Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Lollypop Mama - Clarence Samuels
2. Bilbo Is Dead - Andrew Tibbs
3. Johnson Machine Gun - Sunnyland Slim
4. Fly Right, Little Girl - Sunnyland Slim
5. Little Anna Mae - Muddy Waters
6. I Can't Be Satisfied - Muddy Waters
7. My Sweet Lovin' Woman - Robert Nighthawk
8. I Feel Like Going Home - Muddy Waters
9. She Ain't Nowhere - Sunnyland Slim
10. Florida Hurricane - St. Louis Jimmy
11. Memory of Sonny Boy - Forest City Joe
12. Tonky Boogie - Forrest Sykes
13. Cryin' the Blues - Laura Rucker
14. My Head Can't Rest Anymore - Baby Face Leroy
15. Big Town Playboy - Johnny Jones
16. Sweet Black Angel - Robert Nighthawk
17. Rollin' Stone - Muddy Waters
18. Luedella - Jimmy Rogers
19. Mother Earth - Memphis Slim
20. Dr. Ross' Boogie - Doctor Ross
21. Joliet Blues - Johnny Shines
22. Moanin' at Midnight - Howlin' Wolf
23. All Night Long [Alternate Take] - Muddy Waters
24. Mr. Commissioner [Alternate Take] - Arbee Stidham
25. Getting Old and Grey - Howlin' Wolf

Disc 2:

1. Walkin' the Boogie [Alternate Take] - John Lee Hooker
2. Juke - Little Walter
3. Conjur Man - Memphis Minnie
4. Who's Gonna Be Your Sweet Man When I'm Gone - Muddy Waters
5. Broken Heart [Alternate Take] - Memphis Minnie
6. Truckin' Little Woman - Willie Nix
7. Funeral Hearse at My Door - Rocky Fuller
8. Hard Time Gettin' Started - Eddie Boyd
9. Don't Need No Horse - Little Walter
10. Eight Ball - Gus Jenkins
11. Fast Boogie - Little Walter
12. I'm Mad - Willie Mabon
13. Ice Cream Man - John Brim
14. Whose Muddy Shoes - Elmore James
15. Got to Have It - Willie Mabon
16. I Declare That Ain't Right - Henry Gray
17. Remember - Alberta Adams
18. Blues With a Feeling - Little Walter
19. (I'm Your) Hoochie Coochie Man - Muddy Waters
20. Forty-Four - Howlin' Wolf
21. Got to Find My Baby [Alternate Take] - Little Walter
22. Evil - Howlin' Wolf
23. Reconsider Baby - Lowell Fulson
24. Mama Talk to Your Daughter - J.B. Lenoir

Disc 3:

1. Mellow Down Easy - Little Walter
2. My Eyes (Keep Me in Trouble) - Muddy Waters
3. My Baby - Little Walter
4. You Got to Love Me - Billy Boy Arnold
5. Walking the Blues - Willie Dixon
6. Don't Start Me to Talkin' - Sonny Boy Williamson
7. Smokestack Lightning - Howlin' Wolf
8. Twenty-Nine Ways to My Baby's Door - Willie Dixon
9. Right to Love You - Paul Gayton, Myrtle Jones
10. Ain't Nobody's Business - Jimmy Witherspoon
11. I'm Leaving You - Otis Spann
12. Break of Day - Howlin' Wolf
13. Please Don't Go - Floyd Dixon
14. Keep It to Yourself - Sonny Boy Williamson
15. Walking by Myself - Jimmy Rogers
16. Got My Mojo Working - Muddy Waters
17. Fattening Frogs for Snakes [Alternate Take] - Sonny Boy Williamson
18. Slow Leake - Lafayette Leake
19. Sitting on Top of the World - Howlin' Wolf
20. She Don't Know - J.B. Lenoir
21. Your Funeral and My Trial - Sonny Boy Williamson
22. Key to the Highway - Little Walter
23. Double Trouble [Alternate Take] - Muddy Waters
24. Come on Home - Eddie Boyd
25. Goat [Band Track] - Sonny Boy Williamson
26. So Many Roads, So Many Trains - Otis Rush

Disc 4:

