Label: Rhino Records.
Release Date: February 23, 1993.
Recording Time: 72 minutes.
Release Info: Studio Recording.
Styles: Blues Revival, Chicago Blues, Country Blues, Delta Blues, Electric Chicago Blues, Electric Harmonica Blues, Field Recordings, Modern Electric Blues, Pre-War Country Blues, Regional Blues, Acoustic Blues, Early R&B, Electric Blues.
It's hard to believe from the vantage point of a period when blues songs are used for network television commercials, but it wasn't so long ago that the blues was, though hardly in danger of extinction, certainly limited to a pretty specialized audience. The blues revival of the early '60s brought the music back into the spotlight through its prominence at major folk festivals and college concerts, the rediscovery of lost legends like Skip James and Mississippi John Hurt, and the efforts of several musicians and record labels to popularize the work of the form's originators. Blues Revival covers a lot of these bases. This 17-track collection includes some of the biggest hit blues singles of the '60s (by Jimmy Reed, John Lee Hooker, Slim Harpo, and B.B. King), '60s recordings by acoustic Delta blues giants like Mississippi Fred McDowell and Son House, hot electric Chicago blues by Junior Wells and Muddy Waters, and white, rock-oriented revivalists like Paul Butterfield, John Mayall, and Canned Heat. Seasoned collectors won't find anything too obscure here, but it's a handy primer to some of the best blues recorded during an era in which the idiom reestablished itself as a vital and living form. - Review by Richie Unterberger.
Credits: James Austin - compilation producerThe Paul Butterfield Blues Band - performer, primary artist; Canned Heat - performer, primary artist; Ida Cox - composer; Rick Darnell - composer; Preston Foster - composer; Nick Gravenites - composer; Slim Harpo - composer, performer, primary artist; Roy Hawkins - composer; John Lee Hooker - composer, performer, primary artist; Lightnin' Hopkins - performer, primary artist; Son House - composer, performer, primary artist; Mississippi John Hurt - composer, performer, primary artist; Floyd Jones - composer; Albert King - composer, performer, primary artist; B.B. King - performer, primary artist; Lead Belly - composer; Huddie Ledbetter - composer; John Mayall - composer, performer; John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers - performer, primary artist; Mississippi Fred McDowell - composer, performer, primary artist; Brownie McGhee - performer, primary artist; James Moore - composer; Public Domain - composer; Dave "Snaker" Ray - performer, primary artist; Jimmy Reed - composer, performer, primary artist; Otis Spann - composer, performer, primary artist; Sonny Terry - performer, primary artist; Muddy Waters - performer, primary artist; Junior Wells - primary artist; Big Joe Williams - performer, primary artist; Joe Williams - primary artist; Sonny Boy Williamson II - composer, performer, primary artist; Sonny Boy Williamson I - composer; Alan Wilson - composer.
Tracks: 1) Baby, What You Want Me to Do - Jimmy Reed; 2) Three Aces on the Bottom of the Deal - Lightnin' Hopkins, Brownie McGhee & Sonny Terry (with Big Joe Williams); 3) Candy Man - Mississippi John Hurt; 4) Fannin Street - Dave "Snaker" Ray; 5) Write Me a Few Lines - Mississippi Fred McDowell; 6) Death Letter - Son House; 7) Boom Boom - John Lee Hooker; 8) Got My Mojo Working - Muddy Waters; 9) Born in Chicago - The Paul Butterfield Blues Band; 10) Good Morning Little Schoolgirl - Junior Wells' Chicago Blues Band; 11) The Blues Never Die - Otis Spann; 12) Baby Scratch My Back - Slim Harpo; 13) Coming Home to You Baby - Sonny Boy Williamson II; 14) The Death of J.B. Lenoir - John Mayall's Blues Breakers; 15) On the Road Again - Canned Heat; 16) Blues Power - Albert King; 17) The Thrill Is Gone - B.B. King.