Certainly wouldn't disagree with "One Kind Favour" being in there.

A remarkably high quality album by any standards, and BB King makes the age of 82 seem like an attribute not a hindrance.

I know so few of these albums - I have a lot to catch up on still.

No Keb Mo?

Below are the albums in the list that I have listened to, and I guess it's because these are the Blues artists I've seen in person in the last few years (and it's missing John Mayall (and the Bluesbreakers) - who I saw at the "Turning Point" - a small club very  near to where I used to work, and I got my second signature (first signature was from Les himself on the back of the headstock in 2007 when I saw him in NYC at the Iridium jazz club - RIP Les!) on my Les Paul from John (who was just hanging out at the back - all by himself! -before the show, and I couldn't believe it was him as he looked LONELY and no one was talking to him!) so I went up to the guy - because he sure looked like John Mayall - and sure enough he WAS. 

He had a couple of piles of recent CD's of his - and I bought one of those and asked him to sign it - and I had brought the scratchplate from my Les Paul with me, and he was happy to sign that too for me, and the I got to talk with him for a bit, and told him how much I appreciated his music and the wonderful things he had done for the Blues, as he really was one of the main people who got the British Blues THING going, and then it came back to the US where it started, and THEN because BIG, which Clapton and Hendrix and Green, etc taking it up and making it something popular in the country where it started (but most of us were totally ignorant of it, except those in Chicago and down south in Mississippi and the states around there). Mayall played the Turning Point a lot - partly because the club was named after one of his albums by that name! 

But I'm still amazed at how alone he was before the show for so long…. man, if Clapton has been there, he's be MOBBED (he wouldn't show his face except on stage just to avoid that as he's naturally shy, I'm pretty sure).  But the guy who he lived with and learned so much with and who's band (the Bluesbreakers) made him "God" in Britain, looked like a lonely, unknown person at the back!

I also saw Hubert Sumlin at the Turning Point, and my friend from work and I went up to the band after the show and got to go backstage with them (it's that kind of small place) and we took pictures of each other with Hubert (and he MYSTERIOUSLY LOST the picture HE took of ME with Hubert (!!!!) while the one I took of him with Hubert came out must great….. (ARGHHHH).  But Hubert's' a great great person, and as humble in person as he is talented on stage.  Fabulous guy and also one of the Blues greats. 

And the final person I saw at ten Turning Point is (Professor!) Adam Gussow of Satan and Adam - and New York City "landmark" of Blues in the late 80's and 90's in the Harlem area, and Adam Gussow also teaches Blues harp and has lots of videos on YouTube.  I got one of his CD's from him - signed - and talked with him and Mr. Satan (Sterling Magee) as well during the break in the show.  He lives down in Mississippi now, teaching Blues at the University there.  There is a documentary movie about them coming out soon - see it if you can!  Their web site talks about the movie and them - check it out too if you can  at : 

http://www.satanandadam.com/

Finally, I saw Buddy and BB together (last spring or summer I think) at the Beacon theater (just a few days before EC showed up by surprise when the Allman Bros were playing there - but I didn't see that show).   BB and Buddy were GREAT - and see them play together - with a 8 year old prodigy Buddy has brought - at the end, was just fabulous!!  Buddy talks so much - but is SO entertaining, and plays his heart out, and "Skin Deep" was kinda new then, so he asked how many had heard it , and not many hands went up, so he scolded us (!) and then played "skin deep" and it was beautiful and SO true!  BB talked about 90 percent of the time, but when he did play, MAN that tone was so fabulous, and his trill is beyond belief (it's a rather small theater too, so it was easy to see his hands and fingers).  Together they were like an atomic explosion!  And Buddy did his walk through the audience thing and was just 3-4 feet from me at one point which was cool and he was playing all the time as he walked around and out to the lobby and back in!

I do wish EC was on the list - for his albums on Robert Johnson, and those with JJ Cale and BB and Steve Winwood, and there are probably others that deserve inclusion .  I saw EC three times in the last 10 years - once with his band (great!!) and twice with Steve Winwood (in 2008 and 2009) and those two were two of the best concerts I've EVER been at.  I think, even though they played classics from each of them and others, the albums from that show alone deserved to be on the list.  I always had to see him at Madison Square Garden, which is HUGE and always sold out (SO different than with Hubert and Mayall - EC is a SUPER-STAR in the crowds he pulls in and the excitement he stirs up during the show.  Long live EC!!

So - these feature those I saw (minus EC and Satan and Adam - which is correct as Mr, Satan has a stroke about a decade ago and they hadn't played together most of the 2000's. :

20 Hubert Sumlin About Them Shoes
12 Buddy Guy Skin Deep
6 BB King One kind favor
1 Buddy Guy Sweet Tea

(I'm really glad Hubert got on there - and sweet tea was an important album for Buddy who really had hard times for a while - EC helped get him back up and packing houses again which is how it should always have been as he's SO fantastic!

