The Best of Little Walter | ||||
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Greatest hits album by | ||||
Released | 1958 | |||
Recorded | May 12, 1952 – January 25, 1955 in Chicago, Illinois [1] [2] | |||
Genre | Chicago blues | |||
Length | 35:44 | |||
Label | Checker LP 1428 [3] | |||
Producer | Leonard Chess, Phil Chess, Willie Dixon | |||
Little Walter chronology | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [4] |
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [5] |
Record Mirror | [6] |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [7] |
The Best of Little Walter is the first LP record by American blues performer Little Walter. [5] First released in 1958, the compilation album contains ten Little Walter songs that appeared in the Top 10 of the Billboard R&B chart from 1952 to 1955, [8] plus two B-sides. The album was first released by Checker Records as LP-1428, which was the first LP record released by Checker, and then released on Chess Records with the same catalog number. [3]
The album has been reissued numerous times, although it has been largely superseded by the twenty-song collection Little Walter His Best: Chess 50th Anniversary Collection.
The album cover features a black-and-white photo portrait shot by Grammy award winning photographer Don Bronstein of Little Walter holding/playing a Hohner 64 Chromatic harmonica and liner notes by Studs Terkel, who had written Giants of Jazz. The original LP featured a black label.
In 1991, The Best of Little Walter was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame in the "Classics of Blues Recordings – Album" category. [3] In 2003, the album was ranked #198 in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the " 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". [9]
All tracks are written by Walter Jacobs ( Little Walter), except where noted
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | " My Babe" ( Willie Dixon) | 2:44 |
2. | "Sad Hours" | 3:15 |
3. | "You're So Fine" | 3:07 |
4. | "Last Night" | 2:46 |
5. | " Blues with a Feeling" ( Rabon Tarrant, re-written by Jacobs) | 3:10 |
6. | "Can't Hold Out Much Longer" | 3:03 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | " Juke" | 2:47 |
2. | " Mean Old World" ( T-Bone Walker, re-written by Jacobs) | 2:57 |
3. | "Off the Wall" | 2:52 |
4. | "You Better Watch Yourself" | 3:04 |
5. | "Blue Light" | 3:14 |
6. | "Tell Me Mamma" | 2:47 |
The following people contributed to the Best of Little Walter: [1] [2]
The songs "Juke" and "My Babe" peaked at #1 on Billboard magazine's R&B Singles chart. "Sad Hours", "You're So Fine", and "Blues with a Feeling" made it to #2 on the same chart. "Last Night" and "Mean Old World" peaked at #6, "Off the Wall" and "You Better Watch Yourself" reached #8, and "Tell Me Mama" made it to #10. [8]
Region | Date | Label | Format | Catalog |
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United States | 1958 | Checker/ Chess Records | LP | 1428 |
United States | 1967 | Checker Records | LP | 3004 |
United States | 1988 | MCA Records/Chess Records | LP | CH-9192 |
Cassette | CHC-9192 | |||
CD | CHD-9192 |