10 Best Blues CDs
by
Tommy Chung

INTRO...
More likely than not, you either hate it or love the Blues. To me, Blues is not only a matter of life and death, it is more important than that. Since I heard my first Blues track when I was 17, there is hardly a day that went by without the Blues. I was obsessed with it, or as some would say, demented by it. I used to buy anything with the word "Blues" on it, e.g., books on Blues history, LPs and basically anything I can get my hands on that is remotely related to the music. Case in point: Ten years ago, a Japanese coffee manufacturer produced a canned coffee called "Blues Coffee." I bought a dozen and I don't even drink coffee.

There is nothing scientific or rational in choosing ten of what I regard as the most important and best Blues recordings. It involves only bias and taste. One man's meat is another man's poison. You won't see any recording by Magic Sam, Steve Ray Vaughan, Jimi Hendrix on my best 10. It's all subjective, irrational when it comes to taste. But Blues is all about passion, right? Some don't make it on the list below because their recordings were not essentially Blues; others don't make it simply because I don't like their recordings enough. Thank God we are not in a court of law, I don't need to reason with anyone. I can just say "This is it" and there will be no more arguments.