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BLUES & GOSPEL

William Clark -> Louis "Mr Bo" Collins 
WILLIAM CLARKE
OTIS CLAY
REV. EDWARD W. CLAYBORN
DOCTOR CLAYTON
EDDY CLEARWATER
JAMES CLEVELAND
DOROTHY LOVE COATES & GOSPEL HARMONETTES
WILLIE COBBS
DEBORAH COLEMAN
GEORGE COLEMAN
MICHAEL COLEMAN
ALBERT COLLINS
LOUIS "MR BO" COLLINS
 

WILLIAM CLARKE Alligator 4788 Blowin' Like Hell ● CD $15.98
Clarke, long a mainstay of the L.A. blues scene, is a potent white bluesman with a tight road-tested band. If you know his other small label releases you'll be pleased by the clean and powerful sound here. Great harp and stripped down arrangements in the Chicago mold, and especially tasteful guitar from Alex Schultz and Zach Zunis. Clarke's voice has sounded better, and it has more edge in a small club, but still carries admirably here. 11 cuts. [MB]

 
WILLIAM CLARKE Alligator 4806 Serious Intentions ● CD $11.98
Los Angeles-based harmonicist and singer William Clarke provides a fetching array of richly toned sounds on his second Alligator set. It doesn't matter that he was a late starter to the recording business (in 1983) because the strident I Know You're Fine and the low-down Driving My Life Away are as authentic and compelling a blues hybrid of West Coast and Chicago blues that you can get. Convincing vocal simply adds to this album's all-round appeal. (TR)
WILLIAM CLARKE: Chasin' the Gator/ Driving My Life Away/ Educated Fool/ Going Down This Highway/ I Feel Like Jumping/ I Know You're Fine/ It's Been a Long Time/ Pawnshop Bound/ Soon Forgotten/ Trying to Stretch My Money/ With a Tear in My Eye/ Work Song

 
WILLIAM CLARKE Alligator 4827 Groove Time ● CD $15.98
WILLIAM CLARKE: Bedroom Boogie/ Blowin' the Family Jewels/ Broke and Hungry/ Chicago Blues/ Complainer's Boogie Woogie/ Daddy Pinnochio/ Good Girl is Hard to Find/ Saint or Sinner/ Saturday Night Blues/ Somebody is Calling Me Home/ Telephone is Ringing/ This is My Last Goodbye/ War is Over/ Watch Dog/ Your Love is Real

 
WILLIAM CLARKE Watchdog 1010 One More Again! ● CD $14.98
Clarke, long a mainstay of the L.A. blues scene, was a potent white blues singer and harmonica player with a tight road-tested band. His early death in 1996 at the age of 45 robbed the world of a significant talent. These previously unissued tracks were recorded around 1993 with a tough group including solid guitar work from Alex Schultz and Greg Vergino. A few of the songs are numbers he would later go on to record for Alligator. Includes two versions of the song Home Is Where The Heart Is - one slow and one fast, a couple of untitled instrumentals plus I Got My bags Packed/ Letter From Home/ When I'm With You Baby, etc. 12 tracks in all.

 
OTIS CLAY Blind Pig 5005 The Gospel Truth ● CD $15.98
Self-produced collection of rousing, inspirational and spiritual music.

 
REV. EDWARD W. CLAYBORN Document DOCD 5155 Complete Chronological Recordings 1926-28 ● CD $15.98
27 tracks, 78 min., recommended. As for any hard information on Clayborn's life, forget it. The liner notes say he may possibly have been born somewhere in or near Alabama. And that's it. His music tells everything that's important, though. He was one of those great, late-'20s guitar wielding evangelists who sounds too earnest to be a poser. His songs urge listeners to be nice to Mom and Wife, beware of friends--eh, Judas?--and get tickets for the Gospel Train, 'cause it's coming. Notes warn that "Clayborn's records were never intended to be listened to en masse," which is to say the songs sound a lot alike. So here they are en masse. Guess that's why the company's called Document. Best title: The Wrong Way To Celebrate Christmas. (JC)

 
DOCTOR CLAYTON Document DOCD 5179 Complete Chronological Recordings (1935-42) ● CD $15.98
24 tracks, 69 mins, recommended
Although not terribly prolific or well known today Peter "Doctor" Clayton wrote several songs that have become blues standards (Gotta Find My Baby, Cheating & Lying Blues (usually known as Gonna Murder My Baby) and others. He was the major influence on Sunnyland Slim and an influence on B.B. King. He had a distinctive vocal style with a lovely soaring swooping quality to it. He wrote some brilliant lyrics including the previously mentioned songs, Slick Man Blues/ Moonshine Man Blues the patriotic '41 Blues and Pearl Harbor Blues, the witty Ain't No Business We Can Do- and the original version of Confessin' The Blues. Nearly all the cuts feature effective piano by John Davis and several feature the rather unusual but effective sound of a tuba played by Ransom Knowling. (FS)