Jim

Well, I'm in the US and I haven't heard of most of those albums either, and I adore the Blues and have been eating them up voraciously for half this decade.  Unfortunately this country couldn't even recognize their own native cultural music (the Blues) by themselves without the British invasion of the 60's and Clapton and the Stones (and the Beatles, who didn't sound "bluesey" but who brought popular and rock music to the forefront for our culture - and rock, as I belatedly came to realize, came from only one source - the BLUES - which eventually led to the belated fame of BB King and Buddy Guy, Hubert Sumlin, and posthumously those who died too early - such as Robert Johnson).  I read something the other day about how Rock was DISLIKED by 70% of the US population in the early-mid 60's - it was the LEAST favored genre of the population, and now, it's reversed, with Rock being the #1 favored genre of music among this same population - who have now grown up with 40+ years of it.  Without the Blues, leading to Rock, and the British seeing what most people here were too blind or deaf to know what was right "down the road" from them, in comparatively terms, and the "British Invasion" opening our eyes and ears, BB and Buddy and so many could well have died in obscurity and the genuine, original Blues could have stayed in Mississippi and maybe Chicago, but most of us  here would be listening to "do-wop" and watered down elevator music and who knows what garbage.  So, yeah, that list was not so great IMO too.

Jim

These types of lists are so subjective. There is really no way you can narrow this down to a list of 25. That being said, there is a lot of very good music on the above list. Several of my favorite players. One in particular is John Hammond - Wicked Grin. An exceptional collection of Tom Waits songs covered by Mr. Hammond. Highly recommended.

Tommy Castro has put out several fine albums. North Mississippi All Stars are a huge favorite of mine. Swamp rock/blues at it's finest. They also have a spin off band called Hill Country Review.

Buddy Guy is always great and RL Burnside is a rhythm machine.

I'll throw out a few more great ones from my "personal great albums of the decade" list a bit later but for now I have to go celebrate the Saints Super Bowl victory.

See ya...

Last edited by wildwood (Mon, 08 Feb 2010 20:07:47)

No hangover here...I quit drinking a while ago. I was full!! Also wanted to set a good example for my kids, two teenage boys. They have enough temptation and drama to deal with without seeing dear old dad all drunked up on the weekends. I still had a good time.

Here are a few, IMHO, great blues blues albums from the past decade to add to the list above (I think we have done this in a previous thread):

Black & White - Cafe R&B
The Blues - Henric Freischlader
Chase The Sun - Chase The Sun
Don't Look Back - John Lee Hooker
Ear To The Ground - Matt Schofield Trio
Howlin At The Moon - Buddaheads
I Am The Blues - Willie King
Make A Move - Hill Country Review
Never Going Back - Shemekia Copeland
Reckless - Luther Allison
Roll On - JJ Cale

These may not "define the past ten years" but they are certainly worth a listen!

I am a Blues Novice (have the  BB King and Buddy Guy box sets, a little Stevie Ray Vaughn, a lot of Joe Bonamassa, and a few other random albums) and have never really known where to start sinking my teeth into the Blues (it's rather intimidating to even know where to start). I knew that I lean more towards contemporary Blues, Blues Rock, Electric Blues, etc. I have tired Leadbelly, Robert Johnson and some old Chess Blues and it did not spark any interest. When I saw this list (and multiple threads about the list on various Blues sites) I figured this was a great place to dive in (along with any other albums that I keep seeing named on these types of threads).

I was lucky that a legal download site in the US has the majority of these albums available for cheap (Best Buy gift cards would buy 100 songs for $30). I got almost the whole list for a little over $100. It was a good investment.

Figured I would give my impressions now that I listened to everything at least once.


25 KWS-10 days out
-amazing disc. Great performances by a lot of aging Blues players that I never even heard of. Maybe my favorite disc of the bunch!

24 Otis Taylor-Recapturing the Banjo
-I don't get this one. The press releases talked about the African origins of the Banjo and bringing the Banjo back to it's African roots. Don't know why they think that a Jimi Hendrix cover and some synthesized trumpets count as African Roots to the Banjo. That said, it has a very pleasing sound (buy still highly unusual)

23 The Mannish Boys-Lowdown Feelin
-Great music. Just the kind of album I enjoy

22 Mighty Mo Rodgers-Redneck Blues
-Not available in the US.

21 James Blood Ulmer-Bad Blood in the City
-A little to synthesized for my tastes. I sampled some of his other albums and they sound a little better to these ears. Will have to give those another chance.

