Looking for Blues with High Fidelity


I recently listened to Eric Clapton’s “Me and Mr. Johnson” and really appreciated the guitar playing and the quality of the recording.  What are some of your favorite Blues recordings?

kentroller

Robben Ford and the Blue Line - S/T is an excellent blues/rock album with great sound quality. Not straight up blues, it's a rocker too. But Oh So Fine...

 

Here's the title track from one of the better sounding blues albums from my collection. Play it loud and often...

Tab Benoit - "Nice and Warm"

 

Can't believe no one mentioned Champion Jack DuPree [might have misspelled last name].  Champion Jack moved to Europe years ago to escape American racism.  He passed a few years back, but his albums remain for eternity. 

Champion Jack is on my "Must Have" list. 

Johnny Winter 3rd Degree, Kim Simmonds & Savoy Brown The Devil to Pay and Buddy Guy The Blues is Alive and Well

Keb Mo & Taj Mahah is a great listen.  Music is great and dynamics are outstanding from low end to top. I listen to it often. I downloaded a version from a high resolution service stored on my laptop with USB filtering devices and a high end USB cable.   I have a dedicated hybrid tube DAC I use just for high res downloads.  I also stream from Tidal and Spotify.  But, still I enjoy the hi-res downloaded file best and, never tire of listening to these classic blues artists. Enjoy!

Muddy Waters: Hard Again. Amazing in every way

”Mannish Boy” is so good, it’s just spooky

 

(RL Burnside, “A Ass Pocket of Whiskey”, for the title alone. Album is great fun)

Great thread! A ton of music to go listen to

Have a great day, everyone

Savoy Brown last 2 lps - City Nights and Ain’t Done Yet. Fantastic playing and recording. Full analog sound. Also,Analogue Productions has a series of live blues direct to disc. The Diunna Greenleaf one is super.

Rory Gallagher - Blues Rock. An absolute legend. A lot of decent quality recordings, but regardless, he will git you rockin’ with blues rock. Some of his songs have an Irish flair. But then, Rory was an Irish lad.

24/96 hi-res album on Qobuz; ‘Rory Gallagher 50th Anniversary Edition’

http://open.qobuz.com/album/v4qf46odwhhjc

tuberist,

You're a lucky man; that was an amazing band and a great performance.

RL Burnside: Let My Baby Ride (for a break from the depression)

Blodwyn Pig: Dear Jill

Samantha Fish: Go To Hell

The Jayhawks: Blue (obvious....)

Blue Rodeo: Hasn't Hit Me Yet, What Is This Love (mind your subs....)

A Great Big World (w/C. Aguilera): Say Something

...and for an ending *G*...

Grant Hart: Nobody Rides For Free

Blues; contemporary and contemptuous....:)

 

 

The Empress of the Blues; The Complete Bessie Smith on Frog Records.

https://www.frog-records.co.uk/

Columbia released a Complete Bessie Smith box set years ago. If you own the Columbia box set, sell it and start collecting these Frog volumes instead!

Recorded on the Telarc lable, Junior Wells, Come On In This House, and Everybody Getting Some, represent one of the masters of Chicago Blues at his finest.  Absolute musts for anyone who loves the blues.  Also, Johnny Winter's LP Roots is a classic.  

 

Mighty Sam McClain, especially “Give it up For Love”

Rocky Athas, especially “Shakin’ the Dust”.

Walter Trout

I would suggest eschewing any expectation of elite engineering with this type of music.

Late-1920s-through-mid-1960s recordings of Blind Lemon Jefferson, Son House, Blind Willie McTell, Charley Patton, Huddie Ledbetter, Blind Willie Johnson, Mississippi John Hurt, Robert Johnson, Skip James, Reverend Gary Davis, Mississippi Fred McDowell and others are the cream of the crop. Recording quality ranging from rough to acceptable.

If I could have a fast food chain (Stevie Ray Vaughn, Joe Bonamassa, Eric Clapton) or real Mexican food, I’ll take the real deal any time.

No amount of slick audio engineering can transform a pretender into a contender.

 

 

Lots of excellent recommendations from others. I would also add Buddy Guy - Blues Singer and the great falsetto album Skip James - Blues from the Delta to go along with Muddy Water - Folk Singers stand out fidelity. It isn’t technically a blues album, but Van Morrison and John Lee Hooker - The Healing Game has excellent fidelity. There are so many others, but these are a couple that come to mind.

P.S there is often a wide range of fidelity quality on the same Howlin’ Wolf albums. There is an excellent high fidelity recording of Smokestack Lightnin’ on The Millennium Collection 20th Century Masters. The gain the engineer employed is quite low though.

So many great blues albums! I could go on for hours and write a book about it :).

Blues Company: My little angel

Stevie Ray Vaughn: Chitlins with carne & Riviera Paradise

All great songs, and well recorded. Enjoy!

