Elmore James

Elmore James' wailing slide guitar shadows the playing of virtually every important British blues guitarist from the 1960s onward and informs the styles of great American blues guitarists such as Duane Allman, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Michael Bloomfield. Moreover, in the tracks James cut between 1951 and 1956, he provided the link between Robert Johnson's acoustic howl and Chuck Berry's electrified translation of same -- a bridge from the Mississippi Delta to St. Louis, from the dark heart of the blues to the ebullient spirit of early rock & roll. James' first hit, recorded surreptitiously in 1951 for the Trumpet label, was a version of Johnson's "Dust My Broom." A prolific songwriter as well, his lyrics were incisive, eloquent blues poetry about bad love affairs, with vivid descriptions of torment, desire, and mean mistreaters.

Among the single-CD issues of James' work, Rhino's Blues Masters entry, The Very Best of Elmore James, is a no-brainer must-have covering 16 tracks from the artist's peak years of 1951 to 1963. "Dust My Broom" kicks off the disc, and other choice cuts include "Standing at the Crossroads," "The Sky Is Crying" (and its companion piece, "The Sun Is Shining"), "It Hurts Me Too," "Shake Your Moneymaker," and James' powerful instrumental showcase "Hawaiian Boogie." The disc also includes an homage to one of James' principal influences, T-Bone Walker, by way of a scorching interpretation of "Stormy Monday." The most succinct overview is provided by The Sky Is Crying: The Best of Elmore James, which includes liner notes by Robert Palmer. Apart from the sheer emotional impact of the songs themselves, this set's great virtue is in showcasing both the breadth and depth of James' music. "Something Inside Me," from 1960, is a beautiful slow blues. In "Sunny Land," from 1954, he one-ups Muddy Waters with a tricky stop-time arrangement and abandons the slide in favor of dark, robust single- and double-string solo lines.

More exhilarating in quantity and quality are the two box sets; taken together, these form virtually all of James' recording history for the various labels whose studios he graced. The three-CD box set The Classic Early Recordings 1951-1956 includes the original "Dust My Broom" as well as the sides he cut in 1952 with Ike Turner playing piano. The casual fan may not be interested in six takes of "Strange Kinda Feeling," or four takes of "Make My Dreams Come True," but devoted James fans will find much to chew on.

Between 1960 and 1962 James recorded prolifically for the New York City-based Fire, Fury, and Enjoy labels headed by Bobby Robinson. Tomato/Rhino's Dust My Broom is a fine single-disc survey of these years -- 15 key tracks recorded between 1959 and 1963, including the essentials: "The Sky Is Crying," "Anna Lee," "Dust My Broom," "Shake Your Moneymaker," "One Way Out," "Rollin' and Tumblin'." Buddah/BMG has its own James single-disc retrospective from the latter years as well, Shake Your Money Maker: The Best of the Fire Sessions. Though it duplicates some of the great cuts available on Dust My Broom (and other collections), it also includes stuff that doesn't show up elsewhere, such as "My Bleeding Heart" and "Look on Yonder Wall." Less satisfying is Collectables' Golden Classics: Guitars in Orbit, which has some fine (and classic) performances from the Fire/Fury/Enjoy years, but is a bit skimpy at only 12 cuts. The better buy is the thoroughly annotated two-CD box set The Complete Elmore James (a truncated version of Capricorn's first James box, the now-deleted King of the Slide Guitar), featuring 50 tracks from the various Robinson labels in what stands as the artist's last will and testament. (DAVID MCGEE)

From 2004's The New Rolling Stone Album Guide