PRE-ORDER: This item will be shipped with the aim to deliver on release day.
Release Date: 18 July 2025
Label: Cherry Red
Packaging Type: Clamshell
No of Units: 3
Barcode: 5013929434639
Description
• 63-track box set from a period when the blues was evolving, interacting with rock and soul music and being championed by a new young white audience.
• Key artists include Howlin’ Wolf, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Muddy Waters, Canned Heat, B.B. King, Bo Diddley, The Allman Brothers Band, Freddie King, Big Brother And The Holding Company (featuring Janis Joplin), Etta James, The Electric Flag, Buddy Guy, Ry Cooder, Magic Sam Blues Band, Captain Beefheart And His Magic Band, Ike And Tina Turner and more.
• Includes blues classics such as Howlin’ Wolf’s 'Killing Floor’, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band’s 'Born In Chicago’ (in a rare early version from the 'Folksong 65’ Elektra compilation), Etta James’ 'I’d Rather Go Blind’, Slim Harpo’s 'Baby Scratch My Back’ and B.B. King’s 'The Thrill Is Gone’. Mastering is by Grammy-nominated archivist/producer Alec Palao.
The mid to late 60s was a period of change for blues music, with full amplification the only way to have a chance of an R&B hit. A band needed an electric guitar, drums and often a harmonica played through an amp for a deliberately distorted effect. The concept of the blues guitar hero came into effect with artists whose dexterity encapsulated their appeal. After B.B. King came Buddy Guy (playing here on his own and as part of Junior Wells’ Chicago Blues Band), Otis Rush, Freddie King and increasingly influential white guitarists such as Duane Allman (who plays with Wilson Pickett and Johnny Jenkins as well as The Allman Brothers Band), Mike Bloomfield (included here with The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, The Electric Flag and with Al Kooper) and Ry Cooder (here with Captain Beefheart and solo).
Soul artists including Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin and Johnnie Taylor paid tribute to soul’s blues roots and as America’s black youth increasingly preferred the sound of Motown, white youth adopted the blues, discovered through English bands such as The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds and later Cream and Led Zeppelin.
US bands such as Canned Heat were completely immersed in the blues, others used it as a base for improvisation and psychedelic blues bands including Big Brother And The Holding Company and The Electric Flag (who featured horns) evolved mixing blues with soul and rock, the latter turning Howlin’ Wolf’s 'Killing Floor’ into an anti-Vietnam protest, as the hippy counterculture embraced the blues.
Tracklisting
DISC ONE
1 HOWLIN’ WOLF Killing Floor
2 BO DIDDLEY 500% More Man
3 SLIM HARPO Baby Scratch My Back
4 THE PAUL BUTTERFIELD BLUES BAND Born In Chicago (Folksong 65 version)
5 JUNIOR WELLS’ CHICAGO BLUES BAND Snatch It Back And Hold It
6 OTIS REDDING Rock Me Baby
7 BUDDY GUY Leave My Girl Alone
8 THE LOVIN’ SPOONFUL Night Owl Blues
9 DION Spoonful
10 THE EVERLEY BROTHERS My Babe
11 BOOKER T. & THE MG’S Plum Nellie
12 JOHN LEE HOOKER One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer
13 THE SHADOWS OF KNIGHT Light Bulb Blues
14 ALBERT COLLINS Sno Cone (Part II)
15 JOHNNIE TAYLOR I Had A Dream
16 THE CHARLATANS 32-20
17 JOHN HAMMOND I Wish You Would
18 SLIM HARPO Shake Your Hips
19 CAPTAIN BEEFHEART & HIS MAGIC BAND Sure ’Nuff ’N Yes, I Do
20 CANNED HEAT Rollin’ And Tumblin’
21 THE BLUES PROJECT I Can’t Keep From Crying Sometimes
22 B.B. KING Think It Over
23 ETTA JAMES I’d Rather Go Blind
24 KALEIDOSCOPE You Don’t Love Me
25 THE BUTTERFIELD BLUES BAND Work Song
DISC TWO
1 MAGIC SAM BLUES BAND I Feel So Good (I Wanna Boogie)
2 CANNED HEAT Going Up The Country
3 TAJ MAHAL Statesboro Blues
4 JOHN KAY & THE SPARROW Twisted
5 BIG BROTHER & THE HOLDING COMPANY Piece Of My Heart
6 THE ELECTRIC FLAG Killing Floor
7 MUDDY WATERS Tom Cat
8 JOHNNY WINTER Mean Town Blues
9 OTIS RUSH Gambler’s Blues
10 WILSON PICKETT Born To Be Wild
11 JAMES GANG Funk #48
12 STEPPENWOLF Hoochie Coochie Man
13 MIKE BLOOMFIELD - AL KOOPER Stop
14 LONNIE MACK Roberta
15 THE J. GEILS BAND Pack Fair And Square
16 J.B. HUTTO & HIS HAWKS WITH SUNNYLAND SLIM Speak My Mind
17 QUICKSILVER MESSENGER SERVICE – Who Do You Love Part 1
18 BLOOD, SWEAT & TEARS I’ll Love You More Than You’ll Ever Know
19 BLUE CHEER Parchment Farm
20 MC5 Motor City Is Burning
DISC THREE
1 IKE & TINA TURNER The Hunter
2 THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND Whipping Post
3 ARETHA FRANKLIN Why I Sing The Blues
4 FREDDIE KING Yonder Wall
5 HOWLIN’ WOLF Evil
6 B.B. KING The Thrill Is Gone
7 J.J. CALE Call Me The Breeze
8 MUDDY WATERS Blues And Trouble
9 BO DIDDLEY Elephant Man
10 TONY JOE WHITE Boom Boom
11 JOHNNY JENKINS I Walk On Guilded Splinters
12 RY COODER Alimony
13 BUDDY MILES EXPRESS Train
14 KING CURTIS & THE KINGPINS Whole Lotta Love
15 CHAIRMEN OF THE BOARD Chairman Of The Board
16 DR. JOHN Where Ya At Mule
17 ZZ TOP (Somebody Else Been) Shaking Your Tree
18 FREDDIE KING Going Down
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