Buddy's Blues (Chess 50th Anniversary Collection)

• Artist: Buddy Guy
• Rating:
• Release Date: April 08, 1997
• Type: Compilation (best of)
• Genre: Blues

Review

As part of MCA's Chess Records 50th Anniversary series, Buddy's Blues sweats Guy's multi-disc retrospective, The Complete Chess Studio Recordings down to a scintillating 15-track package and comes up with a bare-bones winner. There are loads of great guitar on classics like "First Time I Met the Blues," "Let Me Love You Baby," "Pretty Baby," "My Time After Awhile," "Stone Crazy," and Guy's voice is at its whiplash exuberant best. Unexpected bonuses pop up in the comp's kickoff track, a full-length version of "Worried Mind," issued here without the overdubbed applause and crowd noises that accompanied its original release on Folk Festival of the Blues (see Muddy Waters' entry). Also noteworthy is Junior Wells' appearance on chromatic harp on "Ten Years Ago," and Guy's stellar guitar behind Lacy Gibson's vocal on a Buddy Guy original, "My Love Is Real." And special note must also be made of the spacious stereo mixes used on this compilation, making these 30-year-old-plus tracks shine like diamonds coming off the laser beam. We also experience all the stylistic turns toward a kinship with the burgeoning soul and rock scenes that Guy would make toward the end of his Chess tenure, along with the smoking slow burners that are his trademark, some of which clock in at four to six minutes here. With his very best tracks compiled on one disc, and with beautiful transfers of them to enhance the listening experience, this should be one of your very first stops in absorbing the sides that made Buddy Guy's reputation among blues fans and guitar aficionados the world over. ~ Cub Koda, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track Title	Composers	Performers	Time
Worried Mind	Buddy Guy	Buddy Guy	(3:58)
First Time I Met the Blues (Lyrics)	Little Brother Montgomery, Eurreal Montgomery	Buddy Guy	(2:19)
Let Me Love You Baby	Willie Dixon	Buddy Guy	(2:54)
I Found a True Love	Buddy Guy, Bobby Womack, Reggie Young	Buddy Guy	(6:18)
Pretty Baby (Lyrics)	Willie Dixon	Buddy Guy	(4:04)
My Time After Awhile [Alternate Take]	Robert Geddins, Ron Badger, Ronald Bager, Buddy Guy, Sheldon Feinberg	Buddy Guy	(3:20)
Stone Crazy (Lyrics)	Buddy Guy	Buddy Guy	(7:11)
Keep It to Myself	Sonny Boy Williamson	Buddy Guy	(2:46)
Ten Years Ago	Buddy Guy	Buddy Guy	(2:39)
Got to Use Your Head	Buddy Guy	Buddy Guy	(2:13)
I Cry and Sing the Blues	Willie Dixon	Buddy Guy	(3:15)
She Suits Me to a T (Lyrics)	Buddy Guy	Buddy Guy	(2:16)
My Love Is Real	Buddy Guy	Buddy Guy	(2:39)
Leave My Girl Alone	Buddy Guy	Buddy Guy	(3:27)
When My Left Eye Jumps (Lyrics)	Al Perkins, Willie Dixon	Buddy Guy	(3:52)

Credits

Donald Hankins (Sax (Baritone)), Buddy Guy (Vocals), Phil Chess (Producer), Phil Thomas (Drums), Phil Upchurch (Bass), Otis Spann (Piano), Charles Stepney (Drums), Leonard Caston (Organ), Leonard Caston (Piano), Gene Barge (Producer), Milton Bland (Sax (Tenor)), Joseph Sia (Photography), Junior Wells (Harmonica), Jarrett Gibson (Sax (Tenor)), Donald Hankins (Sax (Tenor)), Ray Flerlage (Photography), Leroy Stewart (Bass), Al Duncan (Drums), Andy McKaie (Compilation Producer), Don Bronstein (Photography), Mike Fink (Design), Murray Watson (Trumpet), Buddy Guy (Guitar), Matt "Guitar" Murphy (Guitar), Bob Neely (Sax (Tenor)), Lacy Gibson (Vocals), Jack Meyers (Bass), Clifton James (Drums), Leonard Chess (Producer), Lafayette Leake (Piano), Fred Below (Drums), Lafayette Leake (Organ), Sonny Turner (Trumpet), Gene Barge (Sax (Tenor)), Geary Chansley (Photo Research), A.C. Reed (Sax (Tenor)), Little Brother Montgomery (Piano), Abe Locke (Sax (Tenor)), Jarrett Gibson (Sax (Baritone)), Lefty Bates (Guitar), Lacy Gibson (Guitar), Brian Smith (Photography), Erick Labson (Digital Remastering)