This 1965 set by organist Bill Doggett's band is well-played and spirited but quite lightweight. The nine selections are mostly blues-oriented jams without any memorable melodies, stirring solos, or moments that lift the program above the routine. The rather brief results are pleasant and groovin' but rather predictable.

A continuation of the sound established on his Alligator debut, I Smell Smoke is even more impressive than its much-heralded predecessor. While vocally Michael Burks still invites comparison to Albert King, especially on gospel-fried ballads like "Lie to Me" (the Flying V guitar he sports on this album's cover shot further reinforces the similarities between the two artists), his guitar work has become more electrified and confident. With a tone sounding at times like Eric Clapton's psychedelic work in Cream and a rugged four-piece band supporting him, this is a tough, uncompromising contemporary blues/blues-rock/R&B album that doesn't pull punches.

The Wolf record label has served Magic Slim & the Teardrops well, producing eight CDs between 1986 and 1992, when the band was emerging from Chicago to tour the world. They are deserving on many fronts as the self-proclaimed "best blues band on the planet," and these tracks, marketed as "Magic Slim's best 14 songs," certainly go a long way to proving that assertion. Of the album's 14 tracks, 11 come from the studio and three are previously unissued live concert sessions in Austria, all with Slim, the remarkable second guitarist John Primer, brother and bassist Nick Holt, and different drummers. Only one of the tunes was written by Slim, the others taken from classic blues songwriters and heroes of the lead vocalist and guitarist, whose distinctive sound comes shining through from start to finish. Albert King for sure is a favorite of Magic Slim…

Finally! For far too long, mega-talent soul singer Candi Staton had been lacking a comprehensive collection of her prime Southern R&B material from her glory years, 1969-1973. While it's true that Staton's chart success continued in the disco era with "Young Hearts Run Free," from 1975, that music is in a different universe from her Muscle Shoals period, when she recorded for Fame and other labels. This compilation contains 26 tracks form those hallowed years, when Staton's deep soul tomes rang up no less than 12 consecutive Billboard R&B hits, a pair of Grammy nominations, and a gold album. Like Aretha Franklin, Linda Jones, and Otis Redding, Staton's voice is the sound of emotion being ripped from the human heart and offered, bleeding and broken, pleading and yearning, to the listener. Highly recommended.

2016 two CD collection of recordings by the former Rolling Stones bassist, both solo and with his Rhythm Kings. With all the tracks chosen by Bill Wyman himself, these two CDs present the perfect introduction to his recordings. Disc One contains songs from Bill's solo albums, kicking off with '(Si Si) Je Suis Un Rock Star', his big hit from 1981, as well as the follow-up hits. Disc Two features songs from Bill's Rhythm Kings, the ten-piece band with revolving guest stars that he put together in the 90s after leaving the Rolling Stones, as well as tracks from Willie And The Poor Boys, Bill's 1985 all-star side-project. The guest stars include Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Jimmy Page, Paul Rodgers, Georgie Fame, Peter Frampton, Chris Rea, Gary Brooker, Andy Fairweather Low, Charlie Watts, Dr John, Joe Walsh, Van Morrison and many more. The booklet lists who plays what on every track, along with annotation by Tony Rounce.

Jimmy Rogers was very much a musician's musician – the kind of guitarist that earned accolades from contemporaries and successors alike – yet one who never wins a wide, mainstream audience. Blues Blues Blues was designed as the album that would find Rogers a larger audience, and as such, it has all the bells and whistles of a big-deal blues album. It has the classics ("Trouble No More," "Bright Lights, Big City," "Sweet Home Chicago," "Don't Start Me to Talkin'"), remakes of Rogers standards ("Ludella," "That's All Right"), cult covers (Muddy Waters' "Blow Wind Blow," which kicks off the album on just the right note) and an astounding number of guest appearances, including cameos from (get ready): Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, Keith Richards and Mick Jagger, Lowell Fulson, Johnnie Johnson, Eric Clapton, Taj Mahal, Ted Harvey, Carey Bell, Stephen Stills, and Jeff Healey.

A two-CD survey of Winter's recordings for Columbia between 1969 and 1979, the era of his greatest commercial success. This collects many of his most popular tracks, though it doesn't do much to argue a case for artistic diversity. Includes two otherwise unavailable songs: an alternate take of "30 Days," and a previously unreleased 1973 cover of Robert Johnson's "Come on in My Kitchen."

When your father was the late Chicago blues and Chess Records icon Jimmy Rogers (not to be confused with pioneering country singer Jimmie Rodgers), some would argue that you have a hell of a lot to live up to. But the question "How does Jimmy D. Lane compare to Jimmy Rogers?" is both unrealistic and unfair – it would be like expecting Ravi Coltrane to accomplish what John Coltrane accomplished, or expecting Hank Williams, Jr. to be another Hank Williams, Sr. Besides, Lane is a fine Chicago bluesman in his own right. With Rogers making a guest appearance on "One Room Country Shack" and Muddy Waters' "Another Mule Kicking in Your Stall," listeners get to hear father and son playing alongside one another. Rogers, who died on December 19, 1997, had only two months to live when this historically important album was made. But Legacy is not only noteworthy because it contains the last recording of Rogers; it's also noteworthy because of the rich singing and expressive guitar playing that Lane brings to Memphis Slim's "Four O'Clock in the Morning" and Howlin' Wolf's "Big House," as well as heartfelt originals like "In This Bed," "Clue Me," and "Pride." Lane is someone who really understands the blues, and that fact is impossible to miss on this excellent date.

Over the years, there have been a surplus of Fleetwood Mac compilations but prior to 2018's 50 Years: Don't Stop, very few have attempted to tell the band's story from beginning to end. There was only one, actually: 25 Years-The Chain, released two years into the Mac's uncertain post-Lindsey Buckingham era. Buckingham rejoined the band in 1997 but he was kicked out prior to the November '18 release of 50 Years: Don't Stop, his departure coloring the perception of the triple-disc compilation in the sense that Fleetwood Mac's story doesn't belong to him. 50 Years proves this through its chronological sequencing, which underscores the group's evolution from blues-rockers to album rock titans and, finally, to pop superstars (its accompanying single disc of highlights, in contrast, is deliberately front-loaded with hits, so it's not as instructive).