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Robert Cray says that Buddy Guy's guitar solos sound like laughter from space, but they can also peal like the cries of lost souls attempting to cross the River Styx. If these 47 songs on three CDs plus a DVD boasting a new 75-minute documentary and six performances from the Montreux Jazz Festival prove anything, it's that Guy is one of the most dynamic, diverse, expressionistic, and emotional guitarists--in any genre. The set neatly examines the 70-year-old Chicago blues legend's half-century career, starting with a ragged but soulful "The Way You Been Treating Me" cut in 1957 at a radio station in Guy's native Louisiana that finds him developing his searing, exploratory style. A year later, he's in Chicago working with tunesmith Willie Dixon, and the rest is history (chronicled in Anthony DeCurtis's excellent lines notes) that leads from the glory days of Chess Records to Guy's early breakout recordings for Vanguard to his modern-day mastery. The most recent recordings often find him working with acolytes: Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Keb' Mo', Jonny Lang, Bonnie Raitt, Keith Richards, and John Mayer (who duets with Guy on the unreleased "I'd Rather Be Blind, Crippled & Crazy"). B.B. King, who along with Guitar Slim was Guy's most important early influence, also joins Clapton and Guy on a stirring acoustic version of John Lee Hooker's "Crawlin' Kingsnake."
This set makes the argument for Guy's ever-continuing growth as a musician--not only as a player whose frenzy, improvisational instincts, and tonal control keep stretching with age, but as a stylist who was unafraid to put aside his trademark electric approach in 2003 to make the acoustic Blues Singer (represented here by "Bad Life Blues" and the Hooker tune) and to embrace primal North Mississippi juke joint music with Sweet Tea, which lends this set a pair of Junior Kimbrough covers. Guy's sole artistic weakness is his songwriting. He's never been prolific, and even in the '60s his lyrics drew on well-established clichés. But, as these performances attest, his playing's never been less than daring--and his voice knows every nuance of heartache and joy.
Condition:NEW. Brand New Factory Sealed
TRACK LISTINGS
Disc 1
1 The Way You Been Treating Me 3:15
2 Sit and Cry (The Blues) 3:03
3 This Is the End 2:58
4 Untitled Instrumental 1:46
5 First Time I Met the Blues 2:18
6 Ten Years Ago 2:38
7 Let Me Love You Baby 2:53
8 Stone Crazy 7:11
9 When My Left Eye Jumps 3:54
10 Hoodoo Man Blues 2:06
11 In the Wee Hours 3:44
12 I Can't Quit the Blues 3:18
13 One Room Country Shack 5:37
14 T-Bone Shuffle 4:17
15 When You See the Tears from My Eyes Live 6:22
16 I Smell a Rat 9:12
17 She Suits Me to a T 4:31
18 D. J. Play My Blues 5:20
Disc 2
1 Damn Right, I've Got the Blues 4:31
2 Mustang Sally 4:41
3 Five Long Years 8:26
4 Mary Ann 3:14
5 She's Nineteen Years Old 5:44
6 Miss Ida B 6:25
7 Feels Like Rain 4:37
8 7-11 6:59
9 I Smell Trouble 3:17
10 Someone Else Is Steppin' In (Slippin' out, Slippin' In) 4:22
11 My Time After Awhile Live 7:27
12 Your Mind Is on Vacation 3:20
13 Midnight Train 5:22
14 Totally out of Control 6:49
Disc 3
1 Nobody Understands Me But My Guitar 5:10
2 Baby Please Don't Leave Me 7:25
3 Done Got Old 3:24
4 Honey Bee previously unreleased 5:48
5 Tramp 6:48
6 Crawlin' Kingsnake 5:17
7 Moanin' and Groanin' 3:29
8 Bad Life Blues 3:47
9 I Can't Be Satisfied Live 3:00
10 First Time I Met the Blues Live 4:11
11 I'd Rather Be Blind, Crippled and Crazy previously unreleased 3:30
12 Somebody's Sleeping in My Bed 6:26
13 I Miss You 4:05
14 Cut You Loose 7:39
15 The Price You Gotta Pay 3:41
Disc 4
1 Ten Years Ago Live / DVD
2 Hoodoo Man Blues Live / DVD
3 Messin' with the Kid Live / DVD
4 Come on in This House Live / DVD
5 Sweet Little Angel Live / DVD
6 Damn Right, I've Got the Blues Live / DVD
7 Drowning on Dry Land Live / DVD
8 Tramp Live / DVD
9 Mustang Sally Live / DVD
10 What'd I Say Live / DVD
11 Louise McGhee Live / DVD
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