Blues 160 Items

four CDs with a full-color, 144-page, cork-cover book in a cigar-style box. Stuffed corners

Sister Rosetta Tharpe was the first great recording star of gospel music and among the first gospel musicians to appeal to rhythm-and-blues and rock-and-roll audiences, later being referred to as 'the original soul sister' and 'the godmother of rock and roll'. This live recording from 1960 had never been on vinyl, until now, a whole 57 years later.
The set has plenty of variety, lots of sincere feeling, and high levels of musicianship from the unique performer. Highlights include “He’s Got the Whole World In His Hands”, “Didn’t It Rain”, “The Gospel Train” and “Down By The Riverside”. The album was remastered for vinyl from analog tape and pressed at Pallas Group in Germany.

Box is close to NM.

"Hoodoo Man Blues" is not only Junior Wells' initial LP appearance, it is damn near the first LP by a Chicago blues band. This is the album that started the collector blues label trend of the late '60s. Chess and a few other labels had reissued 45's by Muddy Waters, Sonny Boy Williamson, Howlin' Wolf, Jimmy Reed, Elmore James, etc., but virtually no one had tried to capture the Chicago blues sound, free of the juke-box/airplay promotional mediums limitations of the 45. This album features the smoking guitar of the legendary Buddy Guy along with a crack rhythm section.

Spend any time around Doug MacLeod and the stories from his years of road time with the likes of Big Joe Turner and Pee Wee Crayton start to flow as easily as a brook tickled by a breeze. And you know you're getting to the good part, the climax if you will, when Doug's eyes start to twinkle, his grin grows broader and out of his mouth pop the words »Come to find ...«. MacLeod was a widely acknowledged electric blues guitarist for many years, and the leader of his own band, yielding a number of U.S. and European tours and several albums to his credit. Doug disbanded the group to focus all his energies on his first love, acoustic blues. "Come To Find" is the debut fruit of that effort. And now it's made even more remarkable, with this 45 RPM 200-gram reissue by Analogue Productions. The dead-quiet double-LP, with the music spread over four sides of vinyl, reduces distortion and high frequency loss as the wider-spaced grooves let your stereo cartridge track more accurately.The pressing sounds spectacular. You're holding a hefty 200-gram masterpiece from our own Quality Record Pressings, our state-of-the-art LP pressing plant. And the gatefold jacket is hard-core, old-school style — thick cardboard, tip-on, with additional photos and liner notes inside. Sweet. "Come To Find" is the sound of a consummate bluesman touching the core of his art in a program featuring ten originals by Doug. He is beautifully supported in this intimate setting by harmonica ace Charlie Musselwhite and the Mighty Flyer rhythm section, Jimi Bott and Bill Stuve. This is the album that deserves a place of honor in the music collections of even casual blues fans. And for those who love blues already, this is one of the best-sounding, most original works you'll ever hear.

Mighty Sam is a rhythm and blues legend who shook up the blues world with this 1993 release. The great torch bearer of deep soul is caught in top form on this classic album. And now, this gatefold 45rpm edition presented by Analogue Productions makes the album even greater! The four sides of wider-spaced grooves make for reduced distortion and better high frequency reproduction. It's a 200-gram masterpiece from our own Quality Record Pressings, our state-of-the-art LP pressing plant. And the gatefold jacket is hard-core, old-school style - thick cardboard, tip-on, with additional photos and liner notes inside. Sweet. McClain sings soul with incredible power - he knows when to pull the punches and when to cool it down. "Give It Up to Love", the title track, acknowledges his gospel roots; he performs it as a vocal prayer to God asking for wisdom, love, and strength. Bruce Katz's contributions on B-3 Hammond organ expands McClain's sound, particularly on the "Green Onions" - influenced "What You Want Me to Do". The sparsely effective arrangement on "Here I Go Falling in Love Again" brings McClain up front as he cries of being a soul stripped to the bare bones. Kevin Barry's funky bass blows while McClain declares himself as a child of God in "Child of the Mighty Mighty".

180gr vinyl. with insert.

This release of Lightnin' Hopkins "Soul Blues" completes the series of 25 Prestige label stereo reissues from Analogue Productions. Of the 50 titles (25 stereo, 25 mono) in this reissue series, 49 of them were mastered by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio from the original analog tape. For "Soul Blues" Ryan Smith at Sterling Sound created a 24/192K hi-res file from a needle drop on a clean original LP.
This was done because the tape supplied for mastering proved to be from a needle drop itself, not the original, which has been lost since the early 1970s. Smith took the original LP, did a new needle drop and meticulously worked to eliminate the minimal tics and pops that remained. Then he mastered the album for LP and SACD from the hi-res file.

