Time: 72:04+73:39
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2000
Styles: Chicago Blues
Art: Front
CD 5: 1955-1956
01. The Hawketts - Mardi Gras Mambo (2:15)
02. Jimmy Lee & Wayne Walker - Love Me (1:53)
03. Little Walter - My Babe (2:42)
04. Lowell Fulson - Check Yourself (3:02)
05. Bo Diddley - I'm A Man (3:00)
06. Bo Diddley - Bo Diddley (2:47)
07. Percy Mayfield - Are You Out There (2:57)
08. Muddy Waters - Mannish Boy (2:57)
09. Chuck Berry - Maybellene (2:22)
10. Bo Diddley - Diddley Daddy (2:28)
11. Willie Dixon - Walking The Blues (3:04)
12. Willie Mabon - Seventh Son (2:53)
13. Bo Diddley - Pretty Thing (2:51)
14. Sonny Boy Williamson - Don't Start Me To Talkin' (2:35)
15. Bobby Tuggle - The $64,000 Question (2:11)
16. Lowell Fulson - Trouble, Trouble (2:53)
17. Chuck Berry - Thirty Days (2:24)
18. The Moonglows - In My Diary (2:44)
19. Bobby Charles - See You Later, Alligator (2:50)
20. The Rays - Tippity Top (2:12)
21. Muddy Waters - Trouble No More (2:41)
22. The Flamingos - I'll Be Home (2:56)
23. Little Walter - Who (2:25)
24. Chuck Berry - No Money Down (2:59)
25. Charles Hungry Williams - So Glad She's Mine (2:13)
26. Jimmy Rogers - You're The One (2:31)
27. Howlin' Wolf - Smokestack Lightnin' (3:07)
CD 6: 1955-1956
01. The Moonglows - We Go Together (2:45)
02. Chuck Berry - Roll Over Beethoven (2:25)
03. Paul Gayten - You Better Believe It (2:21)
04. The Flamingos - A Kiss From Your Lips (3:03)
05. Bobby Charles - Take It Easy, Greasy (2:13)
06. Bo Diddley - Who Do You Love (2:30)
07. The Moonglows - See-Saw (2:27)
08. Chuck Berry - Brown Eyed Handsome Man (2:18)
09. Muddy Waters - Don't Go No Farther (2:55)
10. Howlin' Wolf - I Asked For Water (She Gave Me Gasoline) (2:50)
11. Willie Dixon - 29 Ways (2:10)
12. The Flamingos - Would I Be Crying (If I Were Lying To You) (3:01)
13. Sonny Boy Williamson - Keep It To Yourself (2:50)
14. Chuck Berry - Too Much Monkey Business (2:56)
15. J.B. Lenoir - Don't Touch My Head (2:18)
16. Floyd Dixon - I'm Ashamed Of Myself (2:20)
17. The Ravens - A Simple Prayer (2:37)
18. Bobby Cisco - Tall, Dark And Handsome Man (2:17)
19. Little Walter - Boom, Boom Out Goes The Light (Out Goes The Lights) (2:51)
20. Clarence Frogman Henry - Ain't Got No Home (2:22)
21. Jimmy Rogers - Walking By Myself (2:49)
22. The Pastels - Been So Long (2:43)
23. Muddy Waters - Got My Mojo Working (2:52)
24. Chuck Berry - School Day (2:43)
25. The Moonglows - Please Send Me Someone To Love (2:22)
26. Dale Hawkins - Susie Q (2:14)
27. Muddy Waters - Rock Me (3:12)
28. The Moonglows - Blue Velvet (3:03)
First the good news, which is really good: the sound on this 340-song set is about as good as one ever fantasized it could be, and that means it runs circles around any prior reissues; from the earliest Aristocrat sides by the Five Blazers and Jump Jackson & His Orchestra right up through Muddy Waters' "Going Down to Main Street," it doesn't get any better than this set. The clarity pays a lot of bonuses, beginning with the impression that it gives of various artists' instrumental prowess. In sharp contrast to the past efforts in this direction by MCA, however, the producers of this set have not emasculated the sound in the course of cleaning it up, as was the case with the Chuck Berry box, in particular. When the rock & roll era dawns at Chess as depicted on disc five, the sound is nice and dirty, just really sharp. The contents of the set are largely "limited" -- if that's the word for any 340-song collection -- to Chess' blues, R&B, rock & roll, and soul output, although Ramsey Lewis gets a nod, as does comedian Pigmeat Markham. What's more, the care lavished on the songs is virtually universal -- there was time spent getting all of it right. One wishes that the same could be said for one of the featured bonuses on this set, the CD-ROM that comprises the 15th disc (disc 14 is a pair of interviews with Phil Chess and Marshall Chess). First, there are the skimpy film clips, misspellings ("Arether Franklin") and incorrect dates. There also would have been enough room to put a complete Chess discography on the CD-ROM, rather than just the MCA reissues of Chess' material. The CDs themselves conveniently assembled in three fold-out volumes in a slipcase, but identifying individual tracks and artists means constantly referring back to the booklets glued into those volumes; additionally, it would've been nice to have had a sessionography on the songs, or at least the release dates, or even release years. This set is available only as a British import as of the spring of 2000; it is unbeatable for sound, and should be considered on that -- but only on that -- basis. ~Review by Bruce Eder
CD 5 (1955-1956)
CD 6 (1955-1956)
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