Impeccable, 22 Oct 2008
Look folks I was going to buy this out of pure nostalgia anyway - but I have to tell you this is just about as good as it gets - definitely his best ever studio recording. The voice is as good as ever, and no one ever ever could get the same sounds out of a guitar as he gets out of "Lucille". Every track a winner and what a band - featuring the incomparable Dr John on piano. The production is faultless. If you have any affection for the blues you simply have to buy this. Without question a 5 star item.

THE KING STILL REIGNS SUPREME., 06 Oct 2008
B.B.King maybe now in his eighties,he may sit down to play these days on stage but I'll tell you what,he's still the king of the blues and that's not just in his name.This album,produced by T Bone Burnette ( who produced the Robert Plant/Alison Krauss multi- award winning album last year)is a collection of blues classics never before recorded by BB.This is a totally wonderful album,and may well go down as one of his best albums ever.He's in top form throughout,with a band that includes Dr. John and Jim Keltner T-Bone has brought a truly classic album out,produced with a classic 50's blues sound,yet with a pure and beautiful sound balance throughout.This is an album no true blues or should I say music fan should miss.Without doubt blues album of the year if not one of the great blues albums of all time.I played this to my son who thinks it's really great that sums it up...a truly great album.

Impeccable, 22 Oct 2008
Look folks I was going to buy this out of pure nostalgia anyway - but I have to tell you this is just about as good as it gets - definitely his best ever studio recording. The voice is as good as ever, and no one ever ever could get the same sounds out of a guitar as he gets out of "Lucille". Every track a winner and what a band - featuring the incomparable Dr John on piano. The production is faultless. If you have any affection for the blues you simply have to buy this. Without question a 5 star item.

THE KING STILL REIGNS SUPREME., 06 Oct 2008
B.B.King maybe now in his eighties,he may sit down to play these days on stage but I'll tell you what,he's still the king of the blues and that's not just in his name.This album,produced by T Bone Burnette ( who produced the Robert Plant/Alison Krauss multi- award winning album last year)is a collection of blues classics never before recorded by BB.This is a totally wonderful album,and may well go down as one of his best albums ever.He's in top form throughout,with a band that includes Dr. John and Jim Keltner T-Bone has brought a truly classic album out,produced with a classic 50's blues sound,yet with a pure and beautiful sound balance throughout.This is an album no true blues or should I say music fan should miss.Without doubt blues album of the year if not one of the great blues albums of all time.I played this to my son who thinks it's really great that sums it up...a truly great album.

EXCELLENT ALBUM, 24 Sep 2008
If you like Moore, then here is the latest to add to your collection. It's pretty formula stuff - great blues rock - some boogie, some a bit heavier, and of course wonderful long ballards with superb guitar wizardy, delivered only how Moore can.

I won't go through track for track, because if your a fan you will get the drift, this is simply more and more of what Gary does best. A couple of noticeable mentions though. How about the 10 minute long "I Love You More Than You'll ever Know" epic? Sheer class over and over again, and "Mojo Boogie" whioch is foot tapping stonkingly good and subtle tones of Quo! Another track has some welcome female backing vocals, which adds some extra to the album.

All in all another Moore classic if you like his stuff or trying him out -this album delivers.

A Gary Moore masterpiece, 24 Sep 2008
An excellent album from Gary Moore, a more beefed up melodic sound than Close As You Get with a welcome return of the trademark solos, some of which are fantastic. This album is a must for blues and guitar fans. This album is up there with the best of the Gary Moore albums.

A RETURN TO FORM, 24 Sep 2008
MOORE RETURNS TO THE STUDIO TO RECORD A MIXTURE OF HIS OWN COMPOSITIONS
AND WELL CHOSEN COVERS.MOORE'S RECENT STUDIO OUTPUT HAS BEEN A BIT HIT
AND MISS,BUT THIS IS A RETURN TO FORM WITH A GRITTIER SOUND AND STRONGER
MATERIAL,PERSONAL FAVOURITES ARE UMBRELLA MAN AND WALKIN'THRU'THE PARK.
MOORE HAS WORKED AS A SIDEMAN IN THE PAST PLAYING JAZZ ROCK(WITH
COLOSSEUM 2 AND HARD ROCK(WITH THIN LIZZY)BUT IN MY HUMBLE OPINION HIS
BEST WORK IS TO BE FOUND IN HIS BLUES ROCK RECORDINGS.IF YOU ARE A FAN OF
GARY MOORE MAY I SUGGEST YOU CHECK OUT HIS PETER GREEN TRIBUTE CD,BLUES
FOR GREENY,HIS CD WITH JACK BRUCE AND GINGER BAKER,AROUND THE NEXT DREAM BY BBM(THE REMASTERED VERSION WITH EXTRA(LIVE)TRACKS,AND HIS GUITAR
CONTRIBUTIONS TO OTIS TAYLOR'S DEFINITION OF A CIRCLE(TAYLOR RETURNS THE
FAVOUR BY APPEARING ON ONE OF THE TRACKS ON BAD FOR YOU BABY)
MOORE GETS A GREAT TONE FROM HIS(LES PAUL)GUITAR,AND EVEN HIS VOICE(IF YOU
DON'T MIND THE FAKE AMERICAN ACCENT WITH A TRACE OF HIS BELFAST BROGUE)IS
FAIRLY STRONG THROUGHOUT.IF YOU LIKE JOE BONAMASSA AND WALTER TROUT,GIVE
THIS CD A TRY.DESPITE WHAT ONE OF YOUR OTHER REVIEWERS SAYS,IT IS NOT ALL
TWELVE BAR BLUES,THERE ARE SOME MELLOWER TRACKS HERE AS WELL.



Moore puts the Bite Back in, 24 Sep 2008
OH Yes - A stronger Album from Gary Moore this time around. Standard Blues Riffs with interwoven guitar licks with a more heavier gritter sound differentiates this from the last 2 albums. Just as I thought Moore was mellowing he puts the venom back in and delivers a very good blues/Rock powered album. This album to me is a refined 'scars' sound , more controlled and polished yet very punchy and controlled distortion. Moores own penned songs are the stronger for me here as the covers have to much of the heard it all before factor.

The Guitar Geeks, Rock Fans and Blues purists will not be disappointed and this album will tour very well.



Another slice of Gary..., 22 Sep 2008
...and it's a good one! Yum, tasty. I was hoping that after the last stripped-down and less rockin' 'Close As You Get' album that Mr Moore would serve up a more energetic portion for us this time...and he sure has! I was praying the cover art wasn't going to be misleading - it shows Gary in familiar low-slung Les Paul mode belting out a solo - and it's not misleading at all! He has turned the gain up again on his amps and whilst not rocking to 'Still Got The Blues' levels he IS rocking again! I'm talking blues rock of course here guys... The fretboard is once again his playground and although the numbers are standard 12-bar blues fayre he doesn't half rip on the majority of solos here and face it, that's what we're here for yeah? I have to say, this is one of Gary's better blues albums. I have them all (including the 'metal years') and the last couple for me have been good but not great. This is great. If you like Gary's take on the blues and have been happy with his recent output, you'll love this. His best for quite a few years in my opinion, I thought he'd hung up his rockin' spurs!

Impeccable, 22 Oct 2008
Look folks I was going to buy this out of pure nostalgia anyway - but I have to tell you this is just about as good as it gets - definitely his best ever studio recording. The voice is as good as ever, and no one ever ever could get the same sounds out of a guitar as he gets out of "Lucille". Every track a winner and what a band - featuring the incomparable Dr John on piano. The production is faultless. If you have any affection for the blues you simply have to buy this. Without question a 5 star item.

THE KING STILL REIGNS SUPREME., 06 Oct 2008
B.B.King maybe now in his eighties,he may sit down to play these days on stage but I'll tell you what,he's still the king of the blues and that's not just in his name.This album,produced by T Bone Burnette ( who produced the Robert Plant/Alison Krauss multi- award winning album last year)is a collection of blues classics never before recorded by BB.This is a totally wonderful album,and may well go down as one of his best albums ever.He's in top form throughout,with a band that includes Dr. John and Jim Keltner T-Bone has brought a truly classic album out,produced with a classic 50's blues sound,yet with a pure and beautiful sound balance throughout.This is an album no true blues or should I say music fan should miss.Without doubt blues album of the year if not one of the great blues albums of all time.I played this to my son who thinks it's really great that sums it up...a truly great album.

EXCELLENT ALBUM, 24 Sep 2008
If you like Moore, then here is the latest to add to your collection. It's pretty formula stuff - great blues rock - some boogie, some a bit heavier, and of course wonderful long ballards with superb guitar wizardy, delivered only how Moore can.

I won't go through track for track, because if your a fan you will get the drift, this is simply more and more of what Gary does best. A couple of noticeable mentions though. How about the 10 minute long "I Love You More Than You'll ever Know" epic? Sheer class over and over again, and "Mojo Boogie" whioch is foot tapping stonkingly good and subtle tones of Quo! Another track has some welcome female backing vocals, which adds some extra to the album.

All in all another Moore classic if you like his stuff or trying him out -this album delivers.

A Gary Moore masterpiece, 24 Sep 2008
An excellent album from Gary Moore, a more beefed up melodic sound than Close As You Get with a welcome return of the trademark solos, some of which are fantastic. This album is a must for blues and guitar fans. This album is up there with the best of the Gary Moore albums.

A RETURN TO FORM, 24 Sep 2008
MOORE RETURNS TO THE STUDIO TO RECORD A MIXTURE OF HIS OWN COMPOSITIONS
AND WELL CHOSEN COVERS.MOORE'S RECENT STUDIO OUTPUT HAS BEEN A BIT HIT
AND MISS,BUT THIS IS A RETURN TO FORM WITH A GRITTIER SOUND AND STRONGER
MATERIAL,PERSONAL FAVOURITES ARE UMBRELLA MAN AND WALKIN'THRU'THE PARK.
MOORE HAS WORKED AS A SIDEMAN IN THE PAST PLAYING JAZZ ROCK(WITH
COLOSSEUM 2 AND HARD ROCK(WITH THIN LIZZY)BUT IN MY HUMBLE OPINION HIS
BEST WORK IS TO BE FOUND IN HIS BLUES ROCK RECORDINGS.IF YOU ARE A FAN OF
GARY MOORE MAY I SUGGEST YOU CHECK OUT HIS PETER GREEN TRIBUTE CD,BLUES
FOR GREENY,HIS CD WITH JACK BRUCE AND GINGER BAKER,AROUND THE NEXT DREAM BY BBM(THE REMASTERED VERSION WITH EXTRA(LIVE)TRACKS,AND HIS GUITAR
CONTRIBUTIONS TO OTIS TAYLOR'S DEFINITION OF A CIRCLE(TAYLOR RETURNS THE
FAVOUR BY APPEARING ON ONE OF THE TRACKS ON BAD FOR YOU BABY)
MOORE GETS A GREAT TONE FROM HIS(LES PAUL)GUITAR,AND EVEN HIS VOICE(IF YOU
DON'T MIND THE FAKE AMERICAN ACCENT WITH A TRACE OF HIS BELFAST BROGUE)IS
FAIRLY STRONG THROUGHOUT.IF YOU LIKE JOE BONAMASSA AND WALTER TROUT,GIVE
THIS CD A TRY.DESPITE WHAT ONE OF YOUR OTHER REVIEWERS SAYS,IT IS NOT ALL
TWELVE BAR BLUES,THERE ARE SOME MELLOWER TRACKS HERE AS WELL.