This is off the cuff but Blues is a very wide genre. Many good artists are often regional. Many also are more popular in Europe Like Luther Allison, et al. And their music is not as easily found. But they are very rewarding. These are albums I have and can recommend

Layla Zoe - Breaking Free

Keb Mo - Slow Down & Just Like You

Keb Mo & Taj Mahal - TajMo(?)

Collins, Cray * Copeland - Showdown

James Cotton - Live From Chicago Mr Superharp Himself

Big Twist - Live from Chicago

Jimmy Smith - Dot Com Blues

Toronzo Cannon - Pain Around Me & Politician Preacher or Pimp

Albert King - Cold Snap

Some names of interest

Shemeka Copeland

Joe Bonamassa & Beth Hart

Gary Moore

Samantha Fish

Charlie Musselwhite

Tommy Castro

Roomful Of Blues

Original blues are raw and not particularly well recorded, but they are authentic!  I love Howlin Wolf sing Smokestack Lightin’

R.L Burnside: Come On In.

R.L. Burnside: A Bothered Mind

Samantha Fish: Faster

Buddy Guy: Born To Play Guitar

Jimi Hendrix: Blues

John Lee Hooker: Whiskey & Wimmen

Junior Kimbrough: God Knows I Tried

Junior Kimbrough: Meet Me In The City

Muddy Waters : The Real Folk Blues

A few I listen to on Qobuz

Slightly Hung Over by Blues Delight

Help Me Through The Day by Bernard Allison

Trouble & Whiskey by Sean Chambers

Change in the Weather by James Armstrong

Aint’ Enough Whiskey bu D Man

I Walk Alone by Michael Hardie

  • Albert Collins, Robert Cray, and Johnny Copeland, SHOWDOWN - Alligator Records
  • John Lee Hooker, The Healer, Silvertone Records
  • Gregg Allman, Low Country Blues, Rounder Records

More southern soul than blues but check this guy out nonetheless:

  • Marcus King Band, Carolina Confessions, Fantasy

Happy listening

John Lee Hooker, notable albums:

-The Healer - excellent album. 

-Chill Out

-Mr Lucky

-Don't Look Back

Junior Wells - Hoodoo Man Blues on Delmark is a very good sounding Blues lp. It also kills musically.

 

Stevie Ray Vaughn - album "Couldn't Stand The Weather", and especially the cut, "Tin Pan Alley" is impressive. 

 

Agree with the previously mentioned Ronnie Earl. Albums "Beyond the Blue Door" and "The Luckiest Man" are very well recorded and produced. Great stuff! 

Joe Bonemassa-=Live at Royal Albert Hall

Stevie Ray Vaughn=the sky is crying 

Johny Lang= Lie to me

Gary Moore  and Albert Collins=Live 

 

Joe Bonamosa - An Acoustic Evening at the Vienna Opera House

David Johansen and the Harry Smiths

Mississippi Fred McDowel - I Do Not Sing No Rock and Roll

Otis Spann - Good Morning Mr Blues

I have most of Doug MacLeod’s work.
It seems to be generally very well recorded.

"Come On Home" by Boz Scaggs is more bluesy R&B than Blues but it's a terrific sounding disc and the playing/singing is excellent. 

Hans Theessink, Robben Ford, and Robert Cray as mentioned above. I also find Tedeschi Trucks Band albums very well recorded (and great playing). Keb Mo’s albums are also some of the better blues recordings out there.

Excellent!  Thanks to all of you for the suggestions.  I love finding music I have not listened to before.

Happy listening.

Blues "light" maybe but

Robert Cray Band - Heavy Picks has a fine, clean (sophisticated) sound

Boz Scaggs - Dig

Fleetwood Mac - S/T

Audioquest put out a release on CD and SACD called Bluesquest. I have the CD and it is *very* well recorded.

I find Buddy Guy and Junior Wells' "Alone and Acoustic" to have pretty good sonics.  My version of this CD is on the Alligator label.

Muddy Waters and Etta James recent releases from the Montreux years series are well recorded sound great and also have MQA .

Buddy Guy's album "Bring 'Em In" is worth having if only for the duet with Tracy Chapman of "Ain't No Sunshine."

Muddy Waters “Folk Singer” on MFSL and Lightning Hopkins “Goin Away” Acoustic Sounds Reissue are two of my faves for SQ and music.

John Mayall - Jazz Blues Fusion. Amazing sonics and an all star cast. You will love it.

Analog Productions has some excellent blues recordings.Right now I'm rather obsessed with the Peter Green Splinter Group Artisan Recordings) especially the live album. They're very well done. Chris Smither - Another Way to Find You.BB King - Blues Summit, which is all duets is a fave.

Hans Theessink, Lifeline, is very well recorded and a great album as well. Very nice relaxed take on the blues. 
 

Muddy Waters, Folk Singer, has great sound too.