Hidden Treasures - The Blues

[Scott]

The Blues... This week were shifting gears just a bit. Gone is the Wiki/All Music copy/paste and in its place just some simple content about what I'm posting. I got into some blues this past week and thought it would be a good idea to go a little bit deeper and dive into some harder core blues tracks. No other motives, just got into it and wanted to share, and isn't that what a playlist is for?


My brother is an Eric Clapton nut, probably the biggest Clapton fan I ever seen. So I've had the blues playing as background music practically my entire childhood. Maybe that's why I go back to it from time to time. But it’s been way too long and so I think it’s time for CRB to hear it as well...


Anyway, here’s what I've come up with.


PLAYLIST --> http://www.podsnack.com/CA69EFD9E8C/av7u0jjp

	Fleetwood Mac Then Play On 1969 1 - Show-Biz Blues Maybe Jon posted this a while back, or did I pick this up as a 5 remaster? Either way, it’s a great album! And it’s probably a shock to the system of someone like me who only knew Mac as Buckingham/Nicks/McVie's/Fleetwood. But it’s a good shock, the geetar work and blues influences are tremendous. I start here because it roots the playlist where it needs to start and sets the tone.
	ZZ Top Fandango! 1975 2 - Blue Jean Blues Pick a ZZ Top track, any track, and you'll hear blues influences in almost every way. But this one was best suited for this playlist because it's really rooted and isn't one of their signature overly distorted silly lyrical rock/blues tracks. The band is also cited often when talking about the progression of American blues in the 60's and 70's and rightly so.
	Kenny Wayne Shepherd Trouble Is... 1997 3 - (Long) Gone I had to have a more recent tune to mix it up, plus it steps up the tempo a bit, not all blues has to be slow. Kenny Wayne Shepherd is stellar in my opinion. His albums are highly underrated and he's not mentioned enough as either a top geetar player or blues band. He is a great blues artist.
	Eric Clapton 461 Ocean Boulevard 1974 4 - I Can't Hold Out A blues playlist without Clapton would be a shame. Especially after mentioning him in the content above. Though I tend to get lost in his later music, his early stuff is top notch! While my brother owns everything he's ever done, I'm a bit more selective. I own several titles, but the ones I can’t live without are Slowhand, his Debut and this one. I must admit that Reptile is pretty darn good as well.
	Led Zeppelin III 1970 5 - Since I've Been Loving You This is the track that got me started on this playlist. I was listening to the first 3 releases of LZ in anticipation of my new remasters of IV and Houses Of The Holy (Which I received way before Jon did) and the tune spoke to me- yes it did - and you know exactly what I mean when I say that. Of the hundreds of times I’ve heard this song, this time grabbed at me. I knew about the killer geetar solo, I knew that it was one of the first tracks recorded for this album etc. etc... What I didn’t know was that it was going to take me in this direction. Blues - in its had core classic rock form - is indeed one cool treasure to behold.

[Jon]

Yes, he did post that album almost 3 years ago. He is a poster before the times.

Jon received IV & HOTH well before you did and he has documented proof. Do you? AND STOP THE SQUEAKING BASS PEDAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If JP keeps remastering these albums, pretty soon that squeak will be the song with the rest just background noise. Don't unnerstand the dislike for III from a lot of people, I really dig it. Plus the cover is fun to play with. Can you say that about the debut and II? I think not!

Eric Clapton is ok. Not the biggest fan, but this song was ok. Don't understand the end though. They act like they played something fast and heavy and had to catch their breath or something.

Nice song from ZZ Top. Wonder how many people bought one of their trillion-selling 80's albums and went back to the early stuff and wondered what happened. 

Did you know that KWS is married to Mel Gibson's daughter? Now you do!

Hey, it's going to rain here today, this is a good set of listening music types, you know?

I have.....4/5 of these alblums.

[Scott]

You own everything but the Clapton....

[Jon]

Incorrect.

[RJhog (Admin)]

KWS.

[Jon]

Wrong.

[Scott]

well that leaves ZZ Top as the odd disc out...

[Jon]

I guess so.....

[RJhog (Admin)]

I, from time to time, have an interest in some blues material.  I like Joe Bonamassa.  But sometimes it just doesn't work for me.  So this should be interesting to listen to:

Meetwood Flac - Their pre-Buckingham/Nicks stuff is almost completely unknown to me.  It does have nice guitar work, but the lyrics are just the same thing, with every line being repeated at least twice.  That's the part of blues music that I don't care much for.  I might be in trouble if this one is setting the tone.

ZZZZZZZ - This has some wickedly cool guitar playing.  I've heard this somewhere recently. It's quite a simple, silly song about a pair of old bluejeans, but hey, sometimes they just mean that much to us.  The guitar is phenomenal on this song.

KWS - Very upbeat blues.  I'm not a lover of the harmonica, but I can take it in small doses.  The song itself is pretty good, but I would rather hear some lead guitar as opposed to lead harmonica.  There we go, just past the 4 minute mark.  That's better. 

Eric "The Clap" Clapton - I've always wanted to purchase this album.  No other reason than the album cover.  It just looks totally cool and takes me immediately to a better time and to a place I've often imagined but never been to.  This is hard to hear at the same level as the last song.  Oops, must finish later.

[Scott]

Dang, you just missed the real serious guitar work.

[RJhog (Admin)]

Will finish up later and report back.

[Gordon Williams]

Rock n roll...or at least, classic rock n roll...is steeped in the blues. I've been on a blues kick myself  lately.

Of the 5 releases here, I've got the ZZ, the LZ, and the KWS. I mentioned elsewhere about recently seeing a Zeppelin tribute band out of Los Angeles, Led Zepagain....two of the better songs they did that night were "Since I've Been Loving You", and an even longer version of "Dazed And Confused".

Good post Scott!

[Scott]

Thanks!  It was a fun list to put together!