Moore puts the Bite Back in, 24 Sep 2008
OH Yes - A stronger Album from Gary Moore this time around. Standard Blues Riffs with interwoven guitar licks with a more heavier gritter sound differentiates this from the last 2 albums. Just as I thought Moore was mellowing he puts the venom back in and delivers a very good blues/Rock powered album. This album to me is a refined 'scars' sound , more controlled and polished yet very punchy and controlled distortion. Moores own penned songs are the stronger for me here as the covers have to much of the heard it all before factor.

The Guitar Geeks, Rock Fans and Blues purists will not be disappointed and this album will tour very well.



Another slice of Gary..., 22 Sep 2008
...and it's a good one! Yum, tasty. I was hoping that after the last stripped-down and less rockin' 'Close As You Get' album that Mr Moore would serve up a more energetic portion for us this time...and he sure has! I was praying the cover art wasn't going to be misleading - it shows Gary in familiar low-slung Les Paul mode belting out a solo - and it's not misleading at all! He has turned the gain up again on his amps and whilst not rocking to 'Still Got The Blues' levels he IS rocking again! I'm talking blues rock of course here guys... The fretboard is once again his playground and although the numbers are standard 12-bar blues fayre he doesn't half rip on the majority of solos here and face it, that's what we're here for yeah? I have to say, this is one of Gary's better blues albums. I have them all (including the 'metal years') and the last couple for me have been good but not great. This is great. If you like Gary's take on the blues and have been happy with his recent output, you'll love this. His best for quite a few years in my opinion, I thought he'd hung up his rockin' spurs!

can you imagine..., 02 Mar 2007
I was going to mention Clapton's christening of the Les Paul, Marshall setup, but others have beaten me to it. I liken it's impact to what happened to harp playing when Little Walter and other's deciding to blow through the PA or an early guitar amp. They REDEFINED the sound of the instrument.

So all I'll add is the rhetorical question...can you imagine being a teenage Brit, having been reared on the sounds of the Beatles, Jerry and the Pacemakers, or even the Dave Clark Five, wandering into a London club because someone had recommended the Bluesbreakers, and hearing THIS STUFF? Probably as epiphanic as being a white guy in mid 50's Chicago and having the nerve to wander into the Dew Drop Inn and hearing Muddy, Wolf, or later, Otis Rush and Buddy Guy. Simply put, a life changing experience.

The most important guitar album of all time!, 08 Feb 2007
The best guitar player of the time on top of his game. Classic tracks. The perfect combination of guitar and amp. Incredible solos... Listening to this album it is easy to see why rock took the directions it did. This is the blueprint for pretty much every rock/blues album that followed, and in my opinion the closest Clapton ever got to this ever again is on Layla... This is Essential.

The album that changed my life., 28 May 2006
On a week's holiday with my parent's in Littlehampton in Sussex during the summer of '66, as ever, I found a record shop. Without much money as I was still at school, (just), I had the choice, in my mind anyway, between two albums; The Mother's Of Invention's 'Freakout,' and 'Bluesbreakers.' Maybe there had been a lot of publicity at the time about 'Freakout,' I can't remember, but for some reason I was torn between which one to buy. Probably the fact that I was a Yardbirds fan and had listened to 'Five Live' a great deal made up my mind, and I plumped for 'Bluesbreakers.' It was to be the wisest move and the best purchase I ever made. As a then, and still now, 'would-be' guitarist, this album, for its time in rock history, had everything you wanted and more, and has pretty much stayed that way over the ensuing years. To play with this degree of skill and feeling at Clapton's age of 21 at the time, was and is incredible. At 15, he was almost an old man to me being 6 years older, yet even so, the bluesmen I had heard were in their 30's and over, (really old men!), and even now this album begs the question "Why was Clapton so great at such a young age?" We will never know, and if put to the question, probably neither would he? It was just something he was drawn to and did, and has had the good fortune to do so for the rest of his life. If you're a guitarist, Clapton fan, blues enthusiast, whatever, and you don't own this album, simply buy it now - it will remain a classic for as long as planet Earth keeps turning.

Life Changing..., 15 Feb 2006
I first listened to this disc as a fifteen year-old and music was never the same thereafter. I started hunting straight away for the original US musicians who had inspired first Mayall and then the unbelievably young Clapton. And I'm still listening to the fruits of that search. Meantime it opened me up to the expanding British Blues scene and subsequently other new British genres, all the way from Fleetwood Mac and Chicken Shack, to The Groundhogs, Steeleye and Fairport. The music itself is quite simply inspired, mainly by the fusion of the very different talents of the individuals involved. I'm not sure that Mayall ever wrote, sang or played as well again 'though Clapton went on to far greater things. Just listen to Track 5, Double Crossin' Time, written by the both of them, which displays their different talents perfectly. This disc is one of those very rare seminal recordings which brings as much pleasure now as on the day it came off the presses.

sheer tone, 07 Jul 2005
This is the album that launched the Gibson Les Paul + Marshall amp combination that has defined the sound of rock for so long. It is worth buying for that alone. Absolute, pure, smooth but crunchy, toney goodness! Thankfully, the music is top notch, ranging from the energetic opener to the instrumental "Steppin Out", to the drum solo and tribute to the Beatles' "Day Tripper" on "What'd I Say?". Excellent stuff.

Impeccable, 22 Oct 2008
Look folks I was going to buy this out of pure nostalgia anyway - but I have to tell you this is just about as good as it gets - definitely his best ever studio recording. The voice is as good as ever, and no one ever ever could get the same sounds out of a guitar as he gets out of "Lucille". Every track a winner and what a band - featuring the incomparable Dr John on piano. The production is faultless. If you have any affection for the blues you simply have to buy this. Without question a 5 star item.

THE KING STILL REIGNS SUPREME., 06 Oct 2008
B.B.King maybe now in his eighties,he may sit down to play these days on stage but I'll tell you what,he's still the king of the blues and that's not just in his name.This album,produced by T Bone Burnette ( who produced the Robert Plant/Alison Krauss multi- award winning album last year)is a collection of blues classics never before recorded by BB.This is a totally wonderful album,and may well go down as one of his best albums ever.He's in top form throughout,with a band that includes Dr. John and Jim Keltner T-Bone has brought a truly classic album out,produced with a classic 50's blues sound,yet with a pure and beautiful sound balance throughout.This is an album no true blues or should I say music fan should miss.Without doubt blues album of the year if not one of the great blues albums of all time.I played this to my son who thinks it's really great that sums it up...a truly great album.

EXCELLENT ALBUM, 24 Sep 2008
If you like Moore, then here is the latest to add to your collection. It's pretty formula stuff - great blues rock - some boogie, some a bit heavier, and of course wonderful long ballards with superb guitar wizardy, delivered only how Moore can.

I won't go through track for track, because if your a fan you will get the drift, this is simply more and more of what Gary does best. A couple of noticeable mentions though. How about the 10 minute long "I Love You More Than You'll ever Know" epic? Sheer class over and over again, and "Mojo Boogie" whioch is foot tapping stonkingly good and subtle tones of Quo! Another track has some welcome female backing vocals, which adds some extra to the album.

All in all another Moore classic if you like his stuff or trying him out -this album delivers.

A Gary Moore masterpiece, 24 Sep 2008
An excellent album from Gary Moore, a more beefed up melodic sound than Close As You Get with a welcome return of the trademark solos, some of which are fantastic. This album is a must for blues and guitar fans. This album is up there with the best of the Gary Moore albums.

A RETURN TO FORM, 24 Sep 2008
MOORE RETURNS TO THE STUDIO TO RECORD A MIXTURE OF HIS OWN COMPOSITIONS
AND WELL CHOSEN COVERS.MOORE'S RECENT STUDIO OUTPUT HAS BEEN A BIT HIT
AND MISS,BUT THIS IS A RETURN TO FORM WITH A GRITTIER SOUND AND STRONGER
MATERIAL,PERSONAL FAVOURITES ARE UMBRELLA MAN AND WALKIN'THRU'THE PARK.
MOORE HAS WORKED AS A SIDEMAN IN THE PAST PLAYING JAZZ ROCK(WITH
COLOSSEUM 2 AND HARD ROCK(WITH THIN LIZZY)BUT IN MY HUMBLE OPINION HIS
BEST WORK IS TO BE FOUND IN HIS BLUES ROCK RECORDINGS.IF YOU ARE A FAN OF
GARY MOORE MAY I SUGGEST YOU CHECK OUT HIS PETER GREEN TRIBUTE CD,BLUES
FOR GREENY,HIS CD WITH JACK BRUCE AND GINGER BAKER,AROUND THE NEXT DREAM BY BBM(THE REMASTERED VERSION WITH EXTRA(LIVE)TRACKS,AND HIS GUITAR
CONTRIBUTIONS TO OTIS TAYLOR'S DEFINITION OF A CIRCLE(TAYLOR RETURNS THE
FAVOUR BY APPEARING ON ONE OF THE TRACKS ON BAD FOR YOU BABY)
MOORE GETS A GREAT TONE FROM HIS(LES PAUL)GUITAR,AND EVEN HIS VOICE(IF YOU
DON'T MIND THE FAKE AMERICAN ACCENT WITH A TRACE OF HIS BELFAST BROGUE)IS
FAIRLY STRONG THROUGHOUT.IF YOU LIKE JOE BONAMASSA AND WALTER TROUT,GIVE
THIS CD A TRY.DESPITE WHAT ONE OF YOUR OTHER REVIEWERS SAYS,IT IS NOT ALL
TWELVE BAR BLUES,THERE ARE SOME MELLOWER TRACKS HERE AS WELL.



