63-track box set from a period when the blues was evolving, interacting with rock and soul music and being championed by a new young white audience.

Key artists include Howlin’ Wolf, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Muddy Waters, Canned Heat, B.B. King, Bo Diddley, The Allman Brothers Band, Freddie King, Big Brother And The Holding Company (featuring Janis Joplin), Etta James, The Electric Flag, Buddy Guy, Ry Cooder, Magic Sam Blues Band, Captain Beefheart And His Magic Band, Ike And Tina Turner and more.

Includes blues classics such as Howlin’ Wolf’s ‘Killing Floor’, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band’s ‘Born In Chicago’ (in a rare early version from the ‘Folksong 65’ Elektra compilation), Etta James’ ‘I’d Rather Go Blind’, Slim Harpo’s ‘Baby Scratch My Back’ and B.B. King’s ‘The Thrill Is Gone’. Mastering is by Grammy-nominated archivist/producer Alec Palao.

The mid to late 60s was a period of change for blues music, with full amplification the only way to have a chance of an R&B hit. A band needed an electric guitar, drums and often a harmonica played through an amp for a deliberately distorted effect. The concept of the blues guitar hero came into effect with artists whose dexterity encapsulated their appeal. After B.B. King came Buddy Guy (playing here on his own and as part of Junior Wells’ Chicago Blues Band), Otis Rush, Freddie King and increasingly influential white guitarists such as Duane Allman (who plays with Wilson Pickett and Johnny Jenkins as well as The Allman Brothers Band), Mike Bloomfield (included here with The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, The Electric Flag and with Al Kooper) and Ry Cooder (here with Captain Beefheart and solo).

Soul artists including Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin and Johnnie Taylor paid tribute to soul’s blues roots and as America’s black youth increasingly preferred the sound of Motown, white youth adopted the blues, discovered through English bands such as The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds and later Cream and Led Zeppelin.

US bands such as Canned Heat were completely immersed in the blues, others used it as a base for improvisation and psychedelic blues bands including Big Brother And The Holding Company and The Electric Flag (who featured horns) evolved mixing blues with soul and rock, the latter turning Howlin’ Wolf’s ‘Killing Floor’ into an anti-Vietnam protest, as the hippy counterculture embraced the blues.

TRACK LISTING

DISC ONE

1  HOWLIN’ WOLF Killing Floor

2  BO DIDDLEY 500% More Man

3  SLIM HARPO Baby Scratch My Back

4  THE PAUL BUTTERFIELD BLUES BAND Born In Chicago (Folksong 65 version)

5  JUNIOR WELLS’ CHICAGO BLUES BAND Snatch It Back And Hold It

6  OTIS REDDING Rock Me Baby

7  BUDDY GUY Leave My Girl Alone

8  THE LOVIN’ SPOONFUL Night Owl Blues

9  DION Spoonful

10  THE EVERLEY BROTHERS My Babe

11  BOOKER T. & THE MG’S Plum Nellie

12  JOHN LEE HOOKER One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer

13 THE SHADOWS OF KNIGHT Light Bulb Blues

14  ALBERT COLLINS Sno Cone (Part II)

15  JOHNNIE TAYLOR I Had A Dream

16  THE CHARLATANS 32-20

17  JOHN HAMMOND I Wish You Would

18  SLIM HARPO Shake Your Hips

19  CAPTAIN BEEFHEART & HIS MAGIC BAND Sure ’Nuff ’N Yes, I Do

20  CANNED HEAT Rollin’ And Tumblin’

21  THE BLUES PROJECT I Can’t Keep From Crying Sometimes

22  B.B. KING Think It Over

23  ETTA JAMES I’d Rather Go Blind

24  KALEIDOSCOPE You Don’t Love Me

25  THE BUTTERFIELD BLUES BAND Work Song

DISC TWO

1 MAGIC SAM BLUES BAND I Feel So Good (I Wanna Boogie)

2 CANNED HEAT Going Up The Country

3  TAJ MAHAL Statesboro Blues

4  JOHN KAY & THE SPARROW Twisted

5  BIG BROTHER & THE HOLDING COMPANY Piece Of My Heart

6  THE ELECTRIC FLAG Killing Floor

7  MUDDY WATERS Tom Cat

8  JOHNNY WINTER Mean Town Blues

9  OTIS RUSH Gambler’s Blues

10  WILSON PICKETT Born To Be Wild

11  JAMES GANG Funk #48

12  STEPPENWOLF Hoochie Coochie Man

13  MIKE BLOOMFIELD - AL KOOPER Stop

14  LONNIE MACK Roberta

15  THE J. GEILS BAND Pack Fair And Square

16  J.B. HUTTO & HIS HAWKS WITH SUNNYLAND SLIM Speak My Mind

17  QUICKSILVER MESSENGER SERVICE – Who Do You Love Part 1

18  BLOOD, SWEAT & TEARS I’ll Love You More Than You’ll Ever Know

19  BLUE CHEER Parchment Farm

20  MC5 Motor City Is Burning

DISC THREE

1  IKE & TINA TURNER The Hunter

2  THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND Whipping Post

3 ARETHA FRANKLIN Why I Sing The Blues

4  FREDDIE KING Yonder Wall

5  HOWLIN’ WOLF Evil

6  B.B. KING The Thrill Is Gone

7  J.J. CALE Call Me The Breeze

8  MUDDY WATERS Blues And Trouble

9  BO DIDDLEY Elephant Man

10  TONY JOE WHITE Boom Boom

11  JOHNNY JENKINS I Walk On Guilded Splinters

12  RY COODER Alimony

13  BUDDY MILES EXPRESS Train

14  KING CURTIS & THE KINGPINS Whole Lotta Love

15  CHAIRMEN OF THE BOARD Chairman Of The Board

16  DR. JOHN Where Ya At Mule

17  ZZ TOP (Somebody Else Been) Shaking Your Tree

18  FREDDIE KING Going Down