These 17 tunes come from King's most fertile period, his 1966-68 tenure at Memphis's Stax Records. Stax chief Jim Stewart had been reluctant to sign blues artists because he felt straight blues wouldn't mesh with Stax's patented Memphis soul. Ironically, the fusion of King's sharp guitar wails with the dynamic rhythms of Booker T. & the MGs-the Stax house band-was what set King apart from other bluesmen. The unique blend produced classic after classic: Booker T. Jones' rolling piano propels "Laundromat Blues". Al Jackson's drum shuffle supports "Crosscut Saw". The driving horns of Andrew Love, Wayne Jackson and Joe Arnold accentuate "Born Under a Bad Sign". King's ripe and mellow vocals are a perfect match for the soul-drenched music while his dramatic string bends leap out. -Marc Greilsamer.

This 1965 album is where vocalist and harmonica player Junior Wells comes into his own. An early collaboration with Buddy Guy, the two of them sum up the 1960s funk-rock-blues that lay ahead. Hoodoo Man Blues inspired Paul Butterfield, Eric Clapton and a host of other musician-fans. Wells and Guy don't shy from creating James Brown-funkified blues, or from putting a rock edge to their blues; but neither do they shy from traditional blues. Their version of "Good Morning Little School Girl" is a proper update-still menacing, with less of a country blues feel. Also not to be missed is the instrumental workout "Chitlin Con Carne". -Robert Gordon.

Muddy Waters should need no introduction. Not only did he provide a name for the world's greatest rock & roll band, but he also created the Chicago electric blues sound that's dominated the genre since he first hit the windy city in the late 1940s. His bands also featured what would become a who's who of electric blues: Little Walter, Jimmy Rogers, Otis Spann, James Cotton, Junior Wells, Buddy Guy, and the list goes on. The Anthology covers Waters's most important period: his first years at Chess through the late 1960s. All his best-known songs are featured in their definitive versions, providing the perfect introduction to a blues master who doesn't need one. -Mike Johnson.

This guest-studded album relaunched Buddy Guy's career and set him toward the pinnacle of contemporary blues. Despite turns from Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Mark Knopfler and others, it's Guy who burns brightest-and loudest. He delivers roaring, exuberant performances of classic R&B ("Mustang Sally"), old-time blues ("Black Night") and house rockers ("Where Is the Next One Coming From"). Most poignant, though, is his seven-minute instrumental "Rememberin' Stevie", which not only rekindles the fiery spirit of his own youth, but pays sensitive tribute to his late friend and admirer Stevie Ray Vaughan. This is the blueprint for Guy's current performing style. -Ted Drozdowski Thanks to a long instrumental tribute to his late friend Stevie Ray Vaughan, and to a crowd-pleasing version of Wilson Pickett's "Mustang Sally," this album renewed the Chicago's blues legend's commercial power. After laying out his new straightforward credo on the title track, Buddy Guy improvises furiously on "Black Night" and "Five Long Years. " Some fans say the album was one of the few times Guy truly captured his live fury on record, but this 1991 album didn't even try to do that. It was simply an attempt to expose himself to a contemporary blues audience, and it worked. -Steve Knopper.

Electric Mud is the infamous "somebody-put-something-in-the-Waters" LP from 1968. A relative hit for Chess, it features the exalted bluesman bellowing over psychedelicised arrangements that owe more to Steppenwolf than Willie Dixon. Waters himself complained that the drums were too busy and the lead guitar sounded like a cat's meow. Not a bad critique. -Steven Stolder.