Moore puts the Bite Back in, 24 Sep 2008
OH Yes - A stronger Album from Gary Moore this time around. Standard Blues Riffs with interwoven guitar licks with a more heavier gritter sound differentiates this from the last 2 albums. Just as I thought Moore was mellowing he puts the venom back in and delivers a very good blues/Rock powered album. This album to me is a refined 'scars' sound , more controlled and polished yet very punchy and controlled distortion. Moores own penned songs are the stronger for me here as the covers have to much of the heard it all before factor.

The Guitar Geeks, Rock Fans and Blues purists will not be disappointed and this album will tour very well.



Another slice of Gary..., 22 Sep 2008
...and it's a good one! Yum, tasty. I was hoping that after the last stripped-down and less rockin' 'Close As You Get' album that Mr Moore would serve up a more energetic portion for us this time...and he sure has! I was praying the cover art wasn't going to be misleading - it shows Gary in familiar low-slung Les Paul mode belting out a solo - and it's not misleading at all! He has turned the gain up again on his amps and whilst not rocking to 'Still Got The Blues' levels he IS rocking again! I'm talking blues rock of course here guys... The fretboard is once again his playground and although the numbers are standard 12-bar blues fayre he doesn't half rip on the majority of solos here and face it, that's what we're here for yeah? I have to say, this is one of Gary's better blues albums. I have them all (including the 'metal years') and the last couple for me have been good but not great. This is great. If you like Gary's take on the blues and have been happy with his recent output, you'll love this. His best for quite a few years in my opinion, I thought he'd hung up his rockin' spurs!

can you imagine..., 02 Mar 2007
I was going to mention Clapton's christening of the Les Paul, Marshall setup, but others have beaten me to it. I liken it's impact to what happened to harp playing when Little Walter and other's deciding to blow through the PA or an early guitar amp. They REDEFINED the sound of the instrument.

So all I'll add is the rhetorical question...can you imagine being a teenage Brit, having been reared on the sounds of the Beatles, Jerry and the Pacemakers, or even the Dave Clark Five, wandering into a London club because someone had recommended the Bluesbreakers, and hearing THIS STUFF? Probably as epiphanic as being a white guy in mid 50's Chicago and having the nerve to wander into the Dew Drop Inn and hearing Muddy, Wolf, or later, Otis Rush and Buddy Guy. Simply put, a life changing experience.

The most important guitar album of all time!, 08 Feb 2007
The best guitar player of the time on top of his game. Classic tracks. The perfect combination of guitar and amp. Incredible solos... Listening to this album it is easy to see why rock took the directions it did. This is the blueprint for pretty much every rock/blues album that followed, and in my opinion the closest Clapton ever got to this ever again is on Layla... This is Essential.

The album that changed my life., 28 May 2006
On a week's holiday with my parent's in Littlehampton in Sussex during the summer of '66, as ever, I found a record shop. Without much money as I was still at school, (just), I had the choice, in my mind anyway, between two albums; The Mother's Of Invention's 'Freakout,' and 'Bluesbreakers.' Maybe there had been a lot of publicity at the time about 'Freakout,' I can't remember, but for some reason I was torn between which one to buy. Probably the fact that I was a Yardbirds fan and had listened to 'Five Live' a great deal made up my mind, and I plumped for 'Bluesbreakers.' It was to be the wisest move and the best purchase I ever made. As a then, and still now, 'would-be' guitarist, this album, for its time in rock history, had everything you wanted and more, and has pretty much stayed that way over the ensuing years. To play with this degree of skill and feeling at Clapton's age of 21 at the time, was and is incredible. At 15, he was almost an old man to me being 6 years older, yet even so, the bluesmen I had heard were in their 30's and over, (really old men!), and even now this album begs the question "Why was Clapton so great at such a young age?" We will never know, and if put to the question, probably neither would he? It was just something he was drawn to and did, and has had the good fortune to do so for the rest of his life. If you're a guitarist, Clapton fan, blues enthusiast, whatever, and you don't own this album, simply buy it now - it will remain a classic for as long as planet Earth keeps turning.

Life Changing..., 15 Feb 2006
I first listened to this disc as a fifteen year-old and music was never the same thereafter. I started hunting straight away for the original US musicians who had inspired first Mayall and then the unbelievably young Clapton. And I'm still listening to the fruits of that search. Meantime it opened me up to the expanding British Blues scene and subsequently other new British genres, all the way from Fleetwood Mac and Chicken Shack, to The Groundhogs, Steeleye and Fairport. The music itself is quite simply inspired, mainly by the fusion of the very different talents of the individuals involved. I'm not sure that Mayall ever wrote, sang or played as well again 'though Clapton went on to far greater things. Just listen to Track 5, Double Crossin' Time, written by the both of them, which displays their different talents perfectly. This disc is one of those very rare seminal recordings which brings as much pleasure now as on the day it came off the presses.

sheer tone, 07 Jul 2005
This is the album that launched the Gibson Les Paul + Marshall amp combination that has defined the sound of rock for so long. It is worth buying for that alone. Absolute, pure, smooth but crunchy, toney goodness! Thankfully, the music is top notch, ranging from the energetic opener to the instrumental "Steppin Out", to the drum solo and tribute to the Beatles' "Day Tripper" on "What'd I Say?". Excellent stuff.

skin deep, 14 Oct 2008
Fantastic guitar work from buddy and nice to here derek and eric playing to They also played together on the Crossroads DVD.

All Ray Charles fans will want to check out The Definitive Ray Charles, because it's the first time a compiler has been able to combine the chart-topping hits from his Atlantic and ABC-Paramount years into one package. This means that we get the Genius's hits from 1953's "Mess Around" right through his golden R&B Atlantic era ("I've Got a Woman", "Drown in My Own Tears", "Hallelujah I Love Her So", "I Believe To My Soul", "What'd I Say" and so on) alongside tracks that were not only massive worldwide hits but helped redefine popular music. "Georgia on My Mind", "Hit The Road Jack", "Unchain My Heart", "I Can't Stop Loving You" and "You Don't Know Me" not only combined superior standards and country songs with Charles's patented soul-gospel vocal style, but they were couched in an orchestral or big band setting that had simply never been utilised in this way prior to Charles's arrival. Those who know of his thorough musical background will not be surprised by this development, one that kept him high in the charts until the mid-60s. This compilation thins out after the classic "In The Heat of the Night", as well it should, his latter-day duets with the Blues Brothers and Willie Nelson tidying thing up nicely. Genius plus compilation good taste: an unbeatable combination. --Keith Shadwick

Impeccable, 22 Oct 2008
Look folks I was going to buy this out of pure nostalgia anyway - but I have to tell you this is just about as good as it gets - definitely his best ever studio recording. The voice is as good as ever, and no one ever ever could get the same sounds out of a guitar as he gets out of "Lucille". Every track a winner and what a band - featuring the incomparable Dr John on piano. The production is faultless. If you have any affection for the blues you simply have to buy this. Without question a 5 star item.

THE KING STILL REIGNS SUPREME., 06 Oct 2008
B.B.King maybe now in his eighties,he may sit down to play these days on stage but I'll tell you what,he's still the king of the blues and that's not just in his name.This album,produced by T Bone Burnette ( who produced the Robert Plant/Alison Krauss multi- award winning album last year)is a collection of blues classics never before recorded by BB.This is a totally wonderful album,and may well go down as one of his best albums ever.He's in top form throughout,with a band that includes Dr. John and Jim Keltner T-Bone has brought a truly classic album out,produced with a classic 50's blues sound,yet with a pure and beautiful sound balance throughout.This is an album no true blues or should I say music fan should miss.Without doubt blues album of the year if not one of the great blues albums of all time.I played this to my son who thinks it's really great that sums it up...a truly great album.

EXCELLENT ALBUM, 24 Sep 2008
If you like Moore, then here is the latest to add to your collection. It's pretty formula stuff - great blues rock - some boogie, some a bit heavier, and of course wonderful long ballards with superb guitar wizardy, delivered only how Moore can.

I won't go through track for track, because if your a fan you will get the drift, this is simply more and more of what Gary does best. A couple of noticeable mentions though. How about the 10 minute long "I Love You More Than You'll ever Know" epic? Sheer class over and over again, and "Mojo Boogie" whioch is foot tapping stonkingly good and subtle tones of Quo! Another track has some welcome female backing vocals, which adds some extra to the album.

All in all another Moore classic if you like his stuff or trying him out -this album delivers.

A Gary Moore masterpiece, 24 Sep 2008
An excellent album from Gary Moore, a more beefed up melodic sound than Close As You Get with a welcome return of the trademark solos, some of which are fantastic. This album is a must for blues and guitar fans. This album is up there with the best of the Gary Moore albums.

A RETURN TO FORM, 24 Sep 2008
MOORE RETURNS TO THE STUDIO TO RECORD A MIXTURE OF HIS OWN COMPOSITIONS
AND WELL CHOSEN COVERS.MOORE'S RECENT STUDIO OUTPUT HAS BEEN A BIT HIT
AND MISS,BUT THIS IS A RETURN TO FORM WITH A GRITTIER SOUND AND STRONGER
MATERIAL,PERSONAL FAVOURITES ARE UMBRELLA MAN AND WALKIN'THRU'THE PARK.
MOORE HAS WORKED AS A SIDEMAN IN THE PAST PLAYING JAZZ ROCK(WITH
COLOSSEUM 2 AND HARD ROCK(WITH THIN LIZZY)BUT IN MY HUMBLE OPINION HIS
BEST WORK IS TO BE FOUND IN HIS BLUES ROCK RECORDINGS.IF YOU ARE A FAN OF
GARY MOORE MAY I SUGGEST YOU CHECK OUT HIS PETER GREEN TRIBUTE CD,BLUES
FOR GREENY,HIS CD WITH JACK BRUCE AND GINGER BAKER,AROUND THE NEXT DREAM BY BBM(THE REMASTERED VERSION WITH EXTRA(LIVE)TRACKS,AND HIS GUITAR
CONTRIBUTIONS TO OTIS TAYLOR'S DEFINITION OF A CIRCLE(TAYLOR RETURNS THE
FAVOUR BY APPEARING ON ONE OF THE TRACKS ON BAD FOR YOU BABY)
MOORE GETS A GREAT TONE FROM HIS(LES PAUL)GUITAR,AND EVEN HIS VOICE(IF YOU
DON'T MIND THE FAKE AMERICAN ACCENT WITH A TRACE OF HIS BELFAST BROGUE)IS
FAIRLY STRONG THROUGHOUT.IF YOU LIKE JOE BONAMASSA AND WALTER TROUT,GIVE
THIS CD A TRY.DESPITE WHAT ONE OF YOUR OTHER REVIEWERS SAYS,IT IS NOT ALL
TWELVE BAR BLUES,THERE ARE SOME MELLOWER TRACKS HERE AS WELL.



