Chess Blues - Box Set (1993)

MCA/CHESS CHD4-9340

PDF of booklet and high-res disc and packaging scans included.

This twenty-one-year period in the history of Aristocrat and Chess Records was the most important era in the history of urban Chicago blues. During the years between 1947 and 1967 a musical style was born, wretched out of the Delta by Muddy Waters and his contemporaries; it grew to its astonishing and highly influential maturity, sent out musical seed pods that would land in fertile ground all over America and as far away as England, and by the end of this period was all but moribund. After Leonard Chess\' death of a heart attack in 1969, the label was sold to GRT, a company that manufactured cassette tapes. Under Leonard\'s son Marshall Chess, GRT\'s version of the label tried desperately to keep up with the popular music world, and the blues sessions were scheduled further and further apart. In 1975 GRT sold the Chess catalog to All Platinum, who stopped all new recordings and turned Chess into a reissue-only label. In the early Eighties the catalog changed hands yet again, and further reissues were put out by Sugar Hill Records.

The acquisition of the complete Chess catalog by MCA in 1985 has led finally to a long overdue, careful and systematic reissue program, making the best of the Chicago blues available after a long hiatus. This, combined with the recent resurgence of interest in blues in general and Chicago blues in particular, ensures that future generations of music aficionados will have a chance to listen to and learn from the masters.

– Mary Katherine Aldin, August, 1992


Chess Blues is a superlative four-CD box set featuring important tracks by all the main stars of the label (Muddy Waters, Howlin\' Wolf, Little Walter, Sonny Boy Williamson), as well as much previously unreleased material. A well-done retrospective of Chicago blues in its heyday, as recorded by America\'s greatest blues label, Chess.

- Cub Koda


This 4 CD box set is comprised of 101 Chess tracks-including 46 rarites and 19 previously unreleased songs. The set includes a 64-page booklet with full track-by-track annotations, rare photos, and extensive liner notes by noted blues expert Mary Katherine Aldin.

Producers include: Sam Phillips, Oliver Sain, Leonard Chess, Phil Chess, Willie Dixon

Compilation producer: Andy McKaie

Digitally remastered by Erick Labson (MCA Studios, North Hollywood, California)

DISC I:
01. Lollypop Mama - Clarence Samuels
02. Bilbo Is Dead - Andrew Tibbs
03. Johnson Machine Gun - Sunnyland Slim
04. Fly Right, Little Girl - Sunnyland Slim
05. Little Anna Mae - Muddy Waters
06. I Can\'t Be Satisfied - Muddy Waters
07. My Sweet Lovin\' Woman - Robert Nighthawk
08. I Feel Like Going Home - Muddy Waters
09. She Ain\'t Nowhere - Sunnyland Slim
10. Florida Hurricane - St. Louis Jimmy Oden
11. Memory of Sonny Boy - Forest City Joe
12. Tonky Boogie - Forrest Sykes
13. Cryin\' the Blues - Laura Rucker (previously unreleased)
14. My Head Can\'t Rest Anymore - Baby Face Leroy
15. Big Town Playboy - Johnny Jones
16. Sweet Black Angel - Robert Nighthawk
17. Rollin\' Stone - Muddy Waters
18. Luedella - Jimmy Rogers
19. Mother Earth - Memphis Slim
20. Dr. Ross\' Boogie - Isaiah Ross
21. Joliet Blues - Johnny Shines
22. Moanin\' at Midnight - Howlin\' Wolf
23. All Night Long - Muddy Waters (alternate take)
24. Mr. Commissioner - Arbee Stidham (previously unreleased, alternate take)
25. Gettin\' Old and Grey - Howlin\' Wolf

