Release Date: February 20, 1992.
Recording Time: 34 minutes.
Release Info: Studio Recording.
Styles: Chicago Blues, Electric Blues, Jump Blues, Regional Blues, Soul-Blues, Urban Blues, Early R&B, Electric Chicago Blues, Electric Texas Blues, Texas Blues.
MCA Special Products' The Best of the Blues, Vol. 2 has a slightly presumptuous title, and no one should expect that this budget line disc should function as some kind of definitive statement on the blues. Instead, if you think of it as a diverting sampler you'll be on the right track, especially since the compilers were able to cull recordings from the classic Chess and Duke-Peacock catalogs. As a result, the final disc is quite entertaining, containing highlights from Muddy Waters ("Rollin' Stone"), Howlin' Wolf ("Tail Dragger"), Joe Turner ("Doggin' the Dog"), BB King ("Guess Who?," "Help the Poor"), T. Bone Walker ("Stormy Monday Blues") and Bobby Bland ("Do What You Set Out to Do," "Drifting Blues"). These may not necessarily be definitive cuts from the artists, but they are entertaining, which is enough to make it of interest to casual fans on a tight budget. - Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine.
Credits: Jesse Belvin - composer; JoAnne Belvin - composer; Bobby "Blue" Bland - performer, primary artist; Charles Brown - composer; Marshall Chess - producer; Norman Dayron - producer; Willie Dixon - composer; Esmond Edwards - producer; Howlin' Wolf - performer, primary artist; B.B. King - performer, primary artist; Deadric Malone - composer; Minnie McCoy - performer, primary artist; Memphis Minnie - performer; Ed Michel - producer; Fleecie Moore - composer; Johnny Moore's Three Blazers - composer; McKinley Morganfield - composer; Charlie Singleton - composer; Sam Theard - composer; Big Joe Turner - performer; Joe Turner - composer, primary artist; T-Bone Walker - composer, performer, primary artist; Muddy Waters - performer, primary artist; Jay Wellington - producer; Eddie Williams - composer; J. Mayo Williams - composer; Joe Zagarino - producer.
Tracks: 1) Guess Who? - B.B. King; 2) Do What You Set Out to Do - Bobby "Blue" Bland; 3) Rollin' Stone - Muddy Waters; 4) Stormy Monday - T-Bone Walker; 5) Tail Dragger - Howlin' Wolf; 6) Let the Good Times Roll - Bobby "Blue" Bland / B.B. King; 7) Weary Woman Blues - Minnie McCoy; 8) Doggin' the Dog - Joe Turner; 9) Help the Poor - B.B. King; 10) Driftin' Blues - Bobby "Blue" Bland.