Hound Dog Taylor - one of the Chicago greats we inexplicably left out of last weeks survey of the great and good based in the Windy City - had a certain spark that captured Bruce Iglauer's imagination sufficiently enough for him to strike out on his own from Bob Koerster to form Alligator as a way of getting HDT music out there. "Sadie" was on his debut album and a fine way to start last night's vinyl based STAR BLUES. During the week I stumbled across Albert Collins' version of "When A Guitar Plays The Blues" on YouTube and thought we have to have that on our playlist - job done. There's an old maxim about starting off with a 1-2-3 punch and who better than Chess-era Buddy Guy to complete the trick. With a pair of mid-Sixties Kings we had a full set of guitar greats on vinyl. Albert's "Laundromat" was one of those seminal songs cut at the sessions with Booker T. and the MGs. It was originally out on a single but later a part of the one great blues album everyone must have: "Born Under A Bad Sign". This week BBC4 showed the film DVD called "Respect Yourself" chronicling the full story of the Stax outfit.
In 1955 Marie Adams was under the production of Johnny Otis and she had a fair size hit with "In Memory" the tribute to Johnny Ace - with a fabulous jump blues "Diddie Wa Wa" on its flip. A bit later she was heard on "Ma He's Making Eyes At Me" which did good business on the mainstream radio charts. The other potent voice on yesterdays running order was that of Hank Ballard and we found his 1970 single on Silver Fox - the Ace label have been putting together neat collections of themed projects: he was on one and Joe Mayfield and Lazy Lester were on another rummage through the vaults of Goldband et. al.
Lest you think we would forget the harp masters, we did a Memphis session with Walter Horton which Sam Phillips leased to the Bihari Brothers - and a solid Little Walter outing, just as supple as you'd expect. Charlie Musselwhite's "Stingaree" was a 1980 recording and Paul Butterfield was guesting alongside Peter Green in John Mayall's Bluesbreakers for an EP in 1966. Professor Longhair did us proud in the piano spot and the Golden Gate Quartet put together a fine arrangement to reinterpret "Down By The Riverside" in out gospel tent.
The two hours whizzed past again and we are really grateful for the positive reaction to the blues coming from the vinyl era - mid June is my annual scavenge through second hand record shops in the North East - I'm not sure Lady Blue knows how long my list is this year. There's something precious about spending time listening to new music, reminiscing and talking to other nuts as crazy about blues and soul as me. Expect to find a few extra bits and pieces on upcoming STAR BLUES programmes - until then take care of yourselves and take care of those that take care of you
| Track.Title | Track.ArtistSort | Index | Album.Title | Album.ArtistSort | Label |
| Sadie | Hound Dog Taylor & The House Rockers | 4 | Blues Guitar Box | Various Artists | SEQUEL |
| When A Guitar Plays The Blues | Albert Collins | 12 | The Ice Axe Man Cometh (Collection 1978-86) | Albert Collins | MUSIC CLUB |
| $100 Bill | Buddy Guy | 18 | Stone Crazy | Buddy Guy | ORBIS BLUES COLLECTION |
| Henrietta | Jimmy Dee And The Offbeats | 13 | Solid Stroll Vol. 4 | Various Artists | LUCKY Gal |
| Late In The Evening | Lazy Lester | 3 | Bluesin' By The Bayou | Various Artists | ACE |
| Ida Mae | Sonny Terry | 15 | All That Blues | Various Artists | ORIGINAL BLUES CLASSICS |
| guitar boogie | cedell davis | 7 | feel like doin' something wrong | cedell davis | fat possum |
| My Woman Has A Black Cat Bone (Ivory 127) | Hop Wilson | 3 | Rhythm Rockin' Blues | Various Artists | Groove SOURCE |
| Boom Diddy Wa Wa | Marie and Junior | 10 | That's Your Last Boogie! | Johnny Otis | Fantastic Voyage |
| Sunday Morning Coming Down | Hank Ballard | 4 | Sweet Dreams: Where Country Meets Soul Vol. 2 | Various Artists | Kent |
| Help The Poor | Larry Davis | 114 | 25 Years | Various Artists | Rounder |
| Hook Line And Sinker | Dan Greer | 4 | Beale Street Soul Man - The Sounds Of Memphis Sessions | Dan Greer | Kent |
| laundromat blues | Albert King | 8 | ultimate collection | Albert King | STAX |
| Universal Rock | Junior Wells | 14 | Earl Hooker And Junior Wells | Earl HookerJunior Wells | ORBIS BLUES COLLECTION |
| Shim Sham Shimmy | Champion Jack Dupree | 9 | Two Classic Albums Plus Singles | Champion Jack Dupree | AVID |
| Think It Over | B. B. King | 6 | The Electric B. B. King - At His Best | B. B. King | MCA |
| Bootleggin' Baby | Roy Brown | 13 | Saturday Night! King And Imperial Recordings | Roy Brown | EL TORO |
| Down By The Riverside | Golden Gate Quartet, The | 28 | The Golden Gate Quartet - Our Story | Golden Gate Quartet, The | COLUMBIA |
| The Panama Limited | Bukka White | 2 | Shake 'Em On Down | Bukka White | CATFISH |
| Black Gal | Walter Horton | 2 | Mouth Harp Meastro | Walter Horton | ACE |
| roll n roll | John Lee Hooker | 3 | No Friend Around | John Lee Hooker | RED LIGHTNING |
| Hard Times | Mighty Joe Young | 19 | The Way I Feel | Various Artists | FLYRIGHT |
| Misery | Professor Longhair | 16 | The Influences Behind The Rolling Stones | Various Artists | Hoodoo Records |
| I'm A Natural Born Man | Joe Mayfield | 12 | Bluesin' By The Bayou | Various Artists | ACE |
| Little By Little | John MayallPaul Butterfield | 22 | A Hard Road | John Mayall | DECCA |
| stingaree | Charlie Musselwhite | 2 | blues never die | Charlie Musselwhite | vanguard |
| just your fool | Little Walter (Aka Marion Walter Jacobs) | 18 | Boss Blues Harmonica | Little Walter (Aka Marion Walter Jacobs) | ORBIS BLUES COLLECTION |
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