Review, buy Texas Blues: Blues Greatest [CASSETTE], Atlantic Jazz: Kansas City [CASSETTE], Iceman Cometh, Rock & Roll People, San Antonio Ballbuster, Back Bottom Blues, Masters, Lucy Mae Blues, It's a Sin to Be Rich, Mellow Fellow: Charly Blues Masterworks Vol.41, Texas Rocker, Bow Wow, Johnny Winter, The Best of Bobby Bland [CASSETTE], Lightnin' Hopkins & The Blues Summit, Blues Guitar Masters, Original Howling Wolf 1930-31, The Essential Blues [CASSETTE], Woman Across the River, Ultimate Blues Collection

After over a decade with Alligator, the biggest blues specialist label, Texas axeman Collins began his final phase with this album in 1991, given Virgin's big budget push. Two years later, he was snatched away by terminal cancer. Recording in Memphis, his band is funkier than ever, but their leader still manages to cram in a succession of trademark high-note stings. Johnny B. Gayden's thick slap-bass is crucial to the album's big sound, along with slopping organ from Charles Hodges and punchy embellishments by The Uptown Horns. The opening "Mr. Collins, Mr. Collins" soon became an amusing anthem for the early-90s live shows, its salacious backing singers urging him to rein in his guitar pyrotechnics. Luckily, he ignores their requests, filling track after track with excessive string spillage, most numbers sounding more like inspired jamming sessions rather than conventional songs, from the slow-paced stutter of "Put the Shoe On The Other Foot" up to the edgy guitar-picking scrabble of "The Hawk". -Martin Longley.

More info…

Rock & Roll People (Johnny Winter)

Tracks Rock & Roll People

Rock and Roll People
Let the Good Times Roll
Stray Cat Blues
Like a Rolling Stone
Walking by Myself
Thirty Days
Honest I Do
Don't Hide Your Love
Bony Maronie
Still Alive & Well

Publisher: Sony Special Products
Release date: 1995-07-21
RRP: ~~£4.99~~
Price: £11.93

Review Rock & Roll People / Johnny Winter:

More info…

San Antonio Ballbuster (Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown)

Tracks San Antonio Ballbuster

Dirty Work at the Crossroads
You Got Money
It Can Never Be That Way
Gate's Salty Blues
Okie Dokie Stomp
Didn't Reach My Goal
Sad Hour
Win With Me Baby
Boogie Uproar
I've Been Mistreated
She Winked Her Eye
Baby Take It Easy
She Walks Right In
Rock My Blues Away
Just Got Lucky
Just Before Dawn

Publisher: Drive
Release date: 1995-08-22
RRP: ~~£9.99~~
Price: £35.77

Review San Antonio Ballbuster / Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown:

Try to get past the lousy sound quality on this recording, because there's some great material here that's not available elsewhere. This excellent sampling of Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown's early work includes the smoking slow blues "Dirty Work at the Crossroads"; the crisp, clean guitar of "Gate's Salty Blues" and "Boogie Uproar"; the lead violin on "Just Before Dawn"; and a fantastic take of "I've Been Mistreated"-fantastic despite the fuzz that occasionally threatens to overwhelm the music. Though Brown doesn't mix and match musical genres as easily here as he would in later years, his confidence (not to mention competence) as a performer is already well established. -Genevieve Williams.

More info…

Back Bottom Blues (Harmonica Slim)

Tracks Back Bottom Blues