Moore puts the Bite Back in, 24 Sep 2008
OH Yes - A stronger Album from Gary Moore this time around. Standard Blues Riffs with interwoven guitar licks with a more heavier gritter sound differentiates this from the last 2 albums. Just as I thought Moore was mellowing he puts the venom back in and delivers a very good blues/Rock powered album. This album to me is a refined 'scars' sound , more controlled and polished yet very punchy and controlled distortion. Moores own penned songs are the stronger for me here as the covers have to much of the heard it all before factor.

The Guitar Geeks, Rock Fans and Blues purists will not be disappointed and this album will tour very well.



Another slice of Gary..., 22 Sep 2008
...and it's a good one! Yum, tasty. I was hoping that after the last stripped-down and less rockin' 'Close As You Get' album that Mr Moore would serve up a more energetic portion for us this time...and he sure has! I was praying the cover art wasn't going to be misleading - it shows Gary in familiar low-slung Les Paul mode belting out a solo - and it's not misleading at all! He has turned the gain up again on his amps and whilst not rocking to 'Still Got The Blues' levels he IS rocking again! I'm talking blues rock of course here guys... The fretboard is once again his playground and although the numbers are standard 12-bar blues fayre he doesn't half rip on the majority of solos here and face it, that's what we're here for yeah? I have to say, this is one of Gary's better blues albums. I have them all (including the 'metal years') and the last couple for me have been good but not great. This is great. If you like Gary's take on the blues and have been happy with his recent output, you'll love this. His best for quite a few years in my opinion, I thought he'd hung up his rockin' spurs!

can you imagine..., 02 Mar 2007
I was going to mention Clapton's christening of the Les Paul, Marshall setup, but others have beaten me to it. I liken it's impact to what happened to harp playing when Little Walter and other's deciding to blow through the PA or an early guitar amp. They REDEFINED the sound of the instrument.

So all I'll add is the rhetorical question...can you imagine being a teenage Brit, having been reared on the sounds of the Beatles, Jerry and the Pacemakers, or even the Dave Clark Five, wandering into a London club because someone had recommended the Bluesbreakers, and hearing THIS STUFF? Probably as epiphanic as being a white guy in mid 50's Chicago and having the nerve to wander into the Dew Drop Inn and hearing Muddy, Wolf, or later, Otis Rush and Buddy Guy. Simply put, a life changing experience.

The most important guitar album of all time!, 08 Feb 2007
The best guitar player of the time on top of his game. Classic tracks. The perfect combination of guitar and amp. Incredible solos... Listening to this album it is easy to see why rock took the directions it did. This is the blueprint for pretty much every rock/blues album that followed, and in my opinion the closest Clapton ever got to this ever again is on Layla... This is Essential.

The album that changed my life., 28 May 2006
On a week's holiday with my parent's in Littlehampton in Sussex during the summer of '66, as ever, I found a record shop. Without much money as I was still at school, (just), I had the choice, in my mind anyway, between two albums; The Mother's Of Invention's 'Freakout,' and 'Bluesbreakers.' Maybe there had been a lot of publicity at the time about 'Freakout,' I can't remember, but for some reason I was torn between which one to buy. Probably the fact that I was a Yardbirds fan and had listened to 'Five Live' a great deal made up my mind, and I plumped for 'Bluesbreakers.' It was to be the wisest move and the best purchase I ever made. As a then, and still now, 'would-be' guitarist, this album, for its time in rock history, had everything you wanted and more, and has pretty much stayed that way over the ensuing years. To play with this degree of skill and feeling at Clapton's age of 21 at the time, was and is incredible. At 15, he was almost an old man to me being 6 years older, yet even so, the bluesmen I had heard were in their 30's and over, (really old men!), and even now this album begs the question "Why was Clapton so great at such a young age?" We will never know, and if put to the question, probably neither would he? It was just something he was drawn to and did, and has had the good fortune to do so for the rest of his life. If you're a guitarist, Clapton fan, blues enthusiast, whatever, and you don't own this album, simply buy it now - it will remain a classic for as long as planet Earth keeps turning.

Life Changing..., 15 Feb 2006
I first listened to this disc as a fifteen year-old and music was never the same thereafter. I started hunting straight away for the original US musicians who had inspired first Mayall and then the unbelievably young Clapton. And I'm still listening to the fruits of that search. Meantime it opened me up to the expanding British Blues scene and subsequently other new British genres, all the way from Fleetwood Mac and Chicken Shack, to The Groundhogs, Steeleye and Fairport. The music itself is quite simply inspired, mainly by the fusion of the very different talents of the individuals involved. I'm not sure that Mayall ever wrote, sang or played as well again 'though Clapton went on to far greater things. Just listen to Track 5, Double Crossin' Time, written by the both of them, which displays their different talents perfectly. This disc is one of those very rare seminal recordings which brings as much pleasure now as on the day it came off the presses.

sheer tone, 07 Jul 2005
This is the album that launched the Gibson Les Paul + Marshall amp combination that has defined the sound of rock for so long. It is worth buying for that alone. Absolute, pure, smooth but crunchy, toney goodness! Thankfully, the music is top notch, ranging from the energetic opener to the instrumental "Steppin Out", to the drum solo and tribute to the Beatles' "Day Tripper" on "What'd I Say?". Excellent stuff.

skin deep, 14 Oct 2008
Fantastic guitar work from buddy and nice to here derek and eric playing to They also played together on the Crossroads DVD.

Soul began here, 13 Apr 2008
The first hit single in the U K by Ray Charles was Georgia on my mid in 1960 and this disc made No 24.Charles was on a new label by then and the Atlantic sides while issued here meant nothing until the Age of Merseybeat.
Hit the road Jack went top 5 and it was nothing but up from then with the Modern Sounds of Country & Western spawning a number of hit singles.
Ray's earlier work on Swingtime began apperaing on a label called Society.
This CD is a pretty comprehensive overview of the most essential recordings which include his Beatles covers and ends with his version of Imagine.
Theres never been any shortage of albums by Ray Charles and I think the first was What'd I say-which was probably too far away from general tastes at the time because America was so far in front.



inspiring, 16 Feb 2008
My whole career as a sound engineer started from the inspiring music from Ray Charles. Pure talent and passion. What better way to celebrate it than to have this superb CD.

A True Legend, 11 Jul 2007
Ray Charles is a true legend and this album is a perfect example of what he was capable of. If you are new to his music then this is a great intorduction and if you are a seasoned fan like me then this has the best of what you want to hear.

Sometimes these kind of albums are put together with a number of 'filler' tracks on them but not this one. Every track is a great tune and it is something you will want to listen to time and time again.



Definitive, 24 Feb 2007
This truly is the definitive Ray Charles. You get a wide selection of his output from his early recordings to his eighties duets with the likes of Chaka Khan as featured on Quincy Jones' 'Back on the Block' album. Ray Charles' songwriting is superb, with the early stuff very clearly influenced by Gospel and church music of the time, but with his own twist. If you've seen the film 'Ray' you will know just what to expect and this doesn't disappoint. If you haven't seen the film, buy this anyway as it has some great blues and soul on here and should be in anyone's collection. I also recommend the film for those who like this album, as it provides a good insight into Ray and his music. This truly is the definitive collection and is a joy to listen to.

Genius at Work!, 31 Dec 2004
It seems that if anyone passes away these days, they are proclaimed a genius for the weeks following their death. With Ray Charles though, his sad loss was not what prompted the genius tag, but the real and tangible genius that he possessed.

I did not own any Ray Charles CD's before his untimely death, but always loved his music. I bought this, and gave myself the proverbial kick up the backside for not buying some of his work earlier. This is a great collection of all his best work, from his first hits up to some of his last material recorded. It doesn't cover his very early material, but then how can you produce a complete collection when someone has recorded so many great songs?

The early hits are very interesting in that they are so unlike the material that we have come to know him for, but as you listen to song after song on this CD, you can hear a man developing his style from the early trio of piano, bass and drums to the more complex arrangements that we all know so well. The earlier material then gets a country feel to it, but in his lifetime he rarely got any recognition from the snobbish Country and Western fans in the US. His rendition of songs like 'I Can't Stop Loving You' just blow away the original.

As he started getting wide recognition, the songs just grew in stature, and it seemed like there was no style of music that he couldn't utilise. Brilliant versions of other people's songs such as 'Rainy Night in Georgia' just make you marvel at his arranging skills.

I for one will be buying more Ray Charles, but this CD is the perfect place to start.

Impeccable, 22 Oct 2008
Look folks I was going to buy this out of pure nostalgia anyway - but I have to tell you this is just about as good as it gets - definitely his best ever studio recording. The voice is as good as ever, and no one ever ever could get the same sounds out of a guitar as he gets out of "Lucille". Every track a winner and what a band - featuring the incomparable Dr John on piano. The production is faultless. If you have any affection for the blues you simply have to buy this. Without question a 5 star item.

THE KING STILL REIGNS SUPREME., 06 Oct 2008
B.B.King maybe now in his eighties,he may sit down to play these days on stage but I'll tell you what,he's still the king of the blues and that's not just in his name.This album,produced by T Bone Burnette ( who produced the Robert Plant/Alison Krauss multi- award winning album last year)is a collection of blues classics never before recorded by BB.This is a totally wonderful album,and may well go down as one of his best albums ever.He's in top form throughout,with a band that includes Dr. John and Jim Keltner T-Bone has brought a truly classic album out,produced with a classic 50's blues sound,yet with a pure and beautiful sound balance throughout.This is an album no true blues or should I say music fan should miss.Without doubt blues album of the year if not one of the great blues albums of all time.I played this to my son who thinks it's really great that sums it up...a truly great album.

EXCELLENT ALBUM, 24 Sep 2008
If you like Moore, then here is the latest to add to your collection. It's pretty formula stuff - great blues rock - some boogie, some a bit heavier, and of course wonderful long ballards with superb guitar wizardy, delivered only how Moore can.

I won't go through track for track, because if your a fan you will get the drift, this is simply more and more of what Gary does best. A couple of noticeable mentions though. How about the 10 minute long "I Love You More Than You'll ever Know" epic? Sheer class over and over again, and "Mojo Boogie" whioch is foot tapping stonkingly good and subtle tones of Quo! Another track has some welcome female backing vocals, which adds some extra to the album.

All in all another Moore classic if you like his stuff or trying him out -this album delivers.

