CD Review: Alligator Records 50 Years of Genuine Houserockin’ Music (2021)

Alligator Records celebrates its 50th anniversary this year – no mean feat for a staunchly independent label – and they have good reason to be proud. The Chicago-based label has released a lot of great music in the five decades since that first Hound Dog Taylor record, and Alligator’s catalog of over 300 titles features some of the best and brightest roots ‘n’ blues artists that have traveled the backroads of America. 50 Years of Genuine Houserockin’ Music is budget-priced (three discs for under $30) anniversary box set offering up a whopping 58 songs and nearly four hours of music, taking the listener for an entertaining stroll through the label’s storied history.

Alligator Records: 50 Years of Genuine Houserockin’ Music

Disc one includes legends like the aforementioned Mr. Taylor (whose “Give Me Back My Wig” defined the label’s mission statement of “genuine houserockin’ music”); the great Koko Taylor (whose “I’m A Woman” puts Muddy in his place); and skilled guitarslingers like Albert Collins, Roy Buchanan, Fenton Robinson, and Johnny Winter, who explore a variety of styles. You’ll also find harp maestros Big Walter Horton and James Cotton, and much-beloved artists like Son Seals, Lonnie Brooks, Luther Allison, and Saffire – The Uppity Blues Women. Throw in some blues-rock jams by the Paladins, and honky-tonk piano-pounding by New Orleans legend Professor Longhair and you have a nearly-perfect 18-track album.

If that’s not enough to get yer motor revving into overdrive, disc two will melt your brain with incendiary tracks from talents like the late, great Michael “Iron Man” Burks, the always-rowdy Little Charlie & the Nightcats, and more harmonica wizardry from masters like Carey Bell and Billy Boy Arnold. Disc two showcases the label’s incredible diversity, mixing songs from soul-blues outfits like the Holmes Brothers and the Kinsey Report with performances by great singers like Janiva Magness, Mavis Staples, and the underrated Katie Webster. The legendary “Steady Rollin’” Bob Margolin is represented here, as are talented cats like Kenny Neal and Joe Louis Walker, and lesser-known but influential artists like Corey Harris and Michael Hill. Throw in some classic Zydeco from C.J. Chenier and a track from the innovative blues-rock outfit the Siegel-Schwall Band, among other fine performances, and you have 21 red-hot tunes that will torch your stereo speakers with pure flamethrower blues…

Still not enough for ya? Man, you drive a hard bargain…how ‘bout disc three and 21 houserockin’ tracks from skilled bluesmen and women like Marcia Ball, Billy Branch, Toronzo Cannon, and Roomful of Blues. There’s no shortage of skilled fretburners like Tinsley Ellis, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Selwyn Birchwood, and Coco Montoya to be found, and bands like Lil’ Ed & the Blues Imperials, the Nick Moss Band (featuring the extraordinary harp player Dennis Gruenling), Rick Estrin & the Nightcats, and Tommy Castro & the Painkillers are among the most popular (and hardest-working) blues gangs haunting your local juke-joint these past few years. Shemekia Copeland and Curtis Salgado are two of the most talented blues singers on the scene today, and you can’t overlook legends like Elvin Bishop, Charlie Musselwhite, and Guitar Shorty.

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

Altogether, 50 Years of Genuine Houserockin’ Music does a great job of documenting a half-century of Alligator Records’ irreplaceable and invaluable contribution to American music. The three-disc set includes a 40pp color booklet and provides the listener a veritable roadmap of the evolution of roots ‘n’ blues music over the past five decades. It’s a great sampler of the wealth of talent the label has to offer, and if you pick up this box set and don’t immediate order a dozen or so discs from the featured artists, I have to seriously question your taste in music…maybe you’d be happier with a shiny new Justin Bieber album? For the rest of us, there’s nothing but “genuine houserockin’ music” on the menu. Kudos to Alligator founder Bruce Iglauer and his staff for this incredible musical milestone! (Alligator Records, released June 18th, 2021)

Buy the CD from Amazon: 50 Years of Genuine Houserockin’ Music

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Bruce Iglauer - Bitten by the Blues book review
Alligator Records 45th Anniversary Collection CD review

Book Review: Brucer Iglauer & Patrick A. Roberts' Bitten By The Blues (2018)

Whether label founder Bruce Iglauer would admit it or not, Alligator Records is an American treasure. From the label’s initial 1971 release – the white-hot self-titled album by Chicago blues trio Hound Dog Taylor and the HouseRockers – and throughout the ensuing decades, Alligator would become the foremost champion of that most American of music genres, the blues.

