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Various Artists - The Chess Story 1947-1975 (1960-1961) (Disc 9) (1999)

Track listing:
  1. All I Could Do Was Cry Etta James 2:57
  2. All Your Love Otis Rush 2:55
  3. I Can't Hold Out (Talk To Me Baby) Elmore James 2:17
  4. If I Can't Have You Etta James & Harvey Fuqua 2:52
  5. Blue Shadows Lowell Fulson 2:28
  6. Spoonful Howlin' Wolf 2:45
  7. Tiger In Your Tank Muddy Waters 2:17
  8. Gunslinger Bo Diddley 1:54
  9. (I Don't Know Why) But I Do Clarence Frogman Henry 2:21
  10. At Last Etta James 3:00
  11. Back Door Man Howlin' Wolf 2:50
  12. The Watusi The Vibrations 2:40
  13. Just Your Fool Little Walter 2:25
  14. Come On Chuck Berry 1:50
  15. I Won't Be Hanging Around Albert King 2:56
  16. You Always Hurt The One You Love Clarence Frogman Henry 2:30
  17. Peanut Butter The Marathons 2:00
  18. Down In The Bottom (unedited version) Howlin' Wolf 2:36
  19. Music Music Music The Sensations 3:18
  20. I'm A Little Mixed Up Betty James 2:51
  21. Little Red Rooster Howlin' Wolf 2:28
  22. So Mean To Me Little Milton 2:35
  23. Proof Of Your Love Jackie Cannon 2:02
  24. Let Me In The Sensations 3:06
  25. Smokey Places The Corsairs 3:03
  26. Nine Below Zero (unedited version) Sonny Boy Williamson 3:44
  27. Something's Got A Hold On Me Etta James 2:50
  28. Stone Crazy Buddy Guy 2:57

Notes

First the good news, which is really good: the sound on this 340-song set is about as good as one ever fantasized it could be, and that means it runs circles around any prior reissues; from the earliest Aristocrat sides by the Five Blazers and Jump Jackson & His Orchestra right up through Muddy Waters' "Going Down to Main Street," it doesn't get any better than this set. The clarity pays a lot of bonuses, beginning with the impression that it gives of various artists' instrumental prowess. In sharp contrast to the past efforts in this direction by MCA, however, the producers of this set have not emasculated the sound in the course of cleaning it up, as was the case with the Chuck Berry box, in particular. When the rock & roll era dawns at Chess as depicted on disc five, the sound is nice and dirty, just really sharp. The contents of the set are largely "limited" -- if that's the word for any 340-song collection -- to Chess' blues, R&B, rock & roll, and soul output, although Ramsey Lewis gets a nod, as does comedian Pigmeat Markham. What's more, the care lavished on the songs is virtually universal -- there was time spent getting all of it right. One wishes that the same could be said for one of the featured bonuses on this set, the CD-ROM that comprises the 15th disc (disc 14 is a pair of interviews with Phil Chess and Marshall Chess). First, there are the skimpy film clips, misspellings ("Arether Franklin") and incorrect dates. There also would have been enough room to put a complete Chess discography on the CD-ROM, rather than just the MCA reissues of Chess' material. The CDs themselves conveniently assembled in three fold-out volumes in a slipcase, but identifying individual tracks and artists means constantly referring back to the booklets glued into those volumes; additionally, it would've been nice to have had a sessionography on the songs, or at least the release dates, or even release years. This set is available only as a British import as of the spring of 2000; it is unbeatable for sound, and should be considered on that -- but only on that -- basis.