Chess Blues Classics 1947-1956 Volume 1 (CD)

Part one of a 2-volume set in MCA's Chess 50th Anniversary collection, Chess Blues Classics 1947-1956 offers a 16-track treasury of the sounds that made the label the tops in the blues field. Beginning with 2 Aristocrat sides (the label's original moniker) from 1948 and 1949 featuring Muddy Waters ("I Can't Be Satisfied") and Little Johnny Jones ("Big Town Playboy" with Muddy on backup guitar), the collection rolls through its treasures chronologically, cherry-picking the hits from the innumerable classics stored in the Chess vaults. With Jimmy Rogers' "That's All Right," Eddie Boyd's "Twenty-Four Hours," John Lee Hooker's "Sugar Mama," Lowell Fulson's "Reconsider Baby" and J.B. Lenoir's "Eisenhower Blues" providing nice changes of pace from the big hits of Muddy, Howlin' Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson, and Little Walter aboard, this is by no means a lightweight collection.

Track Listing
1.I Can't Be Satisfied - 2:43 (Waters, Muddy)
2.Big Town Playboy - 2:56 (Jones, Johnny)
3.That's All Right - 2:50 (Rogers, Jimmy)
4.Long Distance Call - 2:41 (Waters, Muddy)
5.Sugar Mama - 3:16 (Hooker, John Lee)
6.Twenty-Four Hours - 3:28 (Boyd, Eddie)
7.Blues With a Feeling - 3:09 (Little Walter)
8.I Just Want to Make Love to You - 2:52 (Waters, Muddy)
9.Reconsider Baby - 3:11 (Fulson, Lowell)
10.Eisenhower Blues - 2:53 (Lenoir, J.B.)
11.My Babe - 2:42 (Little Walter)
12.I'm a Man - 3:02 (Diddley, Bo)
13.Don't Start Me to Talkin' - 2:35 (Williamson, Sonny Boy)
14.Smokestack Lightning - 3:09 (Howlin' Wolf)
15.Twenty-Nine Ways to My Baby's Door - 2:11 (Dixon, Willie)
16.Rock Me - 3:10 (Waters, Muddy)

Be sure to complete the set with Volume 2!