With a deep catalog of over 350 albums released over the span of almost 50 years, Iglauer and Alligator Records has documented and preserved music by both blues legends and lesser-knowns alike, sometimes dabbling in Americana, R&B, blues-rock, and even reggae music (!) without moving far from the label’s core mission.

Alligator’s legacy is built on the blues, however, with albums from the aforementioned Hound Dog Taylor – whose raucous sound would become the template for the label’s future releases (the label’s slogan is “Genuine HouseRockin’ Music”) – and bona fide greats like Koko Taylor, Buddy Guy, James Cotton, and Charlie Musselwhite building a foundation for the business. There are also artists like Son Seals, Lonnie Brooks, Albert Collins, Lil’ Ed & the Blues Imperials, and Saffire – The Uppity Blues Women, among several others, whose careers were nurtured by the label and with whom the artists’ fortunes have long been tied.   

Bruce Iglauer’s Bitten By The Blues

I first met Alligator’s Bruce Iglauer at a NAIRD music trade group convention in Nashville back in the 1990s and would get to know him a little better during my tenure as the About.com “Blues Expert” circa 2008-2014. I’ve found him to be a smart, generous, supportive individual who you’d never guess ran a successful record label, a dolphin swimming among sharks as it were. As a couple of interviews we’ve done over the years has shown, Bruce is also a great storyteller, so it’s only natural that nearly a half-century after launching the label that would become his life’s work that Iglauer would get around to putting some of those stories down in print. Working with noted writer and Northern Illinois University associate professor Patrick A. Roberts, Iglauer has produced Bitten By The Blues: The Alligator Records Story, a book that is part autobiography and part label history, the man and his work forever joined at the hip.

Bitten By The Blues tells the tale of blues music in the latter part of the 20th century and the early 2000s, with art and commerce intersecting in often interesting ways. Iglauer has been intimately involved in the blues music scene since his late 1960s college days, and has been deeply immersed in the business of music nearly as long. Bitten By The Blues digs deep into the hidden mechanisms of the music biz, offering up a fascinating portrait of the ups and downs of running what, at this point, is one of American’s longest-running independent record labels. Unlike men in similar positions in the industry, Iglauer isn’t afraid to tell the whole story, warts and all, and the book offers reminders of bad business decisions, or situations where the blues-lovin’ Bruce went into a bad deal following his heart rather than his head. 

Iglauer’s triumphs far outweigh his failures, however, and his successes have led to some mighty fine music. Bitten By The Blues is chockful of inside stories about working with Alligator artists like Koko Taylor, Lil’ Ed & the Blues Imperials, Johnny Winter, Roy Buchanan, and Albert Collins as well as Bruce’s friendships with legends like Junior Wells and Luther Allison. Sometimes Alligator’s triumphs aren’t readily apparent, or they’re the result of a stroke of luck, like the recording of New Orleans music legend Professor Longhair’s final album, Crawfish Fiesta. Iglauer writes of loss – the impact of the death of Alligator’s raison d'être, Hound Dog Taylor is notably significant, as was the loss of Michael “Iron Man” Burke – as well as the challenges and obstacles of running an old-school record label in the era of streaming and diminishing sales of physical media like vinyl and CDs.

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

Iglauer imbues Bitten By The Blues with the same wit, humor, and charm that he evinces in person, and his larger-than-life personality shines through every page. Iglauer admits that while he’s always envisioned Alligator Records as a big family, not every artist or employee has always been happy. Although he’s known as a straight-shooter who does right by his artists, a few have complained of royalties they thought they deserved or of slights by the label and, to his credit, Bruce addresses these controversies in the book. It’s telling, though, that not only has Alligator had several artists who enjoyed lengthy careers with the label, they’ve also had more than a handful of talents who have left the Chicago institution’s ranks only to return and record some of the best music of their lives.