A Gary Moore masterpiece, 24 Sep 2008
An excellent album from Gary Moore, a more beefed up melodic sound than Close As You Get with a welcome return of the trademark solos, some of which are fantastic. This album is a must for blues and guitar fans. This album is up there with the best of the Gary Moore albums.

A RETURN TO FORM, 24 Sep 2008
MOORE RETURNS TO THE STUDIO TO RECORD A MIXTURE OF HIS OWN COMPOSITIONS
AND WELL CHOSEN COVERS.MOORE'S RECENT STUDIO OUTPUT HAS BEEN A BIT HIT
AND MISS,BUT THIS IS A RETURN TO FORM WITH A GRITTIER SOUND AND STRONGER
MATERIAL,PERSONAL FAVOURITES ARE UMBRELLA MAN AND WALKIN'THRU'THE PARK.
MOORE HAS WORKED AS A SIDEMAN IN THE PAST PLAYING JAZZ ROCK(WITH
COLOSSEUM 2 AND HARD ROCK(WITH THIN LIZZY)BUT IN MY HUMBLE OPINION HIS
BEST WORK IS TO BE FOUND IN HIS BLUES ROCK RECORDINGS.IF YOU ARE A FAN OF
GARY MOORE MAY I SUGGEST YOU CHECK OUT HIS PETER GREEN TRIBUTE CD,BLUES
FOR GREENY,HIS CD WITH JACK BRUCE AND GINGER BAKER,AROUND THE NEXT DREAM BY BBM(THE REMASTERED VERSION WITH EXTRA(LIVE)TRACKS,AND HIS GUITAR
CONTRIBUTIONS TO OTIS TAYLOR'S DEFINITION OF A CIRCLE(TAYLOR RETURNS THE
FAVOUR BY APPEARING ON ONE OF THE TRACKS ON BAD FOR YOU BABY)
MOORE GETS A GREAT TONE FROM HIS(LES PAUL)GUITAR,AND EVEN HIS VOICE(IF YOU
DON'T MIND THE FAKE AMERICAN ACCENT WITH A TRACE OF HIS BELFAST BROGUE)IS
FAIRLY STRONG THROUGHOUT.IF YOU LIKE JOE BONAMASSA AND WALTER TROUT,GIVE
THIS CD A TRY.DESPITE WHAT ONE OF YOUR OTHER REVIEWERS SAYS,IT IS NOT ALL
TWELVE BAR BLUES,THERE ARE SOME MELLOWER TRACKS HERE AS WELL.



Moore puts the Bite Back in, 24 Sep 2008
OH Yes - A stronger Album from Gary Moore this time around. Standard Blues Riffs with interwoven guitar licks with a more heavier gritter sound differentiates this from the last 2 albums. Just as I thought Moore was mellowing he puts the venom back in and delivers a very good blues/Rock powered album. This album to me is a refined 'scars' sound , more controlled and polished yet very punchy and controlled distortion. Moores own penned songs are the stronger for me here as the covers have to much of the heard it all before factor.

The Guitar Geeks, Rock Fans and Blues purists will not be disappointed and this album will tour very well.



Another slice of Gary..., 22 Sep 2008
...and it's a good one! Yum, tasty. I was hoping that after the last stripped-down and less rockin' 'Close As You Get' album that Mr Moore would serve up a more energetic portion for us this time...and he sure has! I was praying the cover art wasn't going to be misleading - it shows Gary in familiar low-slung Les Paul mode belting out a solo - and it's not misleading at all! He has turned the gain up again on his amps and whilst not rocking to 'Still Got The Blues' levels he IS rocking again! I'm talking blues rock of course here guys... The fretboard is once again his playground and although the numbers are standard 12-bar blues fayre he doesn't half rip on the majority of solos here and face it, that's what we're here for yeah? I have to say, this is one of Gary's better blues albums. I have them all (including the 'metal years') and the last couple for me have been good but not great. This is great. If you like Gary's take on the blues and have been happy with his recent output, you'll love this. His best for quite a few years in my opinion, I thought he'd hung up his rockin' spurs!

can you imagine..., 02 Mar 2007
I was going to mention Clapton's christening of the Les Paul, Marshall setup, but others have beaten me to it. I liken it's impact to what happened to harp playing when Little Walter and other's deciding to blow through the PA or an early guitar amp. They REDEFINED the sound of the instrument.

So all I'll add is the rhetorical question...can you imagine being a teenage Brit, having been reared on the sounds of the Beatles, Jerry and the Pacemakers, or even the Dave Clark Five, wandering into a London club because someone had recommended the Bluesbreakers, and hearing THIS STUFF? Probably as epiphanic as being a white guy in mid 50's Chicago and having the nerve to wander into the Dew Drop Inn and hearing Muddy, Wolf, or later, Otis Rush and Buddy Guy. Simply put, a life changing experience.

The most important guitar album of all time!, 08 Feb 2007
The best guitar player of the time on top of his game. Classic tracks. The perfect combination of guitar and amp. Incredible solos... Listening to this album it is easy to see why rock took the directions it did. This is the blueprint for pretty much every rock/blues album that followed, and in my opinion the closest Clapton ever got to this ever again is on Layla... This is Essential.

The album that changed my life., 28 May 2006
On a week's holiday with my parent's in Littlehampton in Sussex during the summer of '66, as ever, I found a record shop. Without much money as I was still at school, (just), I had the choice, in my mind anyway, between two albums; The Mother's Of Invention's 'Freakout,' and 'Bluesbreakers.' Maybe there had been a lot of publicity at the time about 'Freakout,' I can't remember, but for some reason I was torn between which one to buy. Probably the fact that I was a Yardbirds fan and had listened to 'Five Live' a great deal made up my mind, and I plumped for 'Bluesbreakers.' It was to be the wisest move and the best purchase I ever made. As a then, and still now, 'would-be' guitarist, this album, for its time in rock history, had everything you wanted and more, and has pretty much stayed that way over the ensuing years. To play with this degree of skill and feeling at Clapton's age of 21 at the time, was and is incredible. At 15, he was almost an old man to me being 6 years older, yet even so, the bluesmen I had heard were in their 30's and over, (really old men!), and even now this album begs the question "Why was Clapton so great at such a young age?" We will never know, and if put to the question, probably neither would he? It was just something he was drawn to and did, and has had the good fortune to do so for the rest of his life. If you're a guitarist, Clapton fan, blues enthusiast, whatever, and you don't own this album, simply buy it now - it will remain a classic for as long as planet Earth keeps turning.

Life Changing..., 15 Feb 2006
I first listened to this disc as a fifteen year-old and music was never the same thereafter. I started hunting straight away for the original US musicians who had inspired first Mayall and then the unbelievably young Clapton. And I'm still listening to the fruits of that search. Meantime it opened me up to the expanding British Blues scene and subsequently other new British genres, all the way from Fleetwood Mac and Chicken Shack, to The Groundhogs, Steeleye and Fairport. The music itself is quite simply inspired, mainly by the fusion of the very different talents of the individuals involved. I'm not sure that Mayall ever wrote, sang or played as well again 'though Clapton went on to far greater things. Just listen to Track 5, Double Crossin' Time, written by the both of them, which displays their different talents perfectly. This disc is one of those very rare seminal recordings which brings as much pleasure now as on the day it came off the presses.

sheer tone, 07 Jul 2005
This is the album that launched the Gibson Les Paul + Marshall amp combination that has defined the sound of rock for so long. It is worth buying for that alone. Absolute, pure, smooth but crunchy, toney goodness! Thankfully, the music is top notch, ranging from the energetic opener to the instrumental "Steppin Out", to the drum solo and tribute to the Beatles' "Day Tripper" on "What'd I Say?". Excellent stuff.

skin deep, 14 Oct 2008
Fantastic guitar work from buddy and nice to here derek and eric playing to They also played together on the Crossroads DVD.

Soul began here, 13 Apr 2008
The first hit single in the U K by Ray Charles was Georgia on my mid in 1960 and this disc made No 24.Charles was on a new label by then and the Atlantic sides while issued here meant nothing until the Age of Merseybeat.
Hit the road Jack went top 5 and it was nothing but up from then with the Modern Sounds of Country & Western spawning a number of hit singles.
Ray's earlier work on Swingtime began apperaing on a label called Society.
This CD is a pretty comprehensive overview of the most essential recordings which include his Beatles covers and ends with his version of Imagine.
Theres never been any shortage of albums by Ray Charles and I think the first was What'd I say-which was probably too far away from general tastes at the time because America was so far in front.



inspiring, 16 Feb 2008
My whole career as a sound engineer started from the inspiring music from Ray Charles. Pure talent and passion. What better way to celebrate it than to have this superb CD.

A True Legend, 11 Jul 2007
Ray Charles is a true legend and this album is a perfect example of what he was capable of. If you are new to his music then this is a great intorduction and if you are a seasoned fan like me then this has the best of what you want to hear.

Sometimes these kind of albums are put together with a number of 'filler' tracks on them but not this one. Every track is a great tune and it is something you will want to listen to time and time again.



Definitive, 24 Feb 2007
This truly is the definitive Ray Charles. You get a wide selection of his output from his early recordings to his eighties duets with the likes of Chaka Khan as featured on Quincy Jones' 'Back on the Block' album. Ray Charles' songwriting is superb, with the early stuff very clearly influenced by Gospel and church music of the time, but with his own twist. If you've seen the film 'Ray' you will know just what to expect and this doesn't disappoint. If you haven't seen the film, buy this anyway as it has some great blues and soul on here and should be in anyone's collection. I also recommend the film for those who like this album, as it provides a good insight into Ray and his music. This truly is the definitive collection and is a joy to listen to.

Genius at Work!, 31 Dec 2004
It seems that if anyone passes away these days, they are proclaimed a genius for the weeks following their death. With Ray Charles though, his sad loss was not what prompted the genius tag, but the real and tangible genius that he possessed.

I did not own any Ray Charles CD's before his untimely death, but always loved his music. I bought this, and gave myself the proverbial kick up the backside for not buying some of his work earlier. This is a great collection of all his best work, from his first hits up to some of his last material recorded. It doesn't cover his very early material, but then how can you produce a complete collection when someone has recorded so many great songs?

The early hits are very interesting in that they are so unlike the material that we have come to know him for, but as you listen to song after song on this CD, you can hear a man developing his style from the early trio of piano, bass and drums to the more complex arrangements that we all know so well. The earlier material then gets a country feel to it, but in his lifetime he rarely got any recognition from the snobbish Country and Western fans in the US. His rendition of songs like 'I Can't Stop Loving You' just blow away the original.

As he started getting wide recognition, the songs just grew in stature, and it seemed like there was no style of music that he couldn't utilise. Brilliant versions of other people's songs such as 'Rainy Night in Georgia' just make you marvel at his arranging skills.