 
EDDY CLEARWATER Blind Pig 74792 Help Yourself ● CD $15.98
 

 
EDDY "THE CHIEF" CLEARWATER Bullseye Blues 9614 Cool Blues Walk ● CD $15.98
New album from Chicago blues veteran accompanied by Duke Robillard & His Band. Mostly originals by Eddie.

 
EDDY CLEARWATER Delmark 678 Boogie My Blues Away ● CD $11.98
1977 Ralph Bass recordings - with Bob Riedy, Aron Burton, Sam Lay, Tom Eckert and Little Mac Simmons.

 
EDDY CLEARWATER Evidence 26008 Blues Hang Out ● CD $12.98
14 tracks, 67 min., recommended. A nice set of solid West Side Chicago blues featuring singer/ guitarist Clearwater accompanied by bass, guitar and drums. The songs are mostly originals and include straight blues, a couple of fine minor key songs, blues ballads and some Chuck Berry influenced rock 'n roll blues. Eddy is a decent singer and a powerful, if not terribly distinctive, guitarist. Big Time Sarah takes the vocals on 3 of the songs here. Black & Blue CD reissue. (FS)

 
EDDY CLEARWATER Rooster Blues 2625 A Real Good Time - Live! ● CD $15.98
Good solid collection of energetic Chicago blues, R&B and rock 'n roll recorded live at two different clubs. Although no great innovator, Eddy is an enterating performer on this selection of mostly original songs accomapanied a solid bands. Songs include How!/ Three Weeks To Skin A Cat/ Hustlin' & Schemin'/ I'll Change My Style/ Party At My House/ All Your Love/ Goodnight, Sweetheart, Goodnight, etc. (FS)

 
EDDY CLEARWATER/ CAREY BELL Wolf 120.869 Chicago Blues Session Vol. 23 ● CD $15.98
8 songs, recommended. Solid set of Chicago blues featuring singer/ guitarist Clearwater and harp wiz and vocalist Carey Bell with pianist Allen Battson, sax player Chuck Smith and others. Originals and old favorites include I'm Gonna Move/ Last Night/ Jump Back Jack/ One Day and others. Nice. (FS)

 
JAMES CLEVELAND & THE ANGELIC CHOIR Savoy 14076 Peace Be Still ● CD $15.98
 

 
REV. JAMES CLEVELAND Collectables 6102 The Very Best Of ● CD $11.98
REV. JAMES CLEVELAND: Does Jesus Care/ Good to Be Kept by Jesus/ Great Day/ I Can't Make this Journey Without You/ I'm Talking about Jesus/ It's Wonderful to Talk to Jesus/ Just a Sinner/ Oh My King/ Surely He Died on Calvary/ The Lord Will See You Through/ Troubles of this World/ the Blood of Jesus

 
DOROTHY LOVE COATES & GOSPEL HARMONETTES Specialty 7017 Get On Board ● CD $15.98
Recorded between 1951-1956, these 24 cuts capture one of gospel's greatest female ensembles in its prime. Formed in the mid-40's, the group recorded briefly for RCA in 1950, but hit its stride with the addition of Dorothy Love Coates, who, in performance, was so animated that she remembers Specialty owner Art Rupe being afraid that she'd "die of a heart attack." Fortunately for us, her vocal energy matches her athleticism, and its loud and clear on all of these righteous tracks - many of which are previously unissued. Numbers include Rest For The Weary, The Railroad, No Hiding Place, Wade in the Water, Ninety-Nine and a Half, one untitled instrumental, and one sermonette. Authoritative notes by Anthony Heilbut, excellent sound, and a nice cover photo of the group. My one regret is that the notes fail to name the individuals in the photo. (DH)

WILLIE COBBS Bullseye Blues 9629 Jukin' ● CD $15.98
10 tracks, 42 minutes, recommended How's this for a pairing? Down home harpist Cobbs, best known for writing You Don't Love Me, done by hundreds of rock bands, teamed up with producer Willie Mitchell, purveyor of Memphis funk! To cap it off, the backing band is the famed Hodges Brothers, better known as Al Green's rhythm section, along with a tasty 3-piece horn section!! Besides Cobbs' own title tune, the tracks are mainly fine covers, including Black Night/ Mean Old World/ Reconsider Baby/ Please Send Me Someone To Love, etc (GM)

 
DEBORAH COLEMAN Blind Pig 5048 Where Blue Begins ● CD $13.98
New album of blues-rock from acclaimed singer/ guitarist - does nothing for me.

