The following lists of excellent blues-rock songs are what started me down the path of compiling listings of classic rock music from the late 1960s through mid-1970s. The title of the first list was inspired by a Bonzo Dog Band song in which British frontman/songwriter/creative genius-madman Viv Stanshall ridiculed rich white bluesmen of the Eric Clapton ilk. The second came from a studio quip by Peter Green during one of the early Fleetwood Mac recording sessions. Note that these lists don't duplicate any of the classic blues-rockers that appear on the other listings previously posted.
Can Blue Men Sing the Whites?
(Mostly White Boys, Mostly Blues-Rock)
"Killing Floor" (Electric Flag) (great horns and Mike Bloomfield; LBJ intro makes it a Vietnam War protest song, methinks)
"Born in Chicago" (Paul Butterfield Blues Band with Mike Bloomfield and Elvin Bishop) (powerful Littler Walter-style harp, excellent guitars)
"Crossroads" - live version - (Cream) (finally decided to add this; great guitar, OK Clapton singing)
"Good Morning Little Schoolgirl" - live version- (Johnny Winter/Rick Derringer flame-throwing session but it has some great guitar licks)
"Red House" (Jimi Hendrix) (perfect change-of-pace; his best straight blues???)
"Statesboro Blues" (Allman Brothers) (second only to "Hoochie Coochie Man")
"It's All Right" (Canned Heat with Harvey Mandel; nobody else plays blues guitar like Harvey) (Jimmy Rogers tune but this sounds like Little Walter's version to me)
"Rattlesnake Shake" (Peter Green/Fleetwood Mac) (best blues song ever about - ahem - male self-flagellation)
"Black Magic Woman" (Peter Green/Fleetwood Mac) (the original, not the Santana note-for-note rip-off, or was that hero-worship?) (straight blues coda without the Latin rock rave-up)
"I Woke Up This Morning" (Alvin Lee/Ten Years After) (a bit - OK, more than a bit - bombastic but great, technically devastating blues guitar virtuosity that leaves Gary Moore in the dust - and I like Gary)
"Juicy John Pink" (Robin Trower/Procol Harum) (grittiest Trower ever; Gary Brooker even sounds authentically bluesy)
"Looking In" (Savoy Brown) (Kim Simmonds is masterfully jazzy here; Roger Earl and Tone Stevens are in top form)
"Outside Woman Blues" (Cream) (my other favorite straight blues by Cream; great Joe Sheppard/aka Blind Willie - or Blind Joe- Reynold tune, terrific Jack Bruce singing)
"Tighten Up Your Wig" (Steppenwolf via Junior Wells) (I love this thing, but . . . most misogynistic blues lyric ever? "Your mind is so narrow/And its no surprise/If you fell on a pin, girl/You'd be blind on both eyes") Yikes!
"Murder In The First Degree" (Crowbar) (boogie-woogie fun from Toronto)
"Hoy Hoy Hoy" (Richard Newell/aka King Biscuit Boy) (more hot Canadian boogie-woogie, with the best harp of Biscuit's career)
"Blue Monday" (Delbert McClinton) (excellent soulful take on the Dave Bartholomew/Fats Domino tune, with nice baritone sax solo)
"Kiddie Boy" (James Cotton/Todd Rundgren) (blues harp schoolin' by a master)
"Boppin' with the Blues" (Powder Blues) (more great horns - what Roomful of Blues wants to sound like when they grow up!)
"Blues Is My Business" (Groove Hogs) (I cheated with this modern one but it's a perfect book-end for Electric Flag)
Oh Yea, The Blues Has Got Me!
(Mo' White Boys, Mo' Blues-Rock)
"Oh Yea, The Blues Has Got Me!" (Peter Green studio chat snippet)
"House of the Rising Sun" (Eric Burdon/Animals)
"Seventh Son" (Climax Blues Band)
"Ice Breaker" - Instrumental - (J. Geils Band)
"First I Look at the Purse" (J. Geils Band)
"The Sky Is Falling" (James Cotton/Todd Rundgren)
"Long Distance Operator" (James Cotton/Mike Bloomfield/Todd Rundgren)
"Thank You Mister Poobah" - Instrumental - (Paul Butterfield/Mike Bloomfield/Elvin Bishop)
"Me and My Baby" (Alvin Lee/Ten Years After)
"Buzzard Luck" (Powder Blues)
"Texas Flood" (Roomful of Blues with Duke Robillard)
"The Rockchopper" - Instrumental - (Powder Blues)
"Let The Four Winds Blow" (Crowbar)
"Before You Accuse Me" (Delbert McClinton)
"Just A Little Bit" (Delbert McClinton)
"Wine" (Electric Flag)
"Miss Ann" (Johnny Winter)
"Honky Tonk" - Instrumental - (Harvey Mandel)
"Let's Work Together" (Canned Heat with Harvey Mandel)
"12:15 Slow Goonbash Blues" - Instrumental - (Shuggie Otis/Al Kooper)
"Six Days on the Road" (Taj Mahal)
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