1. First Time I Met the Blues - Buddy Guy
2. Too Poor - Detroit Junior
3. Blue Shadows - Lowell Fulson
4. Shakedown - Lloyd Glenn
5. Sun Is Shining [Alternate Take] - Elmore James
6. Calling on My Darling - Albert King
7. Red Rooster - Howlin' Wolf
8. Nine Below Zero - Sonny Boy Williamson
9. Goin' Down Slow - Howlin' Wolf
10. Satisfied - Little Milton
11. Something's Got a Hold on Me - Etta James
12. Wrinkles - The Big Three Trio
13. Bring It on Home - Sonny Boy Williamson
14. Good Moanin' Blues - Big Walter Horton
15. Killing Floor - Howlin' Wolf
16. What Kind of Man Is That? - Koko Taylor
17. We're Gonna Make It - Little Milton
18. Wang Dang Doodle - Koko Taylor
19. Dirty Work Goin' On - Little Joe Blue
20. One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer - John Lee Hooker
21. Jinglin' Baby - Eddie "Guitar" Burns
22. That's Why I Don't Mind - Muddy Waters
23. Keep It to Myself - Buddy Guy
24. Sitting Here Alone - Hound Dog Taylor, Hound Dog Taylor
25. I'd Rather Go Blind - Etta James

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #15429 in Music
• Released on: 1993-02-02
• Number of discs: 4
• Format: Box set

Customer Reviews

Blues 101!!!
All right, students, now pay attention! Put down that racing form and pay attention right now! This here Chess Blues box set contains exactly 101 tracks. How appropriate! That makes this collection a sort of unofficial college course entitled Blues 101, and Professors Wolf, Waters, James, and Jacobs (Little Walter), etc., etc., will be your blues instructors. You will learn the Fundamentals of Blues Harp, with Little Walter ("Juke") and Sonny Boy Williamson II ("Don't Start Me to Talkin'") as your master teachers. Over here, we have a course entitled Mellow Blues, with Willie Dixon ("Walkin' the Blues") and Jimmy Witherspoon ("Ain't Nobody's Business") showing you how it's done. Then, we have instruction in Blues and the Female Voice, with Koko Taylor ("What Kind of Man Is That," "Wang Dang Doodle") and Etta James ("Somethings Got A Hold Of Me," "I'd Rather Go Blind") as your teachers. Finally, what great university would be complete without Master Classes and the best professors in the business Muddy Waters ("Got My Mojo Workin'," "I Can't Be Satisfied," "My Eyes (Keep Me in Trouble"), Howlin Wolf ("Killin' Floor," "Evil," "Going Down Slow"), and John Lee Hooker ("Walkin' the Boogie," "One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer") holding court for your edification. No, there is no blues university, but if there was one, the above masters would surely be the instructors and Chess Blues would certainly be the required text. As I said, it's packed with an amazing 101 songs, many of the best blues tracks ever recorded. There are a few clunkers, but very few. You will spend many enjoyable hours listening to this collection. (Trust me, it takes a few hours to listen to 101 songs once!) Get it today, and enroll in the best blues education money can buy!

Absolutely Essential Compilation
If you're a new listener to post-War urban blues, or are unfamiliar with the Chess label and its subsidiaries, you must buy this box set. If, on the other hand, you're like me and your CD and LP collections contain scores of re-issues of individual artists who recorded for Chess, Checker, and the like...you must buy this box set. Do not fear over-duplication. This is no mere collection of the "best of" each artist included in the set, but is a true cross-section of styles and artists recorded during the incredibly important two decades after World War II by the Chess brothers. Major artists--Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Little Walter, et al--are represented by several songs each, ranging from their earliest to their later recordings. Most impressive, though, is the breadth of artists, major and minor, and the quality of the song selection. From the gritty Robert Nighthawk to the urbane Lloyd Glenn to the soulful Etta James, the creators of this collection have managed to bring together some of the most interesting, moving, and important recordings of the post-War era. Put the discs into your player and you'll hear famous classics like Otis Rush's "So Many Roads, So Many Trains," as well as unnoticed gems like Willie Dixon's "Walking the Blues" (a little gimmicky, but a rare chance to hear some terrific unaccompanied riffs by Lafayette Leake). The quality of the music is almost matched by the very informative booklet, which contains some terrific photos. If you don't want to spend the money on a box set, get someone to buy it for you.

A terriffic addition to your blues collection
This handsome boxset, complete with a large booklet, is a superb addition to your blues collection, even if you already have the best of the major Chess artists such as Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf and Sonny Boy Williamson II.

There are bound to be some tracks, especially by Waters and the Wolf, that overlap with what most blues lovers already own, but the "Chess Blues" compilers have done a very fine job assembling dozens of rarer tracks by artists like Robert Nighthawk, Sunnyland Slim, Otis Rush, Memphis Minnie McCoy, Lowell Fulson, Willie Mabon, Elmore James, Jimmy Oden and many others. And these high quality tracks, which make up the vast majority of the 101 cuts, make "Chess Blues" a very welcome supplement to the many available compilations featuring Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Sonny Boy Williamson II and Little Walter Jacobs.