Artist: Various
Album: Atlantic Blues
Genre: Blues
Label: Atlantic
Released: 1991
Quality: mp3, 320 kbps
Tracklist:
- Guitar:
- Blind Willie McTell - Broke Down Engine (2:47)
- Mississippi Fred McDowell - Shake 'Em on Down (3:21)
- John Lee Hooker - My Baby Don't Love Me (3:02)
- Stick McGhee - Tall Pretty Woman (3:08)
- Texas Johnny Brown - The Blues Rock (2:44)
- Texas Johnny Brown - There Goes the Blues (3:13)
- Texas Johnny Brown - Bongo Boogie (3:04)
- T-Bone Walker - Two Bones and a Pick (2:51)
- Chuck Brown - Let Me Know (2:56)
- Guitar Slim - Down Through the Years (2:24)
- Cornell Dupree - Okie Dokie Stomp (2:49)
- Big Joe Turner - TV Mama (2:49)
- Al King - Reconsider Baby (3:00)
- Mickey Baker - Midnight Midnight (2:27)
- Ike & Tina Turner - I Smell Trouble (6:59)
- B.B. King - Why I Sing the Blues (6:15)
- Albert King - Crosscut Saw (2:36)
- Albert King - Born Under a Bad Sign (2:49)
- John Hammond, Jr. - Shake for Me (2:42)
- Stevie Ray Vaughan - Flood Down in Texas (10:22)
- Piano:
- Jimmy Yancey - Yancey Special (2:40)
- Little Brother Montgomery - Talkin' Boogie (2:53)
- Jimmy Yancey - Mournful Blues (3:11)
- Jimmy Yancey - Salute to Pinetop (2:50)
- Jimmy Yancey - Shave 'Em Dry (2:51)
- Jack Dupree - Frankie & Johnny (3:23)
- Jack Dupree - TB Blues (3:42)
- Jack Dupree - Strollin' (2:58)
- Professor Longhair - Tipitina (2:39)
- Vann "Piano Man" Walls - Blue Sender (2:48)
- Vann "Piano Man" Walls - After Midnight (2:37)
- Joe Turner - Roll 'Em Pete (3:46)
- Jay McShann - Fore Day Rider (4:11)
- Jay McShann - My Chile (4:20)
- Meade Lux Lewis - Cow Cow Blues (3:14)
- Meade Lux Lewis - Albert's Blues (3:05)
- Meade Lux Lewis - Honky Tonk Train Blues (2:51)
- Ray Charles - Low Society (2:54)
- Floyd Dixon - Hey Bartender (2:48)
- Floyd Dixon - Floyd's Blues (2:27)
- Texas Johnny Brown - After Hours Blues (3:09)
- Doctor John - Junco Partner (4:30)
- Willie Mabon - I Don't Know (3:36)
- Vocalists:
- Sippie Wallace - Suitcase Blues (4:29)
- Jimmy Witherspoon - Trouble in Mind (3:03)
- Jimmy Witherspoon - In the Evenin' (3:40)
- LaVern Baker - Gimme a Pigfoot (3:08)
- Mama Yancey - How Long Blues (4:36)
- Joe Turner - Oke-She-Moke-She-Pop (2:58)
- Lil Green - I've Got That Feelin' (2:57)
- Lil Green - Every Time (2:56)
- Wynonie Harris - Destination Love (1:51)
- Wynonie Harris - Tell a Whale of a Tale (2:19)
- Ruth Brown - Rain Is a Bringdown (3:07)
- Percy Mayfield - Nothing Stays the Same Forever (4:26)
- Ted Taylor - River's Invitation (3:10)
- Esther Phillips - Just Like a Fish (2:27)
- Otis Clay - Pouring Water on a Drowning Man (2:38)
- Rufus Thomas - Did You Ever Love a Woman (3:27)
- Titus Turner - Baby Girl Parts 1 & 2 (4:54)
- Bobby Bland - Ain't That Lovin' You (2:19)
- Johnny Copeland - It's My Own Tears That's Being Wasted (2:47)
- Eldridge Holmes - Cheatin' Woman (4:00)
- Johnny Taylor - I Had a Dream (3:13)
- Aretha Franklin - Takin' Another Man's Place (3:28)
- Z. Z. Hill - It's a Hang-Up Baby (2:30)
- Chicago:
- Johnny Jones - Chicago Blues (3:12)
- Buddy Guy & Junior Wells - Poor Man's Plea (3:10)
- Buddy Guy & Junior Wells - My Baby She Left Me (3:09)
- Buddy Guy & Junior Wells - T-Bone Shuffle (4:16)
- Freddie King - I Wonder Why (3:18)
- Freddie King - Play It Cool (3:45)
- Freddie King - Wake up This Morning (3:10)
- Otis Rush - Gambler's Blues (5:41)
- Otis Rush - Feel So Bad (3:38)
- Otis Rush - Reap What You Sow (4:54)
- Howlin' Wolf - Highway 49 (5:00)
- Muddy Waters - Honey Bee (5:09)
- Koko Taylor - Wang Dang Doodle (6:10)
- Johnny Shines - Dust My Broom (2:56)
- Luther Allison - Please Send Me Someone to Love (7:22)
- Luther "Guitar Jr." Johnson - Walkin' the Dog (4:18)
- J. B. Hutto - I Feel So Good (5:13)
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At the time of its release, this 83-song collection was one of the bolder efforts by a major label at doing a proper survey of major blues categories. The material ranges from old-style big-band jump blues to the leaner, louder guitar sounds of the '60s and '70s, and isn't limited to artists who cut for Atlantic -- the producers had to license in a certain amount, especially where Chicago blues was concerned .
Overall, they've done a good job as far as the sheer variety of performers, but trying to summarize any of these areas -- blues vocalists, Chicago blues, guitar blues, or piano blues -- with only 20 tracks on a single CD each is an exercise in futility. It is a place to start if one has the money, however, showing some of the strong points of a lot of key artists, and the sound was also good for its time. This is also a good chance for the neophyte to hear tracks by certain performers -- like Jay McShann and Meade Lux Lewis -- who aren't otherwise represented on easy-to-find major label releases.
However, there are other releases on the market now (especially Rhino's blues retrospective series) that can make the same claims and are more thorough and ambitious in scope. Additionally, anyone with a little knowledge and the $60 or so that this box can cost might better spend it on some of the more recent compilations devoted to the top artists on this box's roster, like Muddy Waters or Howlin' Wolf. Those, plus some of the other Chess reissues from MCA, will tell one a lot more about Chicago blues than the one or two tracks by each that show up in this set.
Review by Bruce Eder