I for one will be buying more Ray Charles, but this CD is the perfect place to start.

...the best yet..., 15 Jul 2008
One time Bluesbreaker and Canned Heat man, Walter Trout has been firing out solo albums for a long time now, but they've always felt a bit incomplete to me. So, it came as a particular delight to sit down with the new one, and find myself hitting the repeat button when it came to an end. For this might just be the best album of his career.

From the opening, autobiographical, 'Welcome To The Human Race' onwards, it's a constantly unfolding pleasure. It's also the album that sees him straying further away from his Blues rock roots, something that may find a few old time fans drifting away. Even I had a bit of trouble with 'The Next Big Thing', a 1968 Beatles style radio rocker. But when he comes up with songs as inspired as the British Blues boom inspired 'Don't Wanna Fall' or the heavy boogie of 'The Love Song of J Alfred Bluestock', then he makes me a very happy man. In the company of a new set of musicians - veteran drummer Kenny Aronoff, best known for his time with John Mellencamp, bassist James "Hutch" Hutchinson and pianist Jon Clearly, both from Bonnie Raitts band, - along with a superb production job from John Porter, this may be the moment where Walter Trout finally gets his just rewards.

Fans of his Blues days will find solace in 'Can't Have It All', and those who admire him as much for his singing as his playing should find a happy place in 'All My Life' and 'The Next Big Thing', where the stripped down sound allows his voice ample room to roam. Best for me were the moments where he out-Warrens Warren Haynes on the soulful 'Don't Wanna Fall' and 'Child Of Another Day', where he revisits the theme of forgotten war veterans, something Trout holds strong feelings for. The most consistently enjoyable album he's ever recorded, there really is something here for everyone.

The Outsider, 20 Jun 2008
I have been a fan on Walter Trout since 1988 and I love it. I have all the albums and can see the development of his talent and craft over the period. As with any new WT album I have been eagerly expecting this one and it does not fail. My only note of concern is these studio albums never seem to show his true ability. They are far too polished and produced to really let the music get under your skin. The earlier albums and indeed the live albums enable you to feel like you are actually there.

A good album but not great and I must be one the longest serving fans.

Strength as a weakness, 12 Jun 2008
There is one problem with Walter Trout and artists of his ilk which stems from their greatest strength which is that for all that he is a great guitarist, a more than fair vocalist and his band are tight there is an inherent weakness in the fact that you only find his stuff in the "blues" section in record stores, and so no matter how good any album he produces (and this is a good album) he is unlikely to pick up any new afficionados which is a real shame as no matter how unfashionable he or indeed his chosen genre may be, he is bloomin good at it and this album is a fine new recording. Sure there is not much here that is new but if this is old fashioned then I'm all for it.

Impeccable, 22 Oct 2008
Look folks I was going to buy this out of pure nostalgia anyway - but I have to tell you this is just about as good as it gets - definitely his best ever studio recording. The voice is as good as ever, and no one ever ever could get the same sounds out of a guitar as he gets out of "Lucille". Every track a winner and what a band - featuring the incomparable Dr John on piano. The production is faultless. If you have any affection for the blues you simply have to buy this. Without question a 5 star item.

THE KING STILL REIGNS SUPREME., 06 Oct 2008
B.B.King maybe now in his eighties,he may sit down to play these days on stage but I'll tell you what,he's still the king of the blues and that's not just in his name.This album,produced by T Bone Burnette ( who produced the Robert Plant/Alison Krauss multi- award winning album last year)is a collection of blues classics never before recorded by BB.This is a totally wonderful album,and may well go down as one of his best albums ever.He's in top form throughout,with a band that includes Dr. John and Jim Keltner T-Bone has brought a truly classic album out,produced with a classic 50's blues sound,yet with a pure and beautiful sound balance throughout.This is an album no true blues or should I say music fan should miss.Without doubt blues album of the year if not one of the great blues albums of all time.I played this to my son who thinks it's really great that sums it up...a truly great album.

EXCELLENT ALBUM, 24 Sep 2008
If you like Moore, then here is the latest to add to your collection. It's pretty formula stuff - great blues rock - some boogie, some a bit heavier, and of course wonderful long ballards with superb guitar wizardy, delivered only how Moore can.

I won't go through track for track, because if your a fan you will get the drift, this is simply more and more of what Gary does best. A couple of noticeable mentions though. How about the 10 minute long "I Love You More Than You'll ever Know" epic? Sheer class over and over again, and "Mojo Boogie" whioch is foot tapping stonkingly good and subtle tones of Quo! Another track has some welcome female backing vocals, which adds some extra to the album.

All in all another Moore classic if you like his stuff or trying him out -this album delivers.

A Gary Moore masterpiece, 24 Sep 2008
An excellent album from Gary Moore, a more beefed up melodic sound than Close As You Get with a welcome return of the trademark solos, some of which are fantastic. This album is a must for blues and guitar fans. This album is up there with the best of the Gary Moore albums.

A RETURN TO FORM, 24 Sep 2008
MOORE RETURNS TO THE STUDIO TO RECORD A MIXTURE OF HIS OWN COMPOSITIONS
AND WELL CHOSEN COVERS.MOORE'S RECENT STUDIO OUTPUT HAS BEEN A BIT HIT
AND MISS,BUT THIS IS A RETURN TO FORM WITH A GRITTIER SOUND AND STRONGER
MATERIAL,PERSONAL FAVOURITES ARE UMBRELLA MAN AND WALKIN'THRU'THE PARK.
MOORE HAS WORKED AS A SIDEMAN IN THE PAST PLAYING JAZZ ROCK(WITH
COLOSSEUM 2 AND HARD ROCK(WITH THIN LIZZY)BUT IN MY HUMBLE OPINION HIS
BEST WORK IS TO BE FOUND IN HIS BLUES ROCK RECORDINGS.IF YOU ARE A FAN OF
GARY MOORE MAY I SUGGEST YOU CHECK OUT HIS PETER GREEN TRIBUTE CD,BLUES
FOR GREENY,HIS CD WITH JACK BRUCE AND GINGER BAKER,AROUND THE NEXT DREAM BY BBM(THE REMASTERED VERSION WITH EXTRA(LIVE)TRACKS,AND HIS GUITAR
CONTRIBUTIONS TO OTIS TAYLOR'S DEFINITION OF A CIRCLE(TAYLOR RETURNS THE
FAVOUR BY APPEARING ON ONE OF THE TRACKS ON BAD FOR YOU BABY)
MOORE GETS A GREAT TONE FROM HIS(LES PAUL)GUITAR,AND EVEN HIS VOICE(IF YOU
DON'T MIND THE FAKE AMERICAN ACCENT WITH A TRACE OF HIS BELFAST BROGUE)IS
FAIRLY STRONG THROUGHOUT.IF YOU LIKE JOE BONAMASSA AND WALTER TROUT,GIVE
THIS CD A TRY.DESPITE WHAT ONE OF YOUR OTHER REVIEWERS SAYS,IT IS NOT ALL
TWELVE BAR BLUES,THERE ARE SOME MELLOWER TRACKS HERE AS WELL.



Moore puts the Bite Back in, 24 Sep 2008
OH Yes - A stronger Album from Gary Moore this time around. Standard Blues Riffs with interwoven guitar licks with a more heavier gritter sound differentiates this from the last 2 albums. Just as I thought Moore was mellowing he puts the venom back in and delivers a very good blues/Rock powered album. This album to me is a refined 'scars' sound , more controlled and polished yet very punchy and controlled distortion. Moores own penned songs are the stronger for me here as the covers have to much of the heard it all before factor.

The Guitar Geeks, Rock Fans and Blues purists will not be disappointed and this album will tour very well.



Another slice of Gary..., 22 Sep 2008
...and it's a good one! Yum, tasty. I was hoping that after the last stripped-down and less rockin' 'Close As You Get' album that Mr Moore would serve up a more energetic portion for us this time...and he sure has! I was praying the cover art wasn't going to be misleading - it shows Gary in familiar low-slung Les Paul mode belting out a solo - and it's not misleading at all! He has turned the gain up again on his amps and whilst not rocking to 'Still Got The Blues' levels he IS rocking again! I'm talking blues rock of course here guys... The fretboard is once again his playground and although the numbers are standard 12-bar blues fayre he doesn't half rip on the majority of solos here and face it, that's what we're here for yeah? I have to say, this is one of Gary's better blues albums. I have them all (including the 'metal years') and the last couple for me have been good but not great. This is great. If you like Gary's take on the blues and have been happy with his recent output, you'll love this. His best for quite a few years in my opinion, I thought he'd hung up his rockin' spurs!

can you imagine..., 02 Mar 2007
I was going to mention Clapton's christening of the Les Paul, Marshall setup, but others have beaten me to it. I liken it's impact to what happened to harp playing when Little Walter and other's deciding to blow through the PA or an early guitar amp. They REDEFINED the sound of the instrument.

So all I'll add is the rhetorical question...can you imagine being a teenage Brit, having been reared on the sounds of the Beatles, Jerry and the Pacemakers, or even the Dave Clark Five, wandering into a London club because someone had recommended the Bluesbreakers, and hearing THIS STUFF? Probably as epiphanic as being a white guy in mid 50's Chicago and having the nerve to wander into the Dew Drop Inn and hearing Muddy, Wolf, or later, Otis Rush and Buddy Guy. Simply put, a life changing experience.

The most important guitar album of all time!, 08 Feb 2007
The best guitar player of the time on top of his game. Classic tracks. The perfect combination of guitar and amp. Incredible solos... Listening to this album it is easy to see why rock took the directions it did. This is the blueprint for pretty much every rock/blues album that followed, and in my opinion the closest Clapton ever got to this ever again is on Layla... This is Essential.

The album that changed my life., 28 May 2006
On a week's holiday with my parent's in Littlehampton in Sussex during the summer of '66, as ever, I found a record shop. Without much money as I was still at school, (just), I had the choice, in my mind anyway, between two albums; The Mother's Of Invention's 'Freakout,' and 'Bluesbreakers.' Maybe there had been a lot of publicity at the time about 'Freakout,' I can't remember, but for some reason I was torn between which one to buy. Probably the fact that I was a Yardbirds fan and had listened to 'Five Live' a great deal made up my mind, and I plumped for 'Bluesbreakers.' It was to be the wisest move and the best purchase I ever made. As a then, and still now, 'would-be' guitarist, this album, for its time in rock history, had everything you wanted and more, and has pretty much stayed that way over the ensuing years. To play with this degree of skill and feeling at Clapton's age of 21 at the time, was and is incredible. At 15, he was almost an old man to me being 6 years older, yet even so, the bluesmen I had heard were in their 30's and over, (really old men!), and even now this album begs the question "Why was Clapton so great at such a young age?" We will never know, and if put to the question, probably neither would he? It was just something he was drawn to and did, and has had the good fortune to do so for the rest of his life. If you're a guitarist, Clapton fan, blues enthusiast, whatever, and you don't own this album, simply buy it now - it will remain a classic for as long as planet Earth keeps turning.

