Hits & Rarities (CD)

Limited Edition 2 CD Seldom has a single musician had a more lasting effect than Elmore James "King of the Slide Guitar." That shangety-shangety bottleneck riff defined the sound after he debuted it on his seminal "Dust My Broom," inspiring other Chicago slide aces and eventually spreading all around the globe as shaggy-haired blues-rockers fed it through mammoth amps. The mind-melting impact of Elmore's anguished vocals was every bit as intense as his crashing fretwork. First cut by James in August 1951, "Dust My Broom" defined his signature style: a swooping, full-octave opening figure on slide guitar. James left behind a raft of classic blues songs that influenced a legion of Chicago slide players and were a foundational influence for the 60's blues rock explosion. His influence went beyond that one riff, however, as he has been credited with practically inventing blues rock by virtue of energizing primal riffs with a raw, driving intensity. James left behind a raft of classic blues songs that include "Shake Your Money Maker," "Talk to Me Baby," "It Hurts Me Too" and "The Sky Is Crying." His songs have been cut by the likes of the Allman Brothers Band, Canned Heat Fleetwood Mac and the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. "You can hear his signature riff at least once a night from every slide guitarist working," music historian Tony Glover has written, "but no one has ever quite matched that vocal intensity, which transformed the lonesome moan of the Delta into a Chicago scream."

Track List

1. The Sky Is Crying
2. Held My Baby Last Night
3. Bobby's Rock
4. Baby Please Set A Date
5. Bleeding Heart
6. Dust My Broom
7. Anna Lee
8. I'm Worried
9. Rollin' And Tumblin'
10. Fine Little Mama
11. Done Somebody Wrong
12. I Need You
13. Early One Morning
14. I Can't Stop Lovin' You
15. Stranger Blues
16. Something Inside Me
17. She Done Moved *
18. Strange Angel
19. One Way Out
20. My Kind Of Woman
21. So Unkind *
22. My Baby's Gone *
23. Mean Mistreatin' Mama
24. Shake Your Moneymaker
25. Got To Move
26. Look On Yonder Wall
27. Talk To Me Baby
28. Can't Stop Loving My Baby
29. I Believe
30. Go Back Home Again *
31. You Know You're Wrong *
32. Pickin' The Blues *
33. Standing At The Crossroads
34. Sunnyland
35. It Hurts Me Too
36. Twelve Year Old Boy