Blue Guitars
A slight detour from the vinyl groove today. This collection was never released on vinyl but is a fascinating and incredible piece of work. In 1994 Chris Rea was about to embark on a US tour, his "Best Of" album was going Platinum and he had millions of fans and a wife who loved him dearly. Then he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, a cancer with one of the highest mortality rates. What followed, even to this day, is a series of operations, 9 in 15 years, the removal of parts of his pancreas, bile duct, stomach, and colon and all the associated problems that have arisen from those operations: a twisted and blocked colon requiring an eight week hospital visit, he is now a Type 1 diabetic for the rest of his life and there are related kidney and bladder problems too. But the treatment was a success and whilst recuperating he determined that if he came out the other side in one piece he would return to his roots musically and re-explore his love of the blues. This was the music which first grabbed hold of him as a young man and inspired him. In 1998 he started recording again and released "The Blue Cafe". As the title suggests he had started to embrace the music he loved. In 2002 he stepped away from the restrictions of a record company and set up his own Jazzee Blue record label. His first release "Dancing Down The Stony Road" was a taster for this collection in many ways, as were his next 3 releases: "Blue Street (Five Guitars)", "Hofner Blue Notes" and "The Blue Jukebox". You may notice a theme developing. He was working harder than ever, an album a year, working with David Knopfler on two of his albums as well and then he threw himself into 12 hour days for a period of 18 months to produce this collection of 11 CDs and 1 DVD. That would be remarkable on its own, but he also did all the art work involved, designed the packaging concept, wrote the comprehensive liner notes and produced the whole lavish package.
Chris has taken a journey (he acknowledges Bill Wyman's "Blues Odyssey" as the original inspiration) through the blues, from it's roots through it's evolution until today. Each disc is labelled for a particular genre: "Country Blues", "Electric Memphis Blues", "Texas Blues" etc. There are those among the blues fraternity, 'purists' they call themselves, who would say that Chris has not fulfilled his goal of depicting the different type of blues that each disc is titled as portraying. I would say they miss the point of the exercise. It was his intention to make his own journey through the history of the blues, which is why there are no cover versions here. Oh yes! I may have forgotten to mention that Chris also wrote all of the 137 songs used in this project.
There are so many superb tracks in this collection that I refuse to single any out. As a matter of personal choice though I would admit that the "Electric Memphis Blues" (Album Four) & "Chicago Blues" (Album Six) tend to get the most earplay time in my house. But this set demands to be listened to more than once and needs many repeated visits to fully appreciate all the subtle nuances that have been used to keep each disc fresh from the ones either side of it. He used different original guitars throughout the package, all of which are pictured in the book which accompanies the set, to produce the inimitable sounds of each collection.
The set was marketed to be affordable to all, not just the elitist box set collectors. I think mine cost me around £30GBP brand new. The art work alone would probably be worth more. They are all photographs of paintings which Chris started doing as part of his recovery therapy, when he couldn't get 'out and about' as he used to. There are more than those depicted here, on the reverse of the CD sleeves and also within the book, which also contain the full lyrics of all the songs. I'm not sure if there has ever been a better 'boxset', certainly when you consider the cost, the quantity and the quality of music and the fantastic packing. If you get a chance to own this...don't let it pass you by.
Chris has taken a journey (he acknowledges Bill Wyman's "Blues Odyssey" as the original inspiration) through the blues, from it's roots through it's evolution until today. Each disc is labelled for a particular genre: "Country Blues", "Electric Memphis Blues", "Texas Blues" etc. There are those among the blues fraternity, 'purists' they call themselves, who would say that Chris has not fulfilled his goal of depicting the different type of blues that each disc is titled as portraying. I would say they miss the point of the exercise. It was his intention to make his own journey through the history of the blues, which is why there are no cover versions here. Oh yes! I may have forgotten to mention that Chris also wrote all of the 137 songs used in this project.
There are so many superb tracks in this collection that I refuse to single any out. As a matter of personal choice though I would admit that the "Electric Memphis Blues" (Album Four) & "Chicago Blues" (Album Six) tend to get the most earplay time in my house. But this set demands to be listened to more than once and needs many repeated visits to fully appreciate all the subtle nuances that have been used to keep each disc fresh from the ones either side of it. He used different original guitars throughout the package, all of which are pictured in the book which accompanies the set, to produce the inimitable sounds of each collection.
The set was marketed to be affordable to all, not just the elitist box set collectors. I think mine cost me around £30GBP brand new. The art work alone would probably be worth more. They are all photographs of paintings which Chris started doing as part of his recovery therapy, when he couldn't get 'out and about' as he used to. There are more than those depicted here, on the reverse of the CD sleeves and also within the book, which also contain the full lyrics of all the songs. I'm not sure if there has ever been a better 'boxset', certainly when you consider the cost, the quantity and the quality of music and the fantastic packing. If you get a chance to own this...don't let it pass you by.
Where The Blues Come From
Somewhere Between Highway 61 & 49
That's The Way It Goes
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