BLUESY BRITISH AND RARE

BARRY WINTON WOKE UP THIS MORNING WITH BLUES ALL AROUND HIS BED: 40 LONG-PLAYERS WITH VALUES RANGING FROM £18 TO £600

If it hadn’t been for the blues, who knows how the British music scene would have developed? The blues inspired a whole generation of UK musicians. While most of them were happy to acknowledge the supremacy of the black American originals, they went on to create a distinctive brand of blues of their very own. Some, of course, like Cream, the Stones and Led Zep, took it off into stratospheric new directions.

Over the next six pages we celebrate 40 British blues and blues-influenced albums, some acknowledged greats, some neglected, all of them collectable. In fact, some are very collectable indeed, fetching hundreds of pounds. If anything, the blues is more hip today than ever.

The albums are ranged in chronological order, with star ratings for musical quality. As ever, the prices are for guidance only and represent the value of original vinyl pressings in Mint condition. CD availability is indicated where known. In Part Two we will be looking at UK releases by American bluesmen. Meanwhile, happy hunting...

Coming in Part Two: The American Bluesmen

Thanks to Colin Larkin for permission to use material from his excellent book, The Virgin Encyclopaedia Of The Blues. Thanks also to Angela McManus, Katie Page and Maria Williams for production …

by BARRY WINTON
<< Back to Issue 354