Digitally remastered by Erick Labson (MCA Studios, North Hollywood, California). This 4 CD box set is comprised of 101 Chess tracks--including 46 rarites and 19 previously unreleased songs.

This here Chess Blues box set contains exactly 101 tracks. How appropriate! That makes this collection a sort of unofficial college course entitled Blues 101, and Professors Wolf, Waters, James, and Jacobs (Little Walter), etc., etc., will be your blues instructors. You will learn the Fundamentals of Blues Harp, with Little Walter ("Juke") and Sonny Boy Williamson II ("Don't Start Me to Talkin'") as your master teachers. Over here, we have a course entitled Mellow Blues, with Willie Dixon ("Walkin' the Blues") and Jimmy Witherspoon ("Ain't Nobody's Business") showing you how it's done. Then, we have instruction in Blues and the Female Voice, with Koko Taylor ("What Kind of Man Is That," "Wang Dang Doodle") and Etta James ("Somethings Got A Hold Of Me," "I'd Rather Go Blind") as your teachers. Finally, what great university would be complete without Master Classes and the best professors in the business Muddy Waters ("Got My Mojo Workin'," "I Can't Be Satisfied," "My Eyes (Keep Me in Trouble"), Howlin Wolf ("Killin' Floor," "Evil," "Going Down Slow"), and John Lee Hooker ("Walkin' the Boogie," "One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer") holding court for your edification. No, there is no blues university, but if there was one, the above masters would surely be the instructors and Chess Blues would certainly be the required text. As I said, it's packed with an amazing 101 songs, many of the best blues tracks ever recorded. There are a few clunkers, but very few. You will spend many enjoyable hours listening to this collection. (Trust me, it takes a few hours to listen to 101 songs once!) Get it today, and enroll in the best blues education money can buy!

Disc 1

1 Lollypop Mama / Clarence Samuels 2:49
2 Bilbo Is Dead / Andrew Tibbs 2:57
3 Johnson Machine Gun / Sunnyland Slim 2:52
4 Fly Right, Little Girl / Sunnyland Slim 2:36
5 Little Anna Mae / Muddy Waters 2:33
6 I Can't Be Satisfied / Muddy Waters 2:43
7 My Sweet Lovin' Woman / Robert Nighthawk 2:52
8 I Feel Like Going Home / Muddy Waters 3:11
9 She Ain't Nowhere / Sunnyland Slim 2:47
10 Florida Hurricane / St. Louis Jimmy 2:56
11 Memory of Sonny Boy / Forest City Joe 3:17
12 Tonky Boogie / Forrest Sykes 3:10
13 Cryin' the Blues / Laura Rucker 2:42
14 My Head Can't Rest Anymore / Baby Face Leroy 3:12
15 Big Town Playboy / Johnny Jones 2:57
16 Sweet Black Angel / Robert Nighthawk 3:04
17 Rollin' Stone / Muddy Waters 3:08
18 Luedella / Jimmy Rogers 2:53
19 Mother Earth / Memphis Slim 2:43
20 Dr. Ross' Boogie / Doctor Ross 2:38
21 Joliet Blues / Johnny Shines 2:41
22 Moanin' at Midnight / Howlin' Wolf 2:57
23 All Night Long / Muddy Waters Alternate Take 3:49
24 Mr. Commissioner / Arbee Stidham Alternate Take 3:14
25 Getting Old and Grey / Howlin' Wolf 2:37

