Rating:
Genre:
Blues
Release Date: 03/25/2008
It's hardly a state secret that
the Rolling Stones started out as a
blues cover band in 1962, and that the
blues has always underpinned their long career, even as they flirted at different times with
pop,
disco, and
reggae touches. The
blues was always the touchstone, and this 22-track collection dips into some of the band's obvious influences, beginning with the
Muddy Waters track
"Rolling Stone," a version of
Robert Petway's
"Catfish Blues" (which is also included here) that gave the group its name, and reaching through to songs like
Robert Wilkins'
"That's No Way to Get Along," which appeared on
the Stones'
Beggars Banquet album as
"Prodigal Son," and
Robert Johnson's
"Love in Vain," which
the Stones' covered wonderfully on
Let It Bleed. Even setting the
Rolling Stones connection aside, this set makes for a varied little survey sampler of the different strains of the
blues, from the swampy, lazy malaise feel of
Slim Harpo's
"I'm a King Bee" to the blastoff electric slide guitar riff that drives
Elmore James'
"Dust My Broom" (one could make a strong case that this track exemplifies everything
the Stones aspired to be) and the
Bo Diddley roots of
Buddy Holly's
"Not Fade Away," the song that first broke
the Stones to an American audience. Again, it's no secret that these songs provided the template for the band that
the Stones became, so in that sense this set isn't exactly revelatory, but hearing these original versions underscores just how strongly
the Stones absorbed, expanded, and relied on the
blues every step of the way. It is revealing, even if it isn't much of a surprise.
~Steve Leggett, All Music Guide
;)
Listen
