Track Listing

1. Cross Road Blues - Robert Johnson
2. Muddy Water (A Mississippi Moan) - Bessie Smith
3. Devil Got My Woman - Skip James
4. Evil (Is Going On) - Howlin' Ron Wolf
5. (I'm Your) Hoochie Coochie Man - Muddy Waters
6. Boom Boom - John Lee Hooker
7. Death Letter Blues - Son House,
8. Hard Times (No One Knows Better Than I) - Ray Charles
9. I'd Rather Go Blind - Etta James
10. Thrill Is Gone - B.B. King
11. All Your Love - Eric Clapton, John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers
12. One Good Man - Janis Joplin
13. Red House - The Jimi Hendrix Experience
14. One Way Out [Live] - The Allman Brothers Band
15. Pride and Joy - Double Trouble, Stevie Ray Vaughan
16. Am I Wrong - Keb' Mo'
17. Just Won't Burn - Susan Tedeschi
18. Voodoo Music - Los Lobos
19. Vietnam Blues - Cassandra Wilson
20. Round and Round - Bonnie Raitt
21. I Pity the Fool [Live] - Shemekia Copeland, Robert Cray

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12485 in Music
• Released on: 2003-08-26
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Soundtrack

Customer Reviews

The Blues has your number ~ Martin Scorsese"
Chuck full of the music you've been waiting for "Best of the Blues", featuring originals on originals. Spanning decades is just what the doctor ordered ~ best medicine from the likes of Ray Charles, Etta James, Robert Johnson, Bessie Smith, Skip James, Howlin' Ron Wolf, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Son House, B.B. King, Eric Clapton, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Allman Brothers Band, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Keb' Mo', Susan Tedeschi, Los Lobos, Cassandra Wilson, Bonnie Raitt and Shemekia Copeland. Featuring 21 essential recordings covering the last half-century of the blues, with a few pleasant surprises.

This CD is proof, once and for all ~ that the "BLUES" was then, is now and IS FOREVER ~ we've hit pay-dirt...and that folks, is the truth, plain and simple...gotta love it!!

Total Time: 65:22 on 21 Tracks ~ UTV Records ~ (8/26/2003)

the VERY Best of the Blues!
If I had to put together a compilation of great Blues music, I would have Track 1 be Robert Johnson's Cross Road Blues, then I'd have Bessie Smith, followed by Skip James, then Howlin' Wolf, finishing up the compilation with the 'new' Blues of Bonnie Raitt, Robert Cray, Shemekia Copeland... well, heck! Lookee here! The Best of the Blues soundtrack has absolutely EVERY Blues tune I'd want if I were limited to 21 tracks. No slouchers here -- best of the old and best of the new! You've got to have this CD!

disappointing
While this compilation starts off well, the last few tracks are misguided at best. Susan Tedeschi is blues for soccer moms(do soccer moms get the blues?) and while Los Lobos is one of my favorite bands ever, I wouldn't immediately associate them with this type of music. A track by Taj Mahal, Little Charlie and The Nightcats, Charlie Musselwhite, Corey Harris, T-Bone Walker, Lightin' Hopkins, Mose Alison or the version of Fleetwood Mac that featured Peter Green (and the list goes on...) would have rounded the disc out in a more complete fashion.

The series of "essential" blues compilations The House of Blues label released a few years ago or the Blues Masters series on Rhino Records would be a better place for the novice to start.