Most importantly, perhaps, Bitten By The Blues reveals some of Bruce’s vision for the future of the label, a future that’s not carved in stone by any means, but is strengthened by the label’s discovery and development of young talents like Shemekia Copeland and Selwyn Birchwood as well as the addition of road-tested blues veterans like Tommy Castro, Nick Moss, and Tinsley Ellis to the label’s ever-evolving roster. Bitten By The Blues is an insightful and entertaining read for any blues music fanatic or anybody interested in the business of music. The only (admittedly minor) quibble I have with the book is that I’d loved to have seen more photos, but extra credit to Bruce for including a complete Alligator Records discography that we rabid collectors can use as a convenient shopping list. Grade: A+ (University of Chicago Press, published October 19, 2018)

Buy the book from Amazon.com: Brucer Iglauer & Patrick A. Roberts’ Bitten By The Blues

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Alligator Records 45th Anniversary Collection CD review

CD Review: Alligator Records 45th Anniversary Collection (2016)

When blues fan Bruce Iglauer formed Alligator Records in 1971 to release an album by Chicago blues stalwart Hound Dog Taylor, little did he know the journey he had begun. Forty-five years and hundreds of album releases later, Alligator Records is the second longest-running independent blues label in America (lagging behind his mentor Bob Koester’s Delmark Records imprint). It could be said (and I’d argue this ‘til I’m ‘blue’ in the face…) that Alligator has done more to define and shape blues music than any other institution, and the label’s back catalog features classic albums by legends like Son Seals, Koko Taylor, Lonnie Brooks, Otis Rush, Johnny Copeland, and too many more to mention.

This year, Alligator celebrates its 45th anniversary and, as is Iglauer’s tradition, the label has released a two-disc, budget-priced compilation set that showcases the label’s wealth of talent. The Alligator Records 45th Anniversary Collection provides listeners with a taste of the diverse styles of blues that has been released by the label through the years, powerful music that ranges from the harp-driven blues of James Cotton, Carey Bell, and Charlie Musselwhite to powerhouse female vocalists like Koko Taylor and Shemekia Copeland to skilled six-string maestros like Anders Osborne, Luther Allison, and Smokin’ Joe Kubek.

Alligator Records: 45th Anniversary Collection

Disc one of the Alligator Records 45th Anniversary Collection opens with the ever-raucous Lil’ Ed & the Blues Imperials, one of Iglauer’s favorite gang of houserockers. The band kicks out the jams with “Hold That Train,” from their 2008 album Full Tilt. Befitting one of the hardest-working bands in the blues, Lil’s Ed’s guitar licks shimmy and shake while the talented band lays down a locomotive rhythm that sends the performance into the stratosphere. The mood changes considerably with Son Seals’ “Cotton Picking Blues,” a slow-burning blues number from his 1973 debut album for the label. A perfect showcase for Seals’ unique and powerful fretwork, “Cotton Picking Blues” is one of those tunes that simply defines the blues genre.

Shemekia Copeland is one of the best blues singers on the planet today, and if you don’t believe me, just listen to her reading of her legendary father Johnny Copeland’s “Devil’s Hand.” Her emotional vocals soar above the band’s sparse instrumentation, wrapping around the lyrics like an iron fist in a velvet glove. The late, great Koko Taylor showcases her own not insignificant vocal abilities with the powerful “Voodoo Woman.” Taken from Taylor’s 1975 album I Got What It Takes, the performance pairs Koko’s hurricane-strength vocals with Mighty Joe Young’s wiry, provocative guitar licks to great effect. Selwyn Birchwood is one of Alligator’s recent finds, a talented young songwriter and fretburner whose “Don’t Call No Ambulance” is a fine boogie-rocker that displays his fiery guitar style and soulful vocals.

The father and son team of Carey and Lurrie Bell offers up two talented generations of bluesmen, Carey’s smoky vocals and subtle, classical blues harp providing a fine counterpoint to the teenaged Lurrie’s elegant finger-picking on “The Road Is So Long,” from the pair’s 2004 album Second Nature. Original Alligator houserocker Hound Dog Taylor lays down an unabashed boogie with his swinging, infectious “Take Five,” from his 1974 album Natural Boogie. Lest one think that these are the only good tunes on disc one, there are also solid, rockin’ performances by artists as diverse as Elvin Bishop, Toronzo Cannon, Tommy Castro, Charlie Musselwhite, Joe Louis Walker, Anders Osborne, and Mavis Staples, among others, to consider.