Life Changing..., 15 Feb 2006
I first listened to this disc as a fifteen year-old and music was never the same thereafter. I started hunting straight away for the original US musicians who had inspired first Mayall and then the unbelievably young Clapton. And I'm still listening to the fruits of that search. Meantime it opened me up to the expanding British Blues scene and subsequently other new British genres, all the way from Fleetwood Mac and Chicken Shack, to The Groundhogs, Steeleye and Fairport. The music itself is quite simply inspired, mainly by the fusion of the very different talents of the individuals involved. I'm not sure that Mayall ever wrote, sang or played as well again 'though Clapton went on to far greater things. Just listen to Track 5, Double Crossin' Time, written by the both of them, which displays their different talents perfectly. This disc is one of those very rare seminal recordings which brings as much pleasure now as on the day it came off the presses.

sheer tone, 07 Jul 2005
This is the album that launched the Gibson Les Paul + Marshall amp combination that has defined the sound of rock for so long. It is worth buying for that alone. Absolute, pure, smooth but crunchy, toney goodness! Thankfully, the music is top notch, ranging from the energetic opener to the instrumental "Steppin Out", to the drum solo and tribute to the Beatles' "Day Tripper" on "What'd I Say?". Excellent stuff.

skin deep, 14 Oct 2008
Fantastic guitar work from buddy and nice to here derek and eric playing to They also played together on the Crossroads DVD.

Soul began here, 13 Apr 2008
The first hit single in the U K by Ray Charles was Georgia on my mid in 1960 and this disc made No 24.Charles was on a new label by then and the Atlantic sides while issued here meant nothing until the Age of Merseybeat.
Hit the road Jack went top 5 and it was nothing but up from then with the Modern Sounds of Country & Western spawning a number of hit singles.
Ray's earlier work on Swingtime began apperaing on a label called Society.
This CD is a pretty comprehensive overview of the most essential recordings which include his Beatles covers and ends with his version of Imagine.
Theres never been any shortage of albums by Ray Charles and I think the first was What'd I say-which was probably too far away from general tastes at the time because America was so far in front.



inspiring, 16 Feb 2008
My whole career as a sound engineer started from the inspiring music from Ray Charles. Pure talent and passion. What better way to celebrate it than to have this superb CD.

A True Legend, 11 Jul 2007
Ray Charles is a true legend and this album is a perfect example of what he was capable of. If you are new to his music then this is a great intorduction and if you are a seasoned fan like me then this has the best of what you want to hear.

Sometimes these kind of albums are put together with a number of 'filler' tracks on them but not this one. Every track is a great tune and it is something you will want to listen to time and time again.



Definitive, 24 Feb 2007
This truly is the definitive Ray Charles. You get a wide selection of his output from his early recordings to his eighties duets with the likes of Chaka Khan as featured on Quincy Jones' 'Back on the Block' album. Ray Charles' songwriting is superb, with the early stuff very clearly influenced by Gospel and church music of the time, but with his own twist. If you've seen the film 'Ray' you will know just what to expect and this doesn't disappoint. If you haven't seen the film, buy this anyway as it has some great blues and soul on here and should be in anyone's collection. I also recommend the film for those who like this album, as it provides a good insight into Ray and his music. This truly is the definitive collection and is a joy to listen to.

Genius at Work!, 31 Dec 2004
It seems that if anyone passes away these days, they are proclaimed a genius for the weeks following their death. With Ray Charles though, his sad loss was not what prompted the genius tag, but the real and tangible genius that he possessed.

I did not own any Ray Charles CD's before his untimely death, but always loved his music. I bought this, and gave myself the proverbial kick up the backside for not buying some of his work earlier. This is a great collection of all his best work, from his first hits up to some of his last material recorded. It doesn't cover his very early material, but then how can you produce a complete collection when someone has recorded so many great songs?

The early hits are very interesting in that they are so unlike the material that we have come to know him for, but as you listen to song after song on this CD, you can hear a man developing his style from the early trio of piano, bass and drums to the more complex arrangements that we all know so well. The earlier material then gets a country feel to it, but in his lifetime he rarely got any recognition from the snobbish Country and Western fans in the US. His rendition of songs like 'I Can't Stop Loving You' just blow away the original.

As he started getting wide recognition, the songs just grew in stature, and it seemed like there was no style of music that he couldn't utilise. Brilliant versions of other people's songs such as 'Rainy Night in Georgia' just make you marvel at his arranging skills.

I for one will be buying more Ray Charles, but this CD is the perfect place to start.

...the best yet..., 15 Jul 2008
One time Bluesbreaker and Canned Heat man, Walter Trout has been firing out solo albums for a long time now, but they've always felt a bit incomplete to me. So, it came as a particular delight to sit down with the new one, and find myself hitting the repeat button when it came to an end. For this might just be the best album of his career.

From the opening, autobiographical, 'Welcome To The Human Race' onwards, it's a constantly unfolding pleasure. It's also the album that sees him straying further away from his Blues rock roots, something that may find a few old time fans drifting away. Even I had a bit of trouble with 'The Next Big Thing', a 1968 Beatles style radio rocker. But when he comes up with songs as inspired as the British Blues boom inspired 'Don't Wanna Fall' or the heavy boogie of 'The Love Song of J Alfred Bluestock', then he makes me a very happy man. In the company of a new set of musicians - veteran drummer Kenny Aronoff, best known for his time with John Mellencamp, bassist James "Hutch" Hutchinson and pianist Jon Clearly, both from Bonnie Raitts band, - along with a superb production job from John Porter, this may be the moment where Walter Trout finally gets his just rewards.

Fans of his Blues days will find solace in 'Can't Have It All', and those who admire him as much for his singing as his playing should find a happy place in 'All My Life' and 'The Next Big Thing', where the stripped down sound allows his voice ample room to roam. Best for me were the moments where he out-Warrens Warren Haynes on the soulful 'Don't Wanna Fall' and 'Child Of Another Day', where he revisits the theme of forgotten war veterans, something Trout holds strong feelings for. The most consistently enjoyable album he's ever recorded, there really is something here for everyone.

The Outsider, 20 Jun 2008
I have been a fan on Walter Trout since 1988 and I love it. I have all the albums and can see the development of his talent and craft over the period. As with any new WT album I have been eagerly expecting this one and it does not fail. My only note of concern is these studio albums never seem to show his true ability. They are far too polished and produced to really let the music get under your skin. The earlier albums and indeed the live albums enable you to feel like you are actually there.

A good album but not great and I must be one the longest serving fans.

Strength as a weakness, 12 Jun 2008
There is one problem with Walter Trout and artists of his ilk which stems from their greatest strength which is that for all that he is a great guitarist, a more than fair vocalist and his band are tight there is an inherent weakness in the fact that you only find his stuff in the "blues" section in record stores, and so no matter how good any album he produces (and this is a good album) he is unlikely to pick up any new afficionados which is a real shame as no matter how unfashionable he or indeed his chosen genre may be, he is bloomin good at it and this album is a fine new recording. Sure there is not much here that is new but if this is old fashioned then I'm all for it.

Jeff Healey's Sensational Swan Song, 27 Jun 2008
'Mess Of Blues' is an absolutely sensational collection of live, predominantly blues recordings from the sadly departed guitar virtuoso and his brilliant band. If you like blues guitar played with passion and feeling, coupled with a tight, jumping rhythm section then this album is for you. Jeff Healey, in the liner notes, describes his band as "the very best bar band that anyone could ask for" and he wasn't wrong - they're tremendous.

The choices of songs are interesting and varied and make for a rich, eclectic, engaging listen, including tracks such as The Band's 'The Weight', Neil Young's 'Like A Hurricane' and Hank Williams' 'Jambalaya', all performed brilliantly. Standards such as 'I'm Torn Down', 'Mess O' Blues' and 'Shake, Rattle And Roll' are executed as if they're being played for the very first time - no tired run-throughs here. The sound is exceptional and the performances absolutely scintillating, in fact it is difficult to believe that these are live recordings sometimes, they're so incredibly good.

It is an absolute tragedy that Jeff has been taken from us so early in his life, denying the world any more of these solid gold blues albums. This isn't just one of the best albums Jeff has released, this is one of the best modern blues albums ever. Animated, vital, stirring stuff - get yourself a copy and listen to a real legend having the time of his life and sharing it with the rest of the world.

This is more like it, 13 Jun 2008
Having recently listened to some pretty poor stuff I was delighted to hear this album by the legendary Jeff Healey. Outstanding renditions of blues classics. His playing is full of life and brings each track alive through his own inimitable style. Sadly missed.
I've been air guitaring ever since.

A Great Talent as been lost!, 05 Jun 2008
This is a great blues album from him and what a way to end and go out on!
This is a must for any Jeff Healey fans out there!
As to all of us who have come to know his music and is way of playing the guitar, which there is no doubt that he will be always known as the most distinctive guitar player, since Jimi Hendrix.

He was a Light to us all in his music!
Thanks Jeff

Healey marvellous!, 04 May 2008
A pleasure to listen to! Ok, quite a few cover versions, but this is the only guy I know(knew) who sounds better than the original artist!
Hopefully his sad demise will receive new listeners to his music.

Another loss but heavens gain, 05 Apr 2008
Sorry to hear of another fallen guitar hero. But lets be honest if all us Healey freaks had to chose tracks for this album. Positively the selections would differ all over due to our love for his work. Awestruck with his talent having seen him several times. This is a fitting compilation of a guy whose catalog for the newly iniated is well worth checking out and look at him on you tube. Admiration will take you over as it did all us Jeff fans. Sure he will be gigging up there already. Thanks to the Jeff Healey Band for all your work and hang in there boys.

Impeccable, 22 Oct 2008
Look folks I was going to buy this out of pure nostalgia anyway - but I have to tell you this is just about as good as it gets - definitely his best ever studio recording. The voice is as good as ever, and no one ever ever could get the same sounds out of a guitar as he gets out of "Lucille". Every track a winner and what a band - featuring the incomparable Dr John on piano. The production is faultless. If you have any affection for the blues you simply have to buy this. Without question a 5 star item.

