘Blue’ Bland collections released over the years, but this remains an excellent, essential blues album on its own terms – one of the greatest ever released.” STE

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First posted 5/29/2008; last updated 3/17/2024.

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