Disc 2

1 Walkin' the Boogie / John Lee Hooker Alternate Take 2:34
2 Juke / Little Walter 2:48
3 Conjur Man / Memphis Minnie 2:59
4 Who's Gonna Be Your Sweet Man When I'm Gone / Muddy Waters 3:05
5 Broken Heart / Memphis Minnie Alternate Take 2:59
6 Truckin' Little Woman / Willie Nix 2:40
7 Funeral Hearse at My Door / Rocky Fuller 3:16
8 Hard Time Gettin' Started / Eddie Boyd 2:32
9 Don't Need No Horse / Little Walter 3:19
10 Eight Ball / Gus Jenkins 3:13
11 Fast Boogie / Little Walter 2:49
12 I'm Mad / Willie Mabon 2:39
13 Ice Cream Man / John Brim 2:48
14 Whose Muddy Shoes / Elmore James 3:19
15 Got to Have It / Willie Mabon 3:07
16 I Declare That Ain't Right / Henry Gray 3:07
17 Remember / Alberta Adams 2:54
18 [Untitled Instrumental] / Henry Gray 2:22
19 Blues With a Feeling / Little Walter 3:08
20 (I'm Your) Hoochie Coochie Man / Muddy Waters 2:53
21 Forty-Four / Howlin' Wolf 2:50
22 Got to Find My Baby / Little Walter Alternate Take 3:08
23 Evil / Howlin' Wolf 2:56
24 Reconsider Baby / Lowell Fulson 3:11
25 Mama Talk to Your Daughter / J.B. Lenoir 2:19

Disc 3

1 Mellow Down Easy / Little Walter 2:44
2 My Eyes (Keep Me in Trouble) / Muddy Waters 3:13
3 My Baby / Little Walter 2:43
4 You Got to Love Me / Billy Boy Arnold 2:27
5 Walking the Blues / Willie Dixon 3:05
6 Don't Start Me to Talkin' / Sonny Boy Williamson [II] 2:36
7 Smokestack Lightning / Howlin' Wolf 3:09
8 Twenty-Nine Ways to My Baby's Door / Willie Dixon 2:11
9 Right to Love You / Paul Gayton 2:39
10 Ain't Nobody's Business / Jimmy Witherspoon 2:43
11 I'm Leaving You / Otis Spann 2:42
12 Break of Day / Howlin' Wolf 2:47
13 Please Don't Go / Floyd Dixon 3:33
14 Keep It to Yourself / Sonny Boy Williamson [II] 2:51
15 Walking by Myself / Jimmy Rogers 2:49
16 Got My Mojo Working / Muddy Waters 2:53
17 Fattening Frogs for Snakes / Sonny Boy Williamson [II] Alternate Take 2:42
18 Slow Leake / Lafayette Leake 3:04
19 Sitting on Top of the World / Howlin' Wolf 2:35
20 She Don't Know / J.B. Lenoir 2:24
21 Your Funeral and My Trial / Sonny Boy Williamson [II] 2:30
22 Key to the Highway / Little Walter 2:49
23 Double Trouble / Muddy Waters Alternate Take 3:31
24 Come on Home / Eddie Boyd 2:39
25 Goat / Sonny Boy Williamson [II] Band Track 2:23
26 So Many Roads, So Many Trains / Otis Rush 3:10

Disc 4

1 First Time I Met the Blues / Buddy Guy 2:20
2 Too Poor / Detroit Junior 2:17
3 Blue Shadows / Lowell Fulson 2:27
4 The Shakedown / Lloyd Glenn 2:28
5 Sun Is Shining / Elmore James Alternate Take 2:42
6 Calling on My Darling / Albert King 3:06
7 The Red Rooster / Howlin' Wolf 2:28
8 Nine Below Zero / Sonny Boy Williamson [II] 3:29
9 Goin' Down Slow / Howlin' Wolf 4:04
10 Satisfied / Little Milton 2:18
11 Something's Got a Hold on Me / Etta James 2:49
12 Wrinkles / The Big Three Trio 2:38
13 Bring It on Home / Sonny Boy Williamson [II] 2:37
14 Good Moanin' Blues / Big Walter Horton 4:14
15 Killing Floor / Howlin' Wolf 2:51
16 What Kind of Man Is That? / Koko Taylor 3:05
17 We're Gonna Make It / Little Milton 2:41
18 Wang Dang Doodle / Koko Taylor 3:02
19 Dirty Work Goin' On / Little Joe Blue 2:47
20 One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer / John Lee Hooker 3:00
21 Jinglin' Baby / Eddie "Guitar" Burns 2:06
22 That's Why I Don't Mind / Muddy Waters 2:58
23 Keep It to Myself / Buddy Guy 2:31
24 Sitting Here Alone / Hound Dog Taylor 3:45
25 I'd Rather Go Blind / Etta James 2:34