"When Blues Met Rock: The Electric Sound from the '50s to the '80s"

I bought this CD at a Starbucks in Watertown, NY last week. It's a collection of old electric blues and blues rock tracks, some classic, others relatively obscure. This kind of music was very popular in its day and probably still retains a lot of fans, including me. It's interesting to hear some of these tracks again after many years, and others for the first time. It's a nice retrospective collection.

The CD begins with Elmore James doing his great classic number, "Dust My Broom". This isn't the original version but another from later in the 1950s, hard-driving but a little less basic. James apparently recorded the tune a lot.

Next is "Fleetwood Mac's "Black Magic Woman." Back in the 1970s I had a 2-Lp set released under that title, which comprised the first 2 late-60s Fleetwood Mac albums. I listened to it a lot, so much in fact that I didn't really need a copy of this track, even though I hadn't heard it in many years. The tune is an original composition by the guitarist Peter Green, which was later covered by Santana.

Next is The Animals' version of Sam Cooke's "Bring It On Home To Me'; not bad but a little too dated for repeated listening, in my opinion. Or maybe I just don't much care for Eric Burdon's vocal approach. The liner notes state, accurately, that he "offers grit where Cooke delivered grace".

Canned Heat's "On the Road Again" is a terrific track that I remembered as an AM radio hit but hadn't heard since. One of the more interesting rock updates of old country blues that I've heard, with a sitar in the mix as well. Very listenable.

The Yardbirds' "I Ain't Done Wrong" is a strong, flashy mid-60s British blues record. A good choice.

Van Morrison's "T.B. Sheets" is a long lament for a sick person; the singer can barely stand it. This is another one I had back in the '70s and listened to a lot. Oddly, I think it suffers a bit in this context. I find myself listening to it more as music, less as a report from the heart on a devastating situation. The emotional impact seems lessened, somehow. Morrison for me is one of those performers whose records always seem quite personal. I'm not sure why that is diminished in this case, but for some reason it is. Anyway, the "Bang!" recordings he did before "Astral Weeks" included some good, powerful music, and this track is an example.

Sonny Boy Williamson's "Bring It On Home" is one of the 3 or 4 tracks by genuine old time masters of electric blues. Good stuff.

Stevie Ray Vaughan's "Pride and Joy" is excellent guitar-dominated blues rock, by one of the great guitar heroes. For some reason I never listened much to Vaughan, so it's nice to have this.

Paul Butterfield is another of the major figures of this kind of music that I never listened to much in my explorations of the genre back in my youth. "One More Heartache" is an enjoyable track, in a style that is not as dated as some included here. (I.e., some of the British recordings.)

Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper's longish instrumental version of "Albert's Shuffle" is well played but not very exciting to me. Influential, no doubt.

The Allman Brothers Band's live "Trouble No More" is a classic, as far as I'm concerned. I got a CD copy of "Eat a Peach" last year, having played the heck out of my vinyl copy back in the '70s. I haven't gotten tired of this track and I don't expect to.

Jethro Tull's "A Song For Jeffrey" is an odd one. An OK eccentric '60s track.

B.B. King's "The Thrill Is Gone" is a great classic record, possibly the best thing in this collection.

Taj Mahal's "Statesboro Blues" is fine, and an obvious source of the Allman Brothers Band version on their live "Fillmore East" album.

Chicken Shack's "I'd Rather Go Blind" is for me one of the most interesting things on this CD. The singer is Christine Perfect, later Christine McVie of the '70s Fleetwood Mac, and the track is a strong if dated arrangement of a melancholy R&B tune, with organ playing the chord progression and some nice electric guitar. I might get tired of this, but for now it's quite enjoyable.

Finally, Johnny Winter's "Be Careful With a Fool", flashy guitar and Winter's shouting vocal.

Some real thought obviously went into programming this collection. There are various connections among the performers and recordings that make it more interesting than a less unified "blues -> rock" retrospective. An obvious absentee is Eric Clapton, perhaps the biggest star of this kind of music, but that's ok. The tracks are almost all very strong and the collection as a whole is highly listenable.

looking back on the initial post

It's unsatisfactory. "Gritty" is inadequate and a cliche.

initial post; "My Dreams Out in the Street" by Kim Addonizio

Having created the blog, I'll enter this initial post. It's 9:25 pm and almost midsummer. Outside my window the sky is a deep blue. The sun has gone down after a mainly drizzly and cool day that cleared up in the end, but the stars aren't out yet. Maybe it didn't clear up as much as I thought.

I came down here into my basement office to mess around with the computer after putting down the novel I'm currently reading, "My Dreams Out In the Street" by Kim Addonizio. It's a literary novel about street people in San Francisco, gritty and realistic but romantic as well. And it includes some very nice writing. There is a blurb from Andre Dubus III that starts out "Kim Addonizio writes like Lucinda Williams sings", and the comparison seems apt. I found the book on the "staff recommendations" shelf at a local public library branch.