Saturday Night in Shankletown, Blues Anthology

Alright, here we have another volume in Catbone's "Jukin' with the Blues" series, Saturday Night in Shankleton (Catbone 2001-2). Some of the things that were true of the first anthology we covered are true here. "I Ain't Got You" (Billy Boy Arnold) is mistitled as "8 Dorado", there is the inexplicable presence of a short bebop cut ("Woody n You" by Jack Millman) which is undistinguished and doesn't really belong here to boot. And there are a few "blue eyed" examples that may not quite be of a caliber of the rest of the music (but also some good ones).

Aside from that, though, there are some classic corkers. "I Wish You Would" by Billy Boy Arnold, Muddy's "Forty Days and Forty Nights," Cotton's "You Know it Ain't Right," the Wolf's "Goin' Down Slow." Some gems.

I would not put this quite at the level of the Mean Street volume discussed a few days ago here. This one is is 3/4 great, 1/4 not as great.

Nonetheless it's nice to hear those classics again, and many of the versions are not especially common.