Mighty Long Time
Artist: James Cotton

Although the titles are all familiar (most of them a little too much so), Cotton and his all-star cohorts (guitarists Jimmie Vaughan, Matt Murphy, Luther Tucker, Hubert Sumlin, and Wayne Bennett, the omnipresent Perkins on keys) pull the whole thing off beautifully. Cotton's cover of Wolf's "Moanin' at Midnight" is remarkably eerie in its own... Read More

Harp Attack!
Artist: James Cotton

Four Chicago harmonica greats, one eminently solid album. Teamed with Junior Wells, Billy Branch, and Carey Bell, Cotton sings Willie Love's Delta classic "Little Car Blues" and Charles Brown's "Black Night" and plays along with his cohorts on most of the rest of the set. ~ Bill Dahl, All Music Guide Read More

Love You Like a Woman
Artist: Koko Taylor

Twenty-one songs by Koko Taylor, produced and mostly written by Willie Dixon between 1964 and 1969, with Lafayette Leake, Buddy Guy, Robert Nighthawk (on some of the earliest tracks), Johnny Shines, Clifton James, Walter Horton, and Dixon backing her up. The songs run the gamut from blues standards in the making ("Wang Dang Doodle") to topical... Read More

Blues Hit Big Town
Artist: Junior Wells
Community Score: 10.00

This 1998 CD reissue of Wells' debut recordings for the States label adds four previously unheard tracks along with the original 13-track vinyl lineup. Wells' legacy begins with these landmark sides, featuring Elmore James, Muddy Waters, Johnnie Jones, Otis Spann, Willie Dixon, and the Aces in the lineup at various points. Whether it's a slow... Read More

The Son Seals Blues Band
Artist: Son Seals

The Chicago mainstay's debut album was a rough, gruff, no-nonsense affair typified by the decidedly unsentimental track "Your Love Is like a Cancer." Seals wasn't all that far removed from his southern roots at this point, and his slashing guitar work sports a strikingly raw feel on his originals "Look Now, Baby," "Cotton Picking Blues," and... Read More

I Know You
Artist: Hubert Sumlin

This is arguably the first musically indispensable album that Hubert Sumlin has done since Howlin' Wolf died some 23 years ago. That isn't to say that he hasn't done some good albums before this, just that I Know You has a degree of urgency, coupled with remarkable ease, that makes it a real delight. The result is a record that compares very... Read More