This compilation album acts as a first-class introduction to one of the most influential of bluesmen. His guitar playing certainly had a hand in the work of Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton – the latter stating “He was my pilot.”
These tracks cover the first five years of his recording career where he initially recorded on Artistic before moving on to Chess with whom he would be associated through the bulk of the 60s. It was a decade that saw him work with Junior Wells, an association destined to produce some of the finest music of the genre.
This is not totally authentic blues all the way, for such tracks as Hully Gully, Slop Around and Baby (Baby, Baby, Baby) show a sharp awareness of commercial demands and the current dance crazes of the day. But purists would have been more than satisfied with material such as Baby Don’t You Wanna Come Home, First Time I Met The Blues and Stone Crazy (the latter running over seven minutes and allowing him to stretch out in a typically raw manner).
Discography
Baby Don’t You Wanna Come Home; Try To Quit You, Baby; When My Left Eye Jumps; Slop Around; Let Me Love You Baby; Hully Gully; Watch Yourself; This Is The End; First Time I Met The Blues; Hard But It’s Fair; I Got My Eyes On You; Ten Years Ago: American Bandstand (aka American Bandstand Thing); You Sure Can’t Do; Baby (Baby, Baby, Baby); Stone Crazy (47.59)
Personnel includes Buddy Guy (g, v); Ike Turner (g); Willie Dixon (b); Little Brother Montgomery (p). Chicago, 1958-1962.
Blues Joint 8007