THE KING STILL REIGNS SUPREME., 06 Oct 2008
B.B.King maybe now in his eighties,he may sit down to play these days on stage but I'll tell you what,he's still the king of the blues and that's not just in his name.This album,produced by T Bone Burnette ( who produced the Robert Plant/Alison Krauss multi- award winning album last year)is a collection of blues classics never before recorded by BB.This is a totally wonderful album,and may well go down as one of his best albums ever.He's in top form throughout,with a band that includes Dr. John and Jim Keltner T-Bone has brought a truly classic album out,produced with a classic 50's blues sound,yet with a pure and beautiful sound balance throughout.This is an album no true blues or should I say music fan should miss.Without doubt blues album of the year if not one of the great blues albums of all time.I played this to my son who thinks it's really great that sums it up...a truly great album.

EXCELLENT ALBUM, 24 Sep 2008
If you like Moore, then here is the latest to add to your collection. It's pretty formula stuff - great blues rock - some boogie, some a bit heavier, and of course wonderful long ballards with superb guitar wizardy, delivered only how Moore can.

I won't go through track for track, because if your a fan you will get the drift, this is simply more and more of what Gary does best. A couple of noticeable mentions though. How about the 10 minute long "I Love You More Than You'll ever Know" epic? Sheer class over and over again, and "Mojo Boogie" whioch is foot tapping stonkingly good and subtle tones of Quo! Another track has some welcome female backing vocals, which adds some extra to the album.

All in all another Moore classic if you like his stuff or trying him out -this album delivers.

A Gary Moore masterpiece, 24 Sep 2008
An excellent album from Gary Moore, a more beefed up melodic sound than Close As You Get with a welcome return of the trademark solos, some of which are fantastic. This album is a must for blues and guitar fans. This album is up there with the best of the Gary Moore albums.

A RETURN TO FORM, 24 Sep 2008
MOORE RETURNS TO THE STUDIO TO RECORD A MIXTURE OF HIS OWN COMPOSITIONS
AND WELL CHOSEN COVERS.MOORE'S RECENT STUDIO OUTPUT HAS BEEN A BIT HIT
AND MISS,BUT THIS IS A RETURN TO FORM WITH A GRITTIER SOUND AND STRONGER
MATERIAL,PERSONAL FAVOURITES ARE UMBRELLA MAN AND WALKIN'THRU'THE PARK.
MOORE HAS WORKED AS A SIDEMAN IN THE PAST PLAYING JAZZ ROCK(WITH
COLOSSEUM 2 AND HARD ROCK(WITH THIN LIZZY)BUT IN MY HUMBLE OPINION HIS
BEST WORK IS TO BE FOUND IN HIS BLUES ROCK RECORDINGS.IF YOU ARE A FAN OF
GARY MOORE MAY I SUGGEST YOU CHECK OUT HIS PETER GREEN TRIBUTE CD,BLUES
FOR GREENY,HIS CD WITH JACK BRUCE AND GINGER BAKER,AROUND THE NEXT DREAM BY BBM(THE REMASTERED VERSION WITH EXTRA(LIVE)TRACKS,AND HIS GUITAR
CONTRIBUTIONS TO OTIS TAYLOR'S DEFINITION OF A CIRCLE(TAYLOR RETURNS THE
FAVOUR BY APPEARING ON ONE OF THE TRACKS ON BAD FOR YOU BABY)
MOORE GETS A GREAT TONE FROM HIS(LES PAUL)GUITAR,AND EVEN HIS VOICE(IF YOU
DON'T MIND THE FAKE AMERICAN ACCENT WITH A TRACE OF HIS BELFAST BROGUE)IS
FAIRLY STRONG THROUGHOUT.IF YOU LIKE JOE BONAMASSA AND WALTER TROUT,GIVE
THIS CD A TRY.DESPITE WHAT ONE OF YOUR OTHER REVIEWERS SAYS,IT IS NOT ALL
TWELVE BAR BLUES,THERE ARE SOME MELLOWER TRACKS HERE AS WELL.



Moore puts the Bite Back in, 24 Sep 2008
OH Yes - A stronger Album from Gary Moore this time around. Standard Blues Riffs with interwoven guitar licks with a more heavier gritter sound differentiates this from the last 2 albums. Just as I thought Moore was mellowing he puts the venom back in and delivers a very good blues/Rock powered album. This album to me is a refined 'scars' sound , more controlled and polished yet very punchy and controlled distortion. Moores own penned songs are the stronger for me here as the covers have to much of the heard it all before factor.

The Guitar Geeks, Rock Fans and Blues purists will not be disappointed and this album will tour very well.



Another slice of Gary..., 22 Sep 2008
...and it's a good one! Yum, tasty. I was hoping that after the last stripped-down and less rockin' 'Close As You Get' album that Mr Moore would serve up a more energetic portion for us this time...and he sure has! I was praying the cover art wasn't going to be misleading - it shows Gary in familiar low-slung Les Paul mode belting out a solo - and it's not misleading at all! He has turned the gain up again on his amps and whilst not rocking to 'Still Got The Blues' levels he IS rocking again! I'm talking blues rock of course here guys... The fretboard is once again his playground and although the numbers are standard 12-bar blues fayre he doesn't half rip on the majority of solos here and face it, that's what we're here for yeah? I have to say, this is one of Gary's better blues albums. I have them all (including the 'metal years') and the last couple for me have been good but not great. This is great. If you like Gary's take on the blues and have been happy with his recent output, you'll love this. His best for quite a few years in my opinion, I thought he'd hung up his rockin' spurs!

can you imagine..., 02 Mar 2007
I was going to mention Clapton's christening of the Les Paul, Marshall setup, but others have beaten me to it. I liken it's impact to what happened to harp playing when Little Walter and other's deciding to blow through the PA or an early guitar amp. They REDEFINED the sound of the instrument.

So all I'll add is the rhetorical question...can you imagine being a teenage Brit, having been reared on the sounds of the Beatles, Jerry and the Pacemakers, or even the Dave Clark Five, wandering into a London club because someone had recommended the Bluesbreakers, and hearing THIS STUFF? Probably as epiphanic as being a white guy in mid 50's Chicago and having the nerve to wander into the Dew Drop Inn and hearing Muddy, Wolf, or later, Otis Rush and Buddy Guy. Simply put, a life changing experience.

The most important guitar album of all time!, 08 Feb 2007
The best guitar player of the time on top of his game. Classic tracks. The perfect combination of guitar and amp. Incredible solos... Listening to this album it is easy to see why rock took the directions it did. This is the blueprint for pretty much every rock/blues album that followed, and in my opinion the closest Clapton ever got to this ever again is on Layla... This is Essential.

The album that changed my life., 28 May 2006
On a week's holiday with my parent's in Littlehampton in Sussex during the summer of '66, as ever, I found a record shop. Without much money as I was still at school, (just), I had the choice, in my mind anyway, between two albums; The Mother's Of Invention's 'Freakout,' and 'Bluesbreakers.' Maybe there had been a lot of publicity at the time about 'Freakout,' I can't remember, but for some reason I was torn between which one to buy. Probably the fact that I was a Yardbirds fan and had listened to 'Five Live' a great deal made up my mind, and I plumped for 'Bluesbreakers.' It was to be the wisest move and the best purchase I ever made. As a then, and still now, 'would-be' guitarist, this album, for its time in rock history, had everything you wanted and more, and has pretty much stayed that way over the ensuing years. To play with this degree of skill and feeling at Clapton's age of 21 at the time, was and is incredible. At 15, he was almost an old man to me being 6 years older, yet even so, the bluesmen I had heard were in their 30's and over, (really old men!), and even now this album begs the question "Why was Clapton so great at such a young age?" We will never know, and if put to the question, probably neither would he? It was just something he was drawn to and did, and has had the good fortune to do so for the rest of his life. If you're a guitarist, Clapton fan, blues enthusiast, whatever, and you don't own this album, simply buy it now - it will remain a classic for as long as planet Earth keeps turning.

Life Changing..., 15 Feb 2006
I first listened to this disc as a fifteen year-old and music was never the same thereafter. I started hunting straight away for the original US musicians who had inspired first Mayall and then the unbelievably young Clapton. And I'm still listening to the fruits of that search. Meantime it opened me up to the expanding British Blues scene and subsequently other new British genres, all the way from Fleetwood Mac and Chicken Shack, to The Groundhogs, Steeleye and Fairport. The music itself is quite simply inspired, mainly by the fusion of the very different talents of the individuals involved. I'm not sure that Mayall ever wrote, sang or played as well again 'though Clapton went on to far greater things. Just listen to Track 5, Double Crossin' Time, written by the both of them, which displays their different talents perfectly. This disc is one of those very rare seminal recordings which brings as much pleasure now as on the day it came off the presses.

sheer tone, 07 Jul 2005
This is the album that launched the Gibson Les Paul + Marshall amp combination that has defined the sound of rock for so long. It is worth buying for that alone. Absolute, pure, smooth but crunchy, toney goodness! Thankfully, the music is top notch, ranging from the energetic opener to the instrumental "Steppin Out", to the drum solo and tribute to the Beatles' "Day Tripper" on "What'd I Say?". Excellent stuff.

skin deep, 14 Oct 2008
Fantastic guitar work from buddy and nice to here derek and eric playing to They also played together on the Crossroads DVD.

Soul began here, 13 Apr 2008
The first hit single in the U K by Ray Charles was Georgia on my mid in 1960 and this disc made No 24.Charles was on a new label by then and the Atlantic sides while issued here meant nothing until the Age of Merseybeat.
Hit the road Jack went top 5 and it was nothing but up from then with the Modern Sounds of Country & Western spawning a number of hit singles.
Ray's earlier work on Swingtime began apperaing on a label called Society.
This CD is a pretty comprehensive overview of the most essential recordings which include his Beatles covers and ends with his version of Imagine.
Theres never been any shortage of albums by Ray Charles and I think the first was What'd I say-which was probably too far away from general tastes at the time because America was so far in front.



inspiring, 16 Feb 2008
My whole career as a sound engineer started from the inspiring music from Ray Charles. Pure talent and passion. What better way to celebrate it than to have this superb CD.

A True Legend, 11 Jul 2007
Ray Charles is a true legend and this album is a perfect example of what he was capable of. If you are new to his music then this is a great intorduction and if you are a seasoned fan like me then this has the best of what you want to hear.

Sometimes these kind of albums are put together with a number of 'filler' tracks on them but not this one. Every track is a great tune and it is something you will want to listen to time and time again.



Definitive, 24 Feb 2007
This truly is the definitive Ray Charles. You get a wide selection of his output from his early recordings to his eighties duets with the likes o