198 - Little Walter - The Best of Little Walter
The album in the list was released by Chess and is out-of-print. I compiled songs from a Little Walter collection that Chess released for my session.
Here is the template for harmonica-based Chicago blues, the gold standard. There were numerous harp solos that sounded as if they were altered audio of Jimi Hendrix or Jimmy Page guitar solos.
But it all boils down to this - the album cemented a style of instrument playing in a genre. Who am I to put it down or be critical of it. I hear it for what it is: a collection of a man who has expressed himself with a harmonica in a way others hadn't quite matched previously (or, at least, saved those performances for future generations). On a personal level, I applaud the musicians for the music they made, but blues is a casual interest at best. Despite complete agreement from me that each song has interesting aspects, much of the album slipped by me without me stopping to make note of a particular song name for the bottom portion of my review.
Songs I Knew I Liked: None
Songs I Now Like: "My Babe," "You're So Fine," and "Juke"
Songs I Can Go the Rest of My Life Never Hearing Again: None I wanted to skip