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Your Top Five Blues LPs, SQ-wise...

Wondering what the general consensus would be here.  What five Blues LPs would you pick to showcase your sound system’s strengths to another Blues lover?  Not so much interested in “historically important” discs here as much as Blues on vinyl that just sounds fantastic enough to prompt one to wear out an expensive cartridge/stylus on...
Thanks in advance.  Just getting into the genre myself via the various streaming radio feeds and never seem to catch the names of artists/titles so I don’t have a list of my own, but I’m drawn to great Blues guitar sounds and unforgettable lyrics which let the listener know, unmistakably, that the singer has, “walked the walk”...
lg1
slaw's avatar
slaw
20,508 posts
 
When others mention Boz Scaggs...most likely, it's due to Duane Allman' playing on "Loan Me a Dime". Not to take anything away from Boz, who is an underrated artist.


pesky_wabbit's avatar
pesky_wabbit
1,183 posts
 
Quite frankly I‘m not that bothered about the the SQ of most of the blues records in my collection. Some of the most blistering and emotional  performances could only be be described as mediocre in terms of SQ, whereas the sheer joy they provide can be off the planet.

Blues ain‘t about SQ, it‘s about emotional communication. 
tooblue
1,890 posts
 
The above might be true to a certain degree but the better the sound quality the higher the emotional communication conveyed. Just sayin
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,510 posts
 

True @slaw. But let’s not forget about the fantastic rhythm section on Boz’s album, the one I have been trying like Hell to hip all y’all to. They are named The Swampers, and were the house band at Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, where all the classic Jerry Wexler-produced Atlantic Records albums were made (Aretha, Wilson Pickett, Solomon Burke, Dusty Springfield, etc.).

The Swampers were/are:

Roger Hawkins: drums

David Hood: electric bass

Barry Beckett: keyboards

Jimmy Johnson: guitar

They are THE best rhythm section I’ve ever heard, rivaled only by The Band, The Funk Brothers (Motown’s house band), Booker T & The MG’s, and The Hot Band (Emmylou Harris’ 1970’s band, whose members included Rodney Crowell, Vince Gill, James Burton, Ron Tutt, John Ware, Hank DeVido, Albert Lee, Glen Hardin, Emory Gordy Jr, and a bunch of other superb musicians).

Boz could have hired any band he wanted, and he chose them. For a reason!

pesky_wabbit's avatar
pesky_wabbit
1,183 posts
 
tooblu, point taken, I guess what I was trying to convey was that if you were to purchase blues records on the basis of sound quality you would be denying yourself access to some of the finest music on the planet. The words Chess and Alligator come to mind.

I would also like to add Hollywood Fats to the list of all time greats. Not as well known as some of the other names mentioned on this thread, but right up with them in terms of sheer unadulterated talent. Unfortunately a tragically short career.

BTW I’ve gotta admire your taste in music, you sure know your stuff :)
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