Still sealed with hype sticker. Stuffed corners. Limited edition Multi Coloured vinyl. US reissue from 2018.

Not known for his acoustic work, Buddy Guy unplugs for a rare album-length excursion into folk blues. The guitarist gets down and dirty with 12 tracks that sound like they were recorded after hours in his living room or on his back porch.

Clear vinyl!

The album was mostly recorded at Dan Auerbach's (The Black Keys) Easy Eye studio in Nashville, as well as L.A. and Budapest, and was produced by both Dan Auerbach and Kevin Augunas (Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, Florence & The Machine).

One of the earliest blues performers of the pre-war era, and an offspring of a family of freed slaves, Henry "Ragtime Texas" Thomas was one of the most influential, but also one of the most enigmatic practitioners of the blues genre. Much of Thomas' life was un-chronicled by historians (The exact date of his death is still a point of contention) except to say that much of his life he lived as a drifter, making his living by performing on street corners and for railway employees. Though his personal life is still shrouded in mystery, his music remains significant, so many decades later. Thomas stood out from his peers primarily by the way he strummed his guitar; as one would strum a banjo. His songs emphasized dance rhythm over complex picking, and often utilized instruments unorthodox to blues music, such as the Deep South folk instrument the quills. This sound proved to be instrumental in the development of the Texas blues sound, and would be his trademark across the 24 sides that he recorded for Vocalion Records, of which only 23 would be released commercially.

Original inner sleeve

The Music Maker Relief Foundation, is non-governmental organization. It was founded to preserve the musical traditions of the South by directly supporting the musicians who make it, ensuring their voices will not be silenced by poverty and time. Music Maker will give future generations access to their heritage through documentation and performance programs that build knowledge and appreciation of America’s musical traditions.
Original blues & gospel from Music Maker 's archives, Grotto Session illustrates the true sound of the deep south re-imaginated by three young musicians to celebrate the 25th birthday's foundation. Only released as digital files til now, EALZ! Records have been chosen by MMRF to produce an exclusive physical album.
An inspired, electric & groovy transgenerational project featuring: Captain 'Luke, Cora Fluker, John Dee Holman, Essie Mae Brooks, Rufus McKenzie and more...
Gatefold cover, 12inch vinyl, including a 16-pages booklet with complete liner notes, rare & exclusive Tim Duffy's photographs (Recorded in North Carolina, crafted in Paris, pressed in Normandy, limited edition)

The Meters is the debut studio album by the band of the same name. It's an essential album in the funk scene and one that contains a lot of energy and soul.

Two Blues legends Keb' Mo' & Taj Mahal get together and combine forces on the album "TajMo"!!

Her voice was all Saturday night, delivered on a Sunday morning. Patsy on Jesus. Elvis without the pelvis. Fern Jones' only album, released by Dot Records in 1959, captured 36-year-old Sister Fern as she anointed church music with the same untamed energy that younger white Southerners were bringing to their rock 'n' roll. Produced by Mac Wiseman and showcasing crack Nashville session players Hank "Sugarfoot" Garland, Floyd Cramer, Joe Zinkan, and Buddy Harman fresh off their June 1958 session with The Pelvis, Singing A Happy Song should've taken Jones from dusty canvas big tops to the Opry's storied stage. But with no 45 to flog, Jones instead sold nary a record and never did hear herself on the radio. Her fiery rockabilly gospel was a few shades too radical for the conservative, traditional, near puritanical public she played to anyway. Fern Jones: The Glory Road collects her Singing A Happy Song LP and cuts including "Didn't It Rain," from her The Joneses Sing album, into one rousing package, rich with the details and imagery of a brief career spent tethered to the hard ground and gazing skyward. The Glory Road's sound gnaws at the bit and stands in reverence, a runaway rockabilly tent show without a single drop of rain on the horizon.

digipack box

The earliest days of blues music has its roots in the deep South region of the United States. It was there that the likes of Robert Johnson, Charley Patton, Big Bill Broonzy, and innumerable other performers cut their teeth, performing and recording largely across the states of Tennessee, Mississippi, and various other deep Southern states, gradually spreading to its most famed hometown of Chicago, Illinois. Oft forgotten in these stories is that of the Carolinas, and the surrounding Atlantic Coast. Frequently overshadowed by their Memphis, Chicago, and Mississippi contemporaries, it's an area that contains some of the blues' oldest traditions. This region was home to major traditional blues players like Blind Blake, Tampa Red, and Sam Butler, among many others, and are collected here in the tracks of Guitar Wizards: 1926-1935.