20 Hubert Sumlin-About Them Shoes
-Wow. Just wow. Amazing Blues legend that I never heard of before. This disc is gonna get played a lot.

19 Watermelon Slim and the Workers-self titled
-Solid set.

18 Corey Harris and Henry Butler Vu-Du Menz
-Meh...

17 Tommy Castro-Painkiller
-Everywhere I look, I read that Tommy Castro is the next great Blues Player. Listening to this album, I have no idea why. This sounded like second rate pop music. If I heard it on the radio, I would not even have noticed it. It's so generic and dull...

16 Nick Moss and the Flip Tops-Play til tomorrow
-Love love love this album. Already got the 2 "Live at Chen" sets. Great electric Blues rock.

15 Corey Harris-Mississippi to Mali
-This does what Recapturig the Banjo sets out to do. But it's a lot more "world music" then blues. I forced myself to finish this record and will not waste my time again.

14 Mavis Staples-We'll never turn back
-I really started to appreciate thes big soulful vocal blues with this project. Mavis is amazing. Have also picked up (and very pleased with) Bettye Lavette and Shemekia Copeland based on this new interest and some MB recs. Just fantastic music.

13 The Holmes Brothers-Simple Truths
-Generally enjoyable. Nothing special.

12 Buddy Guy-Skin Deep
-Buddy is still the man. Great album (I prefered it to Sweat Tea) and has motivated me to pull out my Buddy Guy box set.

11 Lil Ed and the Blues imperials-Rattleshake
-Fun set. Not quite loving the vocals...

10 Bobby Rush-Raw
-Great accoustic blues set. I guess he usually does electric blues and will have to check it out...

9 John Hammond-Wicked Grin
-Generally enjoyable.

8 Irma Thomas-After the Rain
-Another great deep soul voice. Loved every track.

7 North mississippi Allstars-Electric Blue Watermelon
-Like Tommy Castro, I just didn't get this one. It didn't sound very much like the Blues. And it certainly wasn't anything special as a rock album.

6 BB King-One kind favor
-Man can do no wrong. Again, will have to pull out his box set and give it another listen or two...

5 Koko Taylor-Old School
-Queen of the Chicago Blues? Yeah. Just an amazing Blues voice. Stunning.

4 Solomon Burke-Dont give up on me
-Another legend that I never heard of. And, again, I was blown away by this disc.

3 Otis Taylor-White African
-I just think he takes himself to seriously. He can play, but I can only take it in small doses.

2 RL Burnside-Wish I was in Heaven sitting down
-I like Burnside when he refrains from doing overy electric synthesized stuff. Burnside on Burnside is preferable to these ears.

1 Buddy Guy-Sweet Tea
-Prefered Skin Deep myself.

So, overall, a good investment of time and money for me. I know a lot of fans criticised this list (as any "Best of the Decade" list would always do), but it gave me a good cross section of the Blues scene today. Even the discs I didn't care for were good purchases since it gave me an idea of what I liked and what I didn't like. I already have developed a long list of things I at least want to sample and explore based on recomendations and what I heard. But, I think I will spend a little more time enjoying my new Blues collection first.

Great site guys. Lots of useful info for a newbie like me!

Last edited by Raymond23 (Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:32:34)

I have those CDs by Buddy Guy, and it's seriously great music!!
I won't trade those for anything else..

I can't understand why there is no Bonamassa or Derek Trucks in the top 25. They are both great guitarists..!!

Raymond23 wrote:

I am very open to suggestions at this point...

So, I think I am figuring out what type of Blues artists I enjoy (electric guitar blues-blues/rock, and and smoldering soulful blues vocals)....

Give these guys a listen...

Roy Buchanan
Jimmy Thackery
Alan Haynes
Albert Cummings
The Buddaheads
Bill Perry
Danny Bryant
Electrofied
Henrik Freischlader
Rory Gallagher
Rocky Athas
Rusty Wright
Mark May
Kenny Wayne Shepherd
Too Slim and the Taildraggers
Walter Trout
...and of course SRV

Last edited by wildwood (Thu, 11 Mar 2010 20:45:23)

wildwood wrote:

Raymond23 wrote:

I am very open to suggestions at this point...

So, I think I am figuring out what type of Blues artists I enjoy (electric guitar blues-blues/rock, and and smoldering soulful blues vocals)....

Give these guys a listen...

Roy Buchanan
Jimmy Thackery
Alan Haynes
Albert Cummings
The Buddaheads
Bill Perry
Danny Bryant
Electrofied
Henrik Freischlader
Rory Gallagher
Rocky Athas
Rusty Wright
Mark May
Kenny Wayne Shepherd
Too Slim and the Taildraggers
Walter Trout
...and of course SRV

And the mighty Mike Bloomfield, don't you agree?
He's not specifically a blues man, but he was great..