Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Give Me Back My Wig - Hound Dog Taylor
2. No Cuttin' Loose - James Cotton
3. Black Cat Bone - Albert Collins, Johnny Copeland
4. Big Chief - Professor Longhair
5. That's Why I'm Crying - Koko Taylor
6. Double-Eyed Whammy - Tinsley Ellis
7. I'm Free - Lucky Peterson
8. These Blues Is Killing Me - A.C. Reed, Stevie Ray Vaughan
9. Rain - Charlie Baty
10. Look But Don't Touch - Kenny Neal
11. Fannie Mae - Elvin Bishop
12. Serves Me Right to Suffer - Jimmy Johnson
13. Leavin' - Siegel-Schwall Band
14. Born in Louisiana - Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown
15. Leaving Your Town - Charlie Musselwhite
16. Drowning on Dry Land - Roy Buchanan
17. If I Hadn't Been High - Detroit Junior
18. Trouble in Mind - Big Walter Horton

Disc 2:

1. Brick - Albert Collins
2. Pussycat Moan - Katie Webster
3. You Don't Exist Any More - Lil' Ed & the Blues Imperials
4. Second Hand Man - Carey Bell, Junior Wells
5. I've Got Dreams to Remember - Delbert McClinton
6. Going Down to Big Mary's - The Paladins
7. 300 Pounds of Heavenly Joy - Big Twist & the Mellow Fellows
8. Going Back Home - Son Seals
9. Strike Like Lightning - Lonnie Mack
10. Middle Aged Blues Boogie - Saffire -- The Uppity Blues Women
11. Eyeballin' - Lonnie Brooks
12. Full Moon on Main Street - Kinsey Report
13. Crow Jane - Sonny Terry
14. I'm the Zydeco Man - Clifton Chenier
15. You Don't Know What Love Is - Fenton Robinson
16. Blues After Hours - Pinetop Perkins
17. Boot Hill - Johnny Winter

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #121493 in Music
• Released on: 1991-07-01
• Number of discs: 2

Customer Reviews

Some good old blues
Amazon keeps inter-mixing the reviews for the 'Alligator Records 20th Anniversary Collection' album and the similarly named 'Alligator Records 20th Anniversary tour' album. So I will include a review of both here to set the record straight.

The 'Collection' album is by far superior to the 'tour' album. The collection has many artists on show and offers a bit of everything. The best tracks are AC Reed's 'These blues are killing me' with SRV brilliant on guitar, Little Charlie and the Nightcats with 'Rain', Roy Buchanan's classic 'Drowning on dry land', Koko Taylor with 'That's why i'm crying', Katie Webster with 'Pussycat Moan', Son Seal with 'Going back home' and Hound Dog Taylor and the classic 'Give me back my wig'. The album is uneven as you would expect for a label show case but well worth it as a introduction to a variety of blues styles and artists.

The 1993 20th aniversary tour album has only Li' Ed, (the late) Kattie Wester, Elvin Bishop, Lonnie Brooks and Koko Taylor. The album does typify Alligator records music that by my definition is mostly reasonable blues without being great. This live album has plenty of energy and is listenable, but fails to scale the heights I expect of the blues.

I discovered most of my favorite blues artists from this CD
Alligator records has some serious talent on it's label. Many of them are big names that you will recognize if you have been into blues for very long. I have tried samplers from other blues record labels and have been very disappointed with the mediocre talent on their label. Usually there are only one or two people -out of fourteen or fifteen - that stand out on other blues samplers. You will recognize that the vast majority of artists on Alligator Records are true talents - even if you don't like their style. This album is definitely worth the investment.

They're all here
The reviewer who said that SRV was not on this set obviously did not read the liner notes, which indicate that SRV played on the Lonnie Mack tracks from the Strikes Like Lightening sessions. The other artists the reviewer stated that were not there ARE, but are not the featured artist on the tracks.

I bought this set, and the 25th, when they came out and was really wowed by what I heard. Houndog Taylor is my favorite, followed closely by Koko Taylor and Albert "Master of the Telecaster" Collins. There is some really fine musicianship, great feel, and real respect for the blues displayed on this set.
Higly recommended.