Search - Buddy Guy :: Buddy's Blues (Chess 50th Anniversary Collection)

Outstanding !

Mad Dog | TimbuckThree, Tennessee | 11/18/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Every track on this compilation is strong, no doubt about it. I like much of Buddy's later work but I keep returning to the sides he recorded for Chess in the 60s. Fortunately, the sound quality is excellent for that era and doesn't get in the way at all. There is great variety in this set and I have difficulty picking favorites but these tunes do make it easy to see why so many musicians have been influenced by Buddy. It's obvious to see that young Buddy was more than capable of leading a band. Typical of Chess Records, the CD booklet has a great historical perspective and complete song info. what a band Buddy had together back in the 60's! Lafayette Leake, Little Brother Montgomery, Leonard Caston and Otis Spann alternated on piano, Jack Meyers and Phil Upchurch on bass, Fred Below, Al Duncan, Phil Thomas and Clifton James on drums plus a host of other talented players. Enjoy the newer mucis Buddy has made but don't forget his first golden era. Great stuff."

If you only want to buy 1 Buddy Guy disc, this is it!

Alfred Johnson | 02/24/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"An excellent overview of Buddy's 60's material, some of his best. You really can't go wrong with this CD. Great stuff!"

Classic Buddy Guy

Alfred Johnson | boston, ma | 11/21/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I have spent a fair amount of time in this space running through the legends of the Chicago blues explosion that hit its high point in the period just after World War II and continued to the advent of serious rock `n' roll in the mid-1950s, a period that saw the mass migration off the southern farms and plantations of blacks (and poor whites) to the north in search of better paying, and mainly, unionized industrial jobs. Thus, such names as Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, Junior Wells and so on have gotten plenty of ink here. Strangely although the name Buddy Guy has been mentioned here many times this is the first CD by him that is being reviewed in this space. Strange, indeed.



That said, the name Buddy Guy also is usually uttered, reverently, around the same time that one speaks the name of master harmonica player, Junior Wells, Buddy's long time Chicago playing companion). And, of course when you say Junior Wells you, of necessity, have to speak about Muddy Waters, the 'Father' of all the Chicago blues. Here, however, Buddy stands alone in this 50th Anniversary of Chess Records series. I have reviewed other parts of this series elsewhere and find the material that is presented in each tends, very much so, to be "greatest hits"-type material. That is the case here as well, and I would add that the quality of the sound tends to a a bit better here than on some of the other efforts in this series. Still anyway you can hear that old 1950s blues sound when it was fresh and down grab the opportunity, with both hands.



Buddy Guy almost never has a bad track so one has to go the other way and try to cull out the best. Here the classic "Pretty Baby is smokin', "My Love Is Real", and "Stone Crazy" round out my picks as the top numbers.

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