\u201cPresently there are four other volumes in this series<\/i>\u2014eventually we\u2019ll get to them all.\u201d – <\/i>from the review of Genuine Houserockin\u2019 Music<\/i>, published 9\/12\/1997<\/i><\/p>\n
Uh, yeah\u2026 about that.<\/i><\/p>\n
Okay, so it\u2019s been over 25 years since I last tackled one of the famously low-priced compilation albums that Chicago-based blues label Alligator put out. It\u2019s not like I\u2019ve been ignoring other releases on the label all this time.<\/i><\/p>\n
But, yeah, a promise is a promise\u2026 so, back into the Pierce Memorial Archives we go for the second disc in this collection (which, surprisingly, never saw a sixth or higher edition released). And, like its predecessor, it is a worthy collection of previously released tracks that serve as a great introduction to the 16 artists featured.<\/i><\/p>\n
While there are some artists who make a return appearance from the first edition of Genuine Houserockin\u2019 Music<\/i> (such as Lonnie Brooks, Albert Collins, Koko Taylor and Lonnie Mack), this collection serves as an introduction to others who were just getting started with their careers on the label. From Donald Kinsey & The Kinsey Report (who appear courtesy of The New Bluebloods<\/i> collection) to Lil\u2019 Ed & The Blues Imperials and Little Charlie & The Nightcats, the collection serves as a great primer of new and established artists.<\/i><\/p>\n
While not every track technically hits the bullseye, one can\u2019t say that any selection on Genuine Houserockin\u2019 Music II<\/i> is bad. I can appreciate Mack\u2019s \u201cTough On Me, Tough On You\u201d and Professor\u2019s Blues Review with Gloria Hardiman\u2019s \u201cMeet Me With Your Black Drawers On,\u201d but I can\u2019t honestly say these are tracks I\u2019d willingly search out on my own. Compared to Johnny Winter\u2019s \u201cMojo Boogie,\u201d Collins\u2019s \u201cI Ain\u2019t Drunk\u201d and Professor Longhair\u2019s \u201cIt\u2019s My Fault, Darling,\u201d they\u2019re not as strong\u2014but, when put together, the collection works very well.<\/i><\/p>\n
One does have to question, though, why the producers chose not to feature any tracks from Alligator\u2019s venture into reggae music, or from the few discs they had licensed from Atlantic (such as Dr. John\u2019s Gumbo<\/i>). Maybe they were prevented from doing so\u2014and, in retrospect, Alligator had ended their reggae experiment two years prior. Still, both were parts of their history; at least in terms of the reggae side, I could easily have selected one or two tracks to represent it.<\/i><\/p>\n
Unlike the first volume of this series, Genuine Houserockin\u2019 Music II<\/i> doesn\u2019t include any previously unreleased material\u2014so it can\u2019t be said that this is a must-own disc. However, it still is a pleasant enough set of music that, even if you own every single album these tracks came from, you\u2019ll want to have this as part of your library. Now, the question is if it\u2019s going to take me another 25 years to get to the third installment of the series.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34802,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[5827],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-46666","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-various-artists","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/46666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46666"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/46666\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=46666"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=46666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}