 
GEORGE COLEMAN Arhoolie 1040 Bongo Joe ● CD $12.98
10 tracks, 50 min., highly recommended
"I rap--but not that bullshit they're putting down now. I play fundamental beat music". So sayeth George Coleman, AKA Bongo Joe, Texas' eccentric street percussionist/satirist extraordinaire. Armed with 55-gallon oil drums, mallets made of hammer handles and filled with BB's, and his own self, Joe was (is?) something of a regular on the streets of Galveston, Houston, and San Antonio. Capturing him in his own element, these recordings (made in 1968) display Joe's unique drum sound and fantastic talk/shouted vocals on I Wish I Could Sing/ Transistor Radio/ Dog Eat Dog and probably his most well known song, Innocent Little Doggie. This reissue of the original LP adds 3 more songs, including the terrific Science Fiction. Perhaps something of an oddity in the Arhoolie catalog, it's also one of my favorites -- I wish everyone could hear Bongo Joe! (GDR)
GEORGE COLEMAN: Cool It/ Crazy With Love/ Dog Eat Dog/ Eloise/ Great (instrumental)/ I Wish I Could Sing/ Innocent Little Doggie/ Listen At That Bull/ Right/ Science Fiction/ Transistor Radio

 
MICHAEL COLEMAN & THE DELMARK ALL-STARS Delmark 785 Blues Brunch At The Mart ● CD $14.98
13 tracks, 69 minutes, recommended
With Little Arthur Duncan, Lurrie Bell, Willie Kent, Steve Freund, Bonnie Lee, Tail Dragger, Aaron Moore and others backed by Michael Coleman for a 'live' location recording from Chicago's Jazz Record Mart expectations are bound to be high and the gathered cast doesn't disappoint. Coleman shines bringing new life to The Sky Is Crying mixing T-Bone Walker and Fenton Robinson with his own modern guitar approach and Lurrie Bell sounds better than ever on Reconsider Baby and I Need You So Bad while Steve Freund soars through a rousing My Little Playhouse delivering scorching guitar. It'd be nice if Delmark could manage more recordings from their Blues Brunch series of performances. (CR)

 
MICHAEL COLEMAN Wolf 120.865 Back Breaking Blues - Chicago Blues Session Vol. 18 ● CD $15.98
Excellent set on contemporary Chicago blues by this fine singer/ guitarist accompanied by his band The Backbreakers with Professor Eddie Lusk guesting on piano on most tracks and a small horn section on some cuts. Coleman is a powerful singer and a fluid and interesting guitarist. The material includes some new songs (Breakfast In My Bed/ Big Fat Mama/ Got To Move) etc and some covers (sometimes overly familiar like You Don't Have To Go and Mustang Sally but also lesser known items like Call My Job and Dreamer). Well worth a listen. (FS)

 
ALBERT COLLINS Alligator 4713 Ice Pickin' ● CD $13.98
8 refreshing blues treats from Collins' frosty freezer, including Too Tired/When The Welfare Turns Its Back On You . Brrrr...

 
ALBERT COLLINS Alligator 4719 Frostbite ● CD $11.98
Another fine set with powerful band - recorded 1980.
ALBERT COLLINS: Blue Monday Hangover/ Brick/ Don't Go Reaching Across My Plate/ Give Me My Blues/ I Got A Problem/ If You Love Me LIke You Say/ Snowed In/ The Highway Is Like A Woman

 
ALBERT COLLINS Alligator 4725 Frozen Alive ● CD $11.98
Excellent live set recorded with his regular band at the Union Bar in Minneapolis in 1981
ALBERT COLLINS: Angel Of Mercy/ Caldonia/ Cold Cuts/ Frosty/ Got A Mind To Travel/ I Got That Feeling/ Things I Used To Do

 
ALBERT COLLINS Alligator 4730 Don't Lose Your Cool ● CD $11.98
ALBERT COLLINS: ... But I was Cool!/ Broke/ Don't Lose Your Cool/ Ego Trip/ Get To Gettin'/ Melt Down/ My Mind Is Trying To Leave Me/ Quicksand/ When A Guitar Plays The Blues

 
ALBERT COLLINS Alligator 4733 Live In Japan ● CD $11.98
With A.C. Reed and The Icebreakers, recorded 1982.

