Snapper UK
2005
The Complete Chief & Fire Sessions
About This Album
Mississippi born and raised, Elmore James learned his trade in the Delta in the 1930s, emerging in the early 1950s as the godfather of modern electric guitar, and no guitarist who ever plugged an instrument into an amp is free of his influence. Not only did he create the template for electric slide players everywhere, he also reworked his amps until they delivered a raw, overdriven sound that became endemic in pop and rock music a decade later, and no punk band ever sounded more ragged or passionate than Elmore James in full stride. James recorded for some dozen labels during his short recording career (he died in 1963 of a heart attack at the age of 45), and he is one of those rare artists whose recorded output was seamless from the first to the last. His first recording, one of many versions he would do of Robert Johnson's "I Believe I'll Dust My Broom," was made for Lillian McMurray's Trumpet label in 1951, and the raw power, swooping slide runs and impassioned singing that track displayed were repeated time and time again on his subsequent releases. This wonderful three-disc set includes that first version of "Broom" along with a half-dozen other versions (and a half-dozen more under different titles) that James recorded for Trumpet, Mel London's Chief Records, and Bobby Robinson's Fire label between 1951 and 1963.
Track List

Disc 1 (try tracks 2,3,5,6,8,11,12,14,15,16,17,19,20,21 and 22)

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Disc 2 (try tracks 2,3,5,6,7,8,9,10,12,13,14,15,16,17 and 18)

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Disc 3 (try tracks 1,2,4,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,14,15,16,17 and 20)

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