The Essentials
The top 20 heavy blues albums you need to own (continued).
ROBIN TROWER
Bridge Of Sighs (1974) Trower had always favoured the American originators over the British boomers, but he walked the tightrope on this career peak. “It’s a very powerful piece of work,” he said. JEFF Beck-Ola BECK (1969) GROUP Beck-Ola it was “almost arrived impossible” with a sleeve to write disclaimer, new songs, admitting the band that as had focused and singer instead Rod Stewart on “heavy butted music”. heads Maybe on highlights so, but when like All Beck Shook Up, the derivative sounded just dandy.
TASTE Taste (1969) The debut album by 20-year-old Irish guitarist/singer Rory Gallagher and his power trio can still scorch your eyebrows. Blister On The Moon sets a roaring pace that is somehow maintained throughout.
LESLIE WEST Mountain (1969) The New Yorker cited Cream as his starting pistol. “The British imitated our black blues players,” West told The Blues. “We imitated the British imitating black guys. The more things change, the more they stay the same.”
BLUE CHEER Vincebus Eruptum (1968) The West Coast trio’s debut piled everything in, turned it up, and oiled the wheels with lashings of LSD. Not even The Who could match their Summertime Blues. It’s one part music, two parts assault and battery.
RORY GALLAGHER Deuce (1971) Gallagher’s second album was bent on capturing the crush of the front row. Often tracking immediately after gigs in order to hold the momentum, Deuce exploded out of the speakers and rarely let go of your lapels. AC/DC T.N.T. (1975) This second Australia-only AC/DC album marked the moment when they became the fist-tight, crunch-blues miscreants of legend. Tracks like The Jack and High Voltage were smash-and-grab belters. WHITESNAKE
Ready An’ Willing (1980) A solid-gold line-up – Micky Moody, Bernie Marsden, Jon Lord, Ian Paice – ensured that even the filler here was thumping, while hooky standouts like Fool For Your Loving helped the album slither to No.6 in the UK. GARY MOORE
Still Got The Blues (1990) The success of Moore’s stopgap blues project was the happiest of accidents. “That whole album was killer,” noted Danny Bryant. “He was a rock artist, he’d been in Thin Lizzy, and had solo hits, and he just did a blues album in three weeks. He was worried the fans wouldn’t accept it, but it became his biggest seller.” RIVAL SONS
Head Down (2012) “The next album is gonna sound like a hammer and a buzzsaw getting in a fight,” Jay Buchanan threatened back in 2011. True enough, the LA band’s breakthrough third entered the ring with the pugnacious Keep On Swinging, and rained endless bluesrock anvils. Finally, after a good pummelling, they kissed it better with the gorgeous Zep-folk of True.