 
ALBERT COLLINS Alligator 5601 Deluxe Edition ● CD $15.98
Albert chills another one, with help from the Uptown Horns. With the fabulous version of Too Many Dirty Dishes and 8 more urban workouts.

 
ALBERT COLLINS Charisma 39097 Collins Mix - The Best Of Albert Collins ● CD $15.98
11 tracks, 53 min., recommended
Sadly, this is the late guitarist's final studio effort; a retrospective of classic instrumental tunes and strutting funk blues. Some of the latter, like the silly Mastercharge, are expendable retreads from Collins' Alligator Records era. In fact, with the exception of Same Old Thing, all these newly recorded cuts have been done for other labels, going as far back as the early 60's instrumentals Frosty/ Don't Lose Your Cool. Albert's abundant energy revitalizes Tired Man with guest Kim Wilson, pumps up If You Love Me Like You Say and Lowell Fulsom's Honey Hush, and creates a definitive version of the minor blues burner If Trouble Was Money complete with an absolutely scorching solo. Though not quite the "best of" that it advertises, there's no shortage of the stinging guitar work we'll always remember Albert for. (MB)
ALBERT COLLINS: Collins Mix/ Don't Lose Your Cool/ Frosty/ Honey Hush/ If Trouble Was Money/ If You Love Me Like You Say/ Mastercharge/ Same Old Thing/ The Moon Is Full/ There's Gotta Be a Change/ Tired Man

 
ALBERT COLLINS MCA MCAD 10423 Truckin' With Albert Collins ● CD $10.98
Reissue of Albert's early recordings made in Houston in 1962/'63 for the TCF & Hall labels. Albert was an exciting and distinctive stylist right from the start, with an explosive staccato guitar sound that accounts for his "cool" trademark. This album features 11 great guitar instrumentals - Collins' tastefully restrained playing heats as it chills, setting up a seductive tension with his grooving band. No one can swing a shuffle beat like a Texan, and Herbert Henderson really cooks on the preferred Collins rhythm, also laying down latin and twist beats under impressive horn work by Big Tiny, Henry Hayes and Frank Mitchell. Frosty and Don't Lose Your Cool have become bar band standards; other "cool" classics include Snow-Cone II/ Hot 'N Cold/ Tremble/ Thaw Out etc. Albert sang very little in those days, but his one vocal Dyin' Flu is a killer. Replica reish of Blue Thumb 8 from 1969, and also on Crosscut LP 1011 as The Cool Sound Of. Essential! (MB)
ALBERT COLLINS: Backstroke/ Don't Lose Your Cool/ Dyin' Flu/ Frostbite/ Frosty/ Hot 'N Cold/ Icy Blue/ Kool Aide/ Shiver 'N Shake/ Snow-Cone II/ Thaw Out/ Tremble

 
ALBERT COLLINS Pointblank 40658 Live '92-'93 ● CD $15.98
ALBERT COLLINS: Frosty/ I Ain't Drunk/ Iceman/ If You Love Me (Like You Say)/ Lights Are On But Nobody's Home/ My Woman Has A Black Cat Bone/ Put The Shoe On The Other Foot/ T-Bone Shuffle/ Talkin Woman/ Travelin' South

 
ALBERT COLLINS Red Lightnin' RLCD 089 The Hot "Cool" Sound Of Albert Collins ● CD $15.98
9 tracks, 70 min., recommended. Live recording from 1973, with this titanic Texas guitarist caught onstage at the El Mocambo in Toronto. In the style of the times, the songs are long, and sometimes wander into rock excesses. Yet through it all Collins plays his butt off, getting more variety and tasteful licks out of his guitar than you'll hear on most of his studio recordings. The live sound is balanced and fairly clear, but noticeably muffled in the high frequencies. [MB]

 
ALBERT COLLINS/ ROBERT CRAY/ JOHNNY COPELAND Alligator 4743 Showdown ● CD $15.98
 

 
LOUIS "MR BO" COLLINS Blue Suit 107 If Trouble Was Money ● CD $15.98
12 tracks, 56 mins, recommended
These 1995 recordings by singer and guitarist from Detroit were his first in 20 years. They were also his last as he died seven months after these recordings. Louis Bo Collins is a fine singer and guitarist, obviously influenced by B.B. King, but by no means a copyist. He is accompanied by a solid small group and does a couple of songs he originally recorded in the 60s (If Trouble Was Money/ Lost Love Affair), some good originals (Detroit, Michigan/ I'm Gonna get Even, etc), some B.B. covers and a nice bluesy version of the spiritual Precious Lord. Worth a listen. (FS)

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