This 63 track, 3CD set, is filled with some of the most rollickin’ blues music you’re ever likely to hear, played with power, fire and spirit, with many tracks being performed by a generation of young(ish) musicians who’d learned their chops listening to the masters of the genre and turning the volume up.
One of the great ironies of the blues is that, while its origins derive from the USA, its re-emergence in the 60’s owes much to the influence of UK musicians. In the early 1960’s several UK bands emerged. Yardbirds, Animals, Manfred Mann, but mainly The Rolling Stones, whose members had all grown up in the 1950s listening to and venerating hard-to-obtain US blues artists like Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson and Howlin’ Wolf. When the Stones first played the States in 1964, and were asked for the source of their music, where had it come from, they said, “It came from here, your country.” Appearing on US TV show Shindig in May 1965, Brian Jones said to the compere, “Anyway, how about you stop talking and let’s get Howlin’ Wolf out here ..” and while the Stones sat at his feet listening intently, many US fans had no clue who he was! And while artists like Chuck Berry and Willie Dixon received huge royalty cheques from songs the Stones, amongst others, recorded, Led Zeppelin became notorious for ripping off old blues artists, many of whom never saw a penny after their work was purloined by four white guys.
This begat the period when many US blues guitarists and bands emerged, artists such as Paul Butterfield, Mike Bloomfield, Canned Heat and Duane Allman, all included here, and it began an era of intense change in blues music as the sixties progressed. The old idea of ‘de bloos’ .. a lone elderly black guy singing mournful tunes on an old battered acoustic guitar .. was replaced by three/four piece bands playing electric instruments, such as Cream and the Electric Flag, who turned Howlin’ Wolf’s Killing Floor into an anti-Vietnam protest.
Rollin’ and Tumblin’ focuses on the period of the 60’s when music and society were in ferment, and when the blues was evolving and being interpreted by other genres, as well as being championed by a new, young white audience, even interspersing with psychedelia in the form of Big Brother & the Holding Company (with Janis Joplin), Quicksilver Messenger Service and the good Captain (Beefheart) with Ry Cooder, all of whom feature here, with even the great Muddy Waters going almost psychedelic with Tom Cat, as does Bo Diddley with Elephant Man.
As you’d expect, the set contains tracks from acknowledged blues greats, many of whom were influential with 60’s musicians, such as Freddie King, Howlin’ Wolf, Albert Collins, Buddy Guy, John Lee Hooker, Slim Harpo and Etta James, as well as tracks by artists making their bluesy reps in the 60’s, acts like ZZ Top, Canned Heat, Taj Mahal and Tony Joe White. But there are also several artists included who surprise with their contribution to the genre. Who knew the Lovin’ Spoonful could play gorgeous tracks like ‘Night Owl Blues’? Or 60’s garage bands like ‘Shadows of Knight,’ ‘Steppenwolf’ and ‘Kaleidoscope’ could play blues so well?
Some artists, not necessarily known for the blues, deserve their place here because of their ability to sing anything well, such as Otis Redding, Booker T & MG’s and Aretha Franklin and Dion, whose credentials in any genre go unquestioned. However, though The Everly Brothers and Wilson Pickett are seminal artists, their decisions to record ‘My Babe’ and ‘Born To Be Wild’ respectively were maybe not the most appropriate they ever made, whilst Blue Cheer’s mangling of blues classic ‘Parchman Farm’ is something to behold.
There’s so much to enjoy on these three discs, with the blues showing its versatility as it’s played, interpreted and delivered by artists, many of whose immense contributions to the blues are not in doubt. And, if nothing else, this collection demonstrates the roots from which heavy metal developed and grew.
