Alligator Records ALCD 116
Insert, disc and packaging scans included.
Each disc in Alligator's Crucial series comes with an attractive price tag and 50-60 minutes of music. This Chicago disc encompasses the label's 30 plus years. There are too many musicians/songs on the disc to mention. However, a few deserve attention. The Queen of the Blues, Koko Taylor, graces the cover and dishes out traditional, electric blues with commanding sass on "Ernestine". Alligator would not exist if it wasn't for Hound Dog Taylor. The long deceased legend performs with spark and enthusiasm on "Take Five". If you want to know what pure Chicago Blues sounds like then listen to Son Seals' aggressive and piercing "Cotton Picking Blues". Eloquent boogie woogie and bone-rattling piano is heard on "Take It Easy, Baby" by one of the last surviving emigrants, Pinetop Perkins. "23 Hours Too Long" is another one of those definitive Chicago Blues tunes as performed by James Cotton. The shrill and striking notes of guitar avatar Fenton Robinson ring forth on `I Hear Some Blues Downstairs".
Buddy Guy is mysteriously absent from this disc. However, that is a mere observation when you consider the price of the disc, the national acts that appear on it, and the musical content. I fell in love with the blues by experiencing it in Chicago blues clubs and listening to releases on Alligator Records. Pick up this CD and let the blues bug bite you too.
-Tim Holek
01. Low Down And Dirty - Luther Allison
02. Ernestine - Koko Taylor
03. Somebody Changed The Lock - Junior Wells
04. Take Five - Hound Dog Taylor & The Houserockers
05. Cotton Picking Blues - Son Seals
06. Let Me Stir In Your Pot - Carey Bell
07. Mama, Talk To Your Daughter - Magic Slim & The Teardrops
08. Cold Lonely Nights - Lonnie Brooks
09. Take It Easy, Baby - Pinetop Perkins
10. My Mind Is Gone - Lil' Ed & The Blues Imperials
11. 23 Hours Too Long - James Cotton
12. I Hear Some Blues Downstairs - Fenton Robinson