James Cotton, Luther Allison & Michael “Iron Man” Burks

Disc two opens, appropriately, with the legendary James Cotton’s “Cotton Mouth Man,” from his 2013 album of the same name. Cotton lost his voice due to cancer some time ago, but the man still blows a mean harp, and it rages up and down, over and under this performance while Darrell Nulisch delivers the vocals and Cotton’s buddy Joe Bonamassa tears up the strings, his galloping fretwork a perfect match to Cotton’s rampaging harp. Albert Collins, a/k/a the “Ice Man,” was a cool customer, indeed, and as shown by his scorching performance of “If Trouble Was Money,” the man knew his blues. Collins’ vocals evinced more than a little of his native Texas patois, but it was his guitar that did most of the talking on this song from the guitarist’s 1983 Live In Japan album.

Talented singer, songwriter, and guitarist Jarekus Singleton is another major find for Alligator, the young artist turning full-time to music after a career-ending injury derailed his dreams of pro basketball. Singleton’s label debut, Refuse To Lose, is the source of “I Refuse To Lose,” an inspirational, high-flying blues number with hip-hop overtones and biographical lyrics. The late Michael “Iron Man” Burks was well on his way to blues superstardom when fate intervened; his sizzling “Empty Promises,” from the 2008 album Iron Man, is a solid example of Burks’ talents. Burks’ soulful vocals infuse the lyrics with heavy gravitas while his devastating guitar playing provides an emotional catharsis. Curtis Salgado’s personal story could have been similarly tragic – the man has beat cancer twice – and he lays it out for the listener in the biographical “Walk A Mile In My Blues.” Above a nuanced, bluesy soundtrack with jazzy flourishes, Salgado sings his tale of woe with authority and heartbreak.

Legendary blues-rock guitarist Johnny Winter recorded three solid albums for Alligator back in the 1980s, and his performance on “Shake Your Moneymaker,” from 1986’s classic Third Degree, captures the Texas bluesman rockin’ the rafters with a wired take on the R&B standard that offers up plenty of flamethrower guitar and growling vocals. A.C. Reed was a Chicago blues favorite, contributing his red-hot sax to a number of artists’ albums. Here he steps out with “She’s Fine,” from his 1987 album I’m In The Wrong Business! A duet with Bonnie Raitt, her moaning slide guitar is a perfect accompaniment to Reed’s subtle tones. One of the giants of blues guitar, Luther Allison is well represented by his Alligator recordings. Taken from 1999’s Live In Chicago, “Will It Ever Change?” offers five minutes of Allison’s scorching, imaginative guitar and warm vocals. Want more? Disc two also includes songs by Roomful of Blues, Guitar Shorty, Billy Boy Arnold, Ann Rabson, and the Holmes Brothers, among others.

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

What’s not to like? The Alligator Records 45th Anniversary Collection offers up two discs of guaranteed “genuine houserockin’ music” taken from across the entire four-and-a-half decades of the label’s existence – 37 fantastic performances in all from some of the best and brightest talents the blues has had to offer in both the 20th and 21st century.

Bruce Iglauer and his merry crew show no signs of slowing down, so I thoroughly expect to revisit the Alligator catalog again in five years for the label’s big 5-0 anniversary. In the meantime, the Alligator Records 45th Anniversary Collection provides long-time fans with a reminder of the quality of music the label has to offer and serves as a great introduction to Alligator’s rich catalog of blues for the newcomer. Grade: A+ (Alligator Records, released June 10, 2016)

Buy the CD from Amazon.com: Alligator Records 45th Anniversary Collection

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BONUS REVIEW:

Pride and Joy: The Story of Alligator Records DVD

Filmmaker Robert Mugge, director of Deep Blues and Big Shoes, helped the venerable Alligator Records celebrate its 20th anniversary with Pride and Joy, part documentary and part concert film. Reissued for the first time on DVD, the film offers interviews with Alligator main man Bruce Iglauer, his mentor Bob Koester, producer Dick Shurman, and several of the label’s artists as well as behind-the-scenes footage of the label’s operation.