Like so many other Delta blues musicians of the 1930s and 40s, rock music owes a debt of gratitude to the works of Blind Willie McTell. Considered one of the finest guitarists and vocalists of the era, noteworthy for his then unheard of usage of a 12-string guitar, artists and bands from The Allman Brothers to The White Stripes to Taj Mahal have listed the blind bluesman as a key influence. From the start of his career in 1927, McTell cut numerous singles for Victor Records, and maintained a noteworthy level of popularity in his home of Atlanta, but like many of his contemporaries, his career skidded to a halt during World War II. McTell left music during the 1950s and later passed of a brain hemmorage in 1959. Not long after his passing would come the British blues explosion, which would not only make household names of Eric Clapton and John Mayall, but spark a renewed interest in the material of classic bluesmen like McTell. It wasn't long before innumerable collections of such material came into being. 1927-1935 is one such collection, covering the beginning years of McTell's career, pre-World War II. Many of McTell's earliest recordings for Victor Records are present here, many of which were recorded with his future wife Ruth Day providing duet vocals. Songs such as "Cold Winter Day", "Razor Ball", and "Ticket Agent Blues", which famously would be covered by The White Stripes decades later.

180 gram vinyl!

Original inner sleeve. Vinyl is close to NM.

180g vinyl!

“Keeping a Record of It” is the follow-up to Lonnie Holley’s debut album, “Just Before Music.” Guest performers include Cole Alexander from the Black Lips, Bradford Cox from Deerhunter, and visual artist Lillian Blades. “Lonnie Holley sings with an intense, emotional voice and unleashes lyrics without consistent meter or rhyme over gossamer keyboard lines that hang in the ether. His music is a blues nebula, splotched with riffy word jazz that shares in some rappers’ collagist aesthetics as well as the runaway passion of a gospel preacher enlivened by the Spirit.”

2013 reissue. With insert. 180gr vinyl.

Green vinyl seems unplayed. Still in shrink but opened with hype sticker. Numbered Limited edition. With insert

Ivory Coast isn’t known for country music. But Jess Sah Bi & Peter One’s 1985 recording Our Garden Needs Its Flowers, a massive-selling regional hit, brought a burgeoning interest in folk and Americana into the mainstream and carried two young men to international prominence, culminating in stadium-filling concerts and performances for the first lady of Cote d’Ivoire and dignitaries.

The album was made following a chance introduction via Jess’s nephew, who heard Peter playing for fun around his university dormitory. At the time, Jess Sah Bi (Die Sah Bi) was Ivory Coast’s first political cartoonist, having already published in dozens of magazines and newspapers across West Africa and France. Meanwhile Peter One (Pierre-Evrard Tra) was a university student and soon-to-be high school history teacher. Both musicians had spent time singing and playing guitar and composing songs on their own until they came together to record their independently-released opus.

The music contrasted starkly with the popular sounds of the time, ranging from fast-paced regional dance music genres to ziglibithy to soukous to straight-up funk played by Abidjan’s plethora of bands. Country music and folk-rock weren’t very popular with the general public. But interest was bubbling up within the growing student population, who connected with the protest sentiments expressed by many English and American artists of the era. “It’s very nice music, with very nice harmonies, and it’s different from what you hear every day,” Peter says. “The language was a big barrier though. You had to learn English to understand the songs, and the students were the ones learning English.” Having access to education along with their awareness of social and political inequality and injustice made students the perfect audience for folk music in Ivory Coast.

Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton and Don Williams’ music could be heard on some radio programs around Ivory Coast’s major cities, and some younger people were getting hip to Simon & Garfunkel, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Cat Stevens and Crosby Stills & Nash. The stage was set for Jess Sah Bi & Peter One’s homegrown country music to make a mark on Ivorians’ consciousness. Complete with slide guitar, soaring vocals and anthemic, politically-conscious lyrics in three languages, the recording became ubiquitous across French-speaking West Africa. “We expected the album to be a big success, but we could not have imagined how far it would go,” Peter says.

After Our Garden Needs Its Flowers release, Jess and Peter’s profile lifted rapidly, leading to stadium performances in Togo, Burkina Faso and elsewhere. Their ascent was accompanied by critical acclaim from the local press and television programs, appearances at galas organized by Marie-Thérèse Houphouët-Boigny, the wife of the late Félix Houphouët-Boigny, the first president of the Ivory Coast and even a performance during the 1988 ECOWAS (Economic Coalition of West African States) summit in Yamoussoukro at President Houphouët-Boigny’s request. Jess and Peter’s run lasted until the early 1990s, capped off with the BBC using their song African Chant as theme music the day Nelson Mandela was released from prison.

Jess and Peter now live in San Francisco and Nashville, respectively, and continue to make music on their own. Plans for shows reuniting the duo are in the works for later this year.