DISC II:
01. Walkin\' the Boogie - John Lee Hooker (alternate take)
02. Juke - Little Walter
03. Conjur Man - Memphis Minnie (previously unreleased)
04. Who\'s Gonna Be Your Sweet Man When I\'m Gone - Muddy Waters
05. Broken Heart - Memphis Minnie (previously unreleased, alternate take)
06. Truckin\' Little Woman - Willie Nix
07. Funeral Hearse at My Door - Rocky Fuller
08. Hard Time Gettin\' Started - Eddie Boyd (previously unreleased)
09. Don\'t Need No Horse - Little Walter (previously unreleased)
10. Eight Ball - Gus Jenkins
11. Fast Boogie - Little Walter (previously unreleased)
12. I\'m Mad - Willie Mabon
13. Ice Cream Man - John Brim
14. Whose Muddy Shoes - Elmore James
15. Got to Have It - Willie Mabon (previously unreleased)
16. I Declare That Ain\'t Right - Henry Gray
17. Remember - Alberta Adams (previously unreleased)
18. Untitled Instrumental - Henry Gray/Morris Pejoe (previously unreleased)
19. Blues With a Feeling - Little Walter
20. Hoochie Coochie Man - Muddy Waters
21. Forty Four - Howlin\' Wolf
22. Got to Find My Baby - Little Walter (previously unreleased, alternate take)
23. Evil - Howlin\' Wolf
24. Reconsider Baby - Lowell Fulson
25. Mama Talk to Your Daughter - J.B. Lenoir

DISC III:
01. Mellow Down Easy - Little Walter
02. My Eyes (Keep Me in Trouble) - Muddy Waters
03. My Babe - Little Walter
04. You Got to Love Me - Billy Boy Arnold (previously unreleased)
05. Walking the Blues - Willie Dixon
06. Don\'t Start Me to Talkin\' - Sonny Boy Williamson
07. Smokestack Lightnin\' - Howlin\' Wolf
08. 29 Ways - Willie Dixon
09. Right to Love You - Paul Gayten/Myrtle Jones (previously unreleased)
10. Ain\'t Nobody\'s Business - Jimmy Witherspoon
11. I\'m Leaving You - Otis Spann
12. Break of Day - Howlin\' Wolf
13. Please Don\'t Go - Floyd Dixon (previously unreleased)
14. Keep It to Yourself - Sonny Boy Williamson
15. Walking by Myself - Jimmy Rogers
16. Got My Mojo Working - Muddy Waters
17. Fattening Frogs For Snakes - Sonny Boy Williamson (alternate take)
18. Slow Leake - Lafayette Leake (previously unreleased)
19. Sitting on Top of the World - Howlin\' Wolf
20. She Don\'t Know - J.B. Lenoir
21. Your Funeral and My Trial - Sonny Boy Williamson
22. Key to the Highway - Little Walter
23. Douhble Trouble - Muddy Waters (previously unreleased, alternate take)
24. Come on Home - Eddie Boyd
25. Goat, The - Sonny Boy Williamson (band track)
26. So Many Roads, So Many Trains - Otis Rush

DISC IV:
01. First Time I Met the Blues - Buddy Guy
02. Too Poor - Detroit Junior
03. Blue Shadows - Lowell Fulson
04. Shakedown, The - Lloyd Glenn (previously unreleased)
05. Sun Is Shining, The - Elmore James (alternate take)
06. Calling on My Darling (A.K.A. Howlin\' For My Darlin\') - Albert King
07. Red Rooster, The - Howlin\' Wolf
08. Nine Below Zero - Sonny Boy Williamson
09. Goin\' Down Slow - Howlin\' Wolf
10. Satisfied - Little Milton
11. Something\'s Got a Hold on Me - Etta James
12. Wrinkles - The Big Three Trio
13. Bring It on Home - Sonny Boy Williamson
14. Good Moanin\' Blues - Big Walter Horton
15. Killing Floor - Howlin\' Wolf
16. What Kind of Man Is That? - Koko Taylor
17. We\'re Gonna Make It - Little Milton
18. Wang Dang Doodle - Koko Taylor
19. Dirty Work Goin\' On - Little Joe Blue
20. One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer - John Lee Hooker
21. Jinglin\' Baby - Eddie Burns Blues Band (previously unreleased)
22. That\'s Why I Don\'t Mind - Muddy Waters (previously unreleased)
23. Keep It to Myself - Buddy Guy
24. Sitting Here Alone - Hound Dog Taylor
25. I\'d Rather Go Blind - Etta James