It’s the music that speaks the loudest, though – superb performances from Alligator’s anniversary tour feature Lil’ Ed & the Blues Imperials, Elvin Bishop, Katie Webster, Lonnie Brooks (with son Ronnie), and Koko Taylor. A raucous, show-closing, all-star jam on “Sweet Home Chicago” reminds one of just how good the blues can be. (MVD Visual, released April 22, 2016)

Buy the DVD from Amazon.com: Pride and Joy

Alligator Records Celebrates 45th Anniversary

It’s a rough world out there for an independent record company, but the esteemed blues label Alligator Records has beat the odds and is celebrating its 45th anniversary this year. Apart from the great music that Alligator has scheduled for 2016 release, the label is sharing its good fortune with its fans with the June 10th, 2016 release of the Alligator Records 45th Anniversary Collection. A budget-priced two-disc set offering over 148 rockin’ minutes of music from artists across the label’s storied history, the Alligator Records 45th Anniversary Collection features career-defining performances by artists both old and new, including Selwyn Birchwood, Shemekia Copeland, Curtis Salgado, Delbert McClinton, Anders Osborne, Joe Louis Walker, and many others.

Alligator Records was formed by Bruce Iglauer in 1971, a young blues fan working in the mailroom of the owner Bob Koester’s legendary Jazz Record Mart (also home to Delmark Records). Iglauer wanted Koester and Delmark to release an album by his favorite bluesman, Hound Dog Taylor, and when his boss wasn’t interested, Iglauer used a small inheritance to fund Alligator’s first album release, Taylor’s self-titled Hound Dog Taylor & the HouseRockers.

In those early years, Iglauer ran the label out of his small Chicago apartment, and each LP he released had to finance the next album, leading to a sporadic release schedule. Alligator’s early album releases, though, by legends like Big Walter Horton, Son Seals, and Fenton Robinson, helped establish blues music in the 1970s. Iglauer signed the great Koko Taylor in 1975, and soon attracted artists like Albert Collins, Roy Buchanan, and Johnny Winter.

Four-and-a-half decades later, Alligator Records is the largest independent blues label in the world, and it has been honored with 41 Grammy™ nominations, and three awards for its albums. The label and artists like James Cotton, Koko Taylor, Luther Allison, Saffire – The Uppity Blues Women, and Michael “Iron Man” Burks, among others, have been honored with over 100 Blues Music Awards and over 70 Living Blues magazine awards.

While Iglauer and his dedicated staff of 15 employees (many of which have spent over 20 years with the label) continue to live up to the label’s slogan, releasing “Genuine Houserockin’ Music,” they’re not resting on their laurels. Iglauer, in a press release for Alligator Records 45th Anniversary Collection, says “Alligator should be the label that's exposing the next generation of blues artists and bringing their music to the next generation of blues fans. I want the future of the blues and the future of Alligator Records to be one and the same. I want to keep bringing blues and roots music to new fans and getting them as excited about the music as I am.”

Pride and Joy: The Story of Alligator Records on Blu-ray

Alligator Records has arguably done more to advance the cause of the blues than any other company. Formed in 1971 by blues fan Bruce Iglauer, who was working as a shipping clerk for the legendary Delmark Records label at the time, the first album released by Alligator Records was the debut by Hound Dog Taylor and the HouseRockers. Alligator subsequently released ground-breaking and career-making albums by legends like Koko Taylor, Albert Collins, Lonnie Brooks, Son Seals, and others throughout the 1970s and ‘80s. More recently, Alligator has discovered and developed young blues talents like Selwyn Birchwood, Jarekus Singleton, and Michael “Iron Man” Burks.

Originally released in 1992, Pride and Joy: The Story of Alligator Records is part documentary and part concert film. Pride and Joy was created by respected filmmaker Robert Mugge, who collaborated with music writer Robert Palmer the year before on the influential and essential documentary Deep Blues, which introduced fans to talented artists like R.L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough. The film offers musical highlights from one of the four-hour-plus concerts along the Alligator Records 20th Anniversary Tour, including performances by Lonnie Brooks, Lil’ Ed & the Blues Imperials, Koko Taylor, Elvin Bishop, and others. The film also includes profiles of key performers and label staff members as well as a look behind the scene at Alligator’s Chicago offices.

On April 22nd, 2016 MVD Entertainment Group will release Pride and Joy: The Story of Alligator Records on Blu-ray DVD for the first time. The movie has been newly transferred to HD from the original 16mm film and stereo audio masters and carefully restored by the director Mugge. Also included on the Blu-ray are ten bonus songs taken from Alligator’s original 1992 tour and soundtrack CD, as well as Mugge’s new ‘making of’ video, Alligator Tales. Altogether, Pride and Joy provides an in-depth look at one of longest-running independent labels in America and the artists who contributed to Alligator’s success and legacy.

Buy the Blu-ray from Amazon.com: Pride and Joy: The Story of Alligator Records