by Various
As soul became the music of black America in the late 60s, the blues had to adapt to survive. For those who could, playing to the white rock crowd was an attractive option, but in hundreds of sweaty, run-down clubs in cities and towns across the US an older urban black audience was still there to be entertained. Blues musicians made a few concessions to the age, added funk licks and a few soul screams and created some seriously good music, which has often been ignored by blues scholars. "Shattered Dreams" is BGP's celebration of that period.
Drawn from the vaults of such influential labels as Stax, Modern and Jotis this exciting music comes from major names including Little Milton, Lowell Fulsom and Albert King, using all the nous gathered through years on the chitlin' circuit to keep themselves relevant to record buying audiences of the day. Elsewhere we have both terminally obscure and cult heroes. Finis Tasby and Smokey Wilson created music of great worth that was rarely heard at the time, never mind 40 years later.
In recent years funky blues has started to be a sought-after genre, especially with funk collectors and numbers such as Tasby's `It Took A Long Time', Slim Green's `Shake It Up' and Buddy Guy's `I'm Not The Best' would all fill a floor. The blues guys could certainly hit a groove, but if "Shattered Dreams" captures anything it is a sense of despair you can hear as Smokey Wilson sings `You Shattered My Dreams'. Despair for an age that was passing away.
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