Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Monkey See, Monkey Do - Coco Montoya
2. Drive to Survive - Jimmy Thackery
3. Think - Magic Slim & the Teardrops
4. That Spot Right There - Carey Bell
5. Howlin' at the Moon - Debbie Davies
6. Tricky Woman - Jimmy Rogers
7. She's Cold as Ice - Roy Rogers
8. Terraplane Blues - John Lee Hooker
9. Don't Move the Mountain - Gospel Hummingbirds
10. I Need a Real Man - E.C. Scott
11. Had Enough - Tommy Castro
12. Right Place, Wrong Time - Otis Rush
13. Messin' with the Kid - Buddy Guy, Junior Wells
14. Wastin' Time - Chubby Carrier
15. Big Girl Blues - Joanna Connor
16. Worried Life Blues [#] - Pinetop Perkins
17. Take Me Back - James Cotton
18. Should I Wait? - Luther Allison

Disc 2:

1. Two Time Boogie - Studebaker John & the Hawks
2. My Heart Bleeds Blue - Deborah Coleman
3. Hey Sweet Baby - Chris Cain
4. Harpin' on a Riff - Charlie Musselwhite
5. Cold Chills [#] - Henry Gray
6. Vierge - Al Rapone
7. I Won't Be There - Preacher Boy
8. Blues Come to Texas - Johnny Shines
9. I Got Something on You Baby - Smokey Wilson
10. I Been Thinkin' - Eddie C. Campbell
11. That's My Baby - Eddy Clearwater
12. Bad Thing - Sarah Brown
13. If I Could Reach Out (And Help Somebody) - Otis Clay
14. Old Time Shuffle - Boogie Woogie Red
15. Crazy 'Bout My Baby - Pryor Snooky
16. I Wonder [#] - Roosevelt Sykes
17. If I Get Lucky [#] - Big Walter Horton
18. Let's Rock! - Commander Cody

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #74911 in Music
• Released on: 1997-07-05
• Number of discs: 2
• Dimensions: .40 pounds

Amazon.com
One would expect a label's two-CD collection, no matter how assiduously picked, to have some low points. It's inevitable, one might think; even the most selective record labels have produced some duds. But on the 20th Anniversary Collection from Blind Pig Records, such low points are non-existent. It's a testimony to the label's exacting standards and the many reels of quality blues they've recorded over their first 20 years. There's something for everyone on this set, from traditional acoustic blues (check out Johnny Shines's rendition of "Blues Come to Texas"), to modern rockers (Jimmy Thackery and the Drivers' "Drive to Survive," for instance). Many up-and-coming artists are featured here, including Deborah Coleman ("My Heart Bleeds Blue") and Debbie Davies ("Howlin' at the Moon"), counterbalanced with plenty of old hands such as Carey Bell ("That Spot Right There") and John Lee Hooker ("Terraplane Blues"). There's even a rousing "La Vierge" from zydeco accordionist Al Rapone. All in all, while it's possible that not everything here will appeal to every taste, there's definitely something here for everyone. --Genevieve Williams

Customer Reviews

Disk 1: ****1/2 Disk 2: ***
This is a great introduction to the works of many important blues artists currently recording on the #2 blues label in the business at the present. It is a terrific value for a double cd containing 140 minutes of music and 36 tracks, costing less than $....

Disk 1 has some really excellent artists and songs. My favorites were by Coco Montoya (nice wailing, screaming guitars similar to Tinsley Ellis), Magic Slim and the Teardrops (ratchets Chicago blues up a notch for extra loudness and impact - great band live), John Lee Hooker (a slow, mournful accoustic version of Terraplane Blues), Joanna Connor (Very loud, aggressive yet precise slide playing, with excellent vocals. Joanna is the best female guitarist on the planet - she makes Tedeschi and Curfman sound like frightened children learning to play guitar), outstanding harp playing by James Cotton and the greatest blues guitarist ever, Luther Allison (although his Alligator Records recordings are superior. Actually, many of these artists have also recorded on Alligator, including James Cotton, Charlie Musselwhite, Big Walter Horton, Carey Bell, Junior Wells, and Pinetop Perkins). I was a bit disappointed by Jimmy Thackery and the Drivers' hit "Drive to Survive" as it wasn't really blues, but classic Southern rock and not as exciting as all the rave reviews claimed. The two tracks by the Gospel Hummingbirds and E.C. Scott were poor and designed for the NEXT TRACK button on the remote.

The second disk is really the B-side collection, both of Blind Pig's artists and their songs. Most of these songs are only moderately interesting blues numbers and they tend to blend in together unnoticeably in the background. The first track, by Studebaker John and The Hawks, was a good, hard edged boogie. The best song on the whole disk was the second, My Heart Bleeds Blue, by Deborah Coleman, featuring a great tune and extremely skilled and emotional guitar playing; I will definitely buy several of her CD's. I don't usually like Charlie Musselwhite (I find his voice too deep and dull) but surprisingly, I really enjoyed his Harpin' On A Riff. Preacher Boy's I Won't Be There was pretty interesting - sort of a combination of accoustic John Lee Hooker and R.L. Burnside with a stranger voice). I honestly can't remember any of songs 9-17(despite listening to the disk half a dozen times) and while a few of those songs were by well known blues musicians such as Eddy Clearwater and Big Walter Horton, the relative anonymity of the remaing artists is not likely to change, judging by their relatively tame, low keyed styles. Commander Cody's Let's Rock was quite a decent blues rocker and finished off the second disk on a high note.

I would recommend this disk because there are bound to be at least a handful of tracks here that will satisfy any blues fan regardless of the style of blues he or she prefers. I'm also betting that most purchasers of this disk will buy at least a couple of the albums from which the songs on this compilation were pulled (assuming they don't already own them). If you had to buy just one compilation CD, I would recommend either Alligator's 20th Anniversary or 25th Anniversary Collections over this one, as they are both more consistently enjoyable with very few fillers. I would rate this collection about even with Alligator's recent 30th Anniversary Collection, which is a slight downslide from the previous collections. Even so, this is a very solid double disk and I don't think many blues fans will have any regrets in purchasing this one.

BUY IT!
Outstanding blues cd. The only anamoly, in my opinion, is "Howlin' At The Moon," by Debbie Davies. Her voice, at least on this recording, is very weak in contrast to the music. Other than that, this is one of my favorite cd's and I highly recommend it.

Blind Pig finds the truffles
Like with Alligator, you can't go wrong with the Blind Pig anniversary sets. This 2 cd-set jams all the way through. While some may not agree with every song selection, I think they did a great job of presenting a historical overview of their artists while presenting current songs also. A good set that blues lovers will want to own.