Landmark
I bought the three separate Vanguard vinyl LP's years ago. Wore 'em out. They got me started on the harp and I have played ever since....or at least, tried to play. I memorized and absorbed all of this inspiring stuff, I played it so much. It has had a major influence on my entire life. What a brilliant idea by Sam Charters in the first place, and then to actually pull it off, with all these blues giants, is a simply amazing feat. Prior to that the only blues I had listened to was the Stones and Paul Butterfield, and from there I went back to the originals, like Little Walter and Muddy and Wolf and Sonny Boy.
Those last four legends are NOT on these recordings--Walter and Sonny Boy had passed by then--but just about everyone who meant anything in Chicago blues is. Muddy's former harp player James Cotton and the one and only Otis Spann, his favorite keyboard man, are both in strong form. Cotton's version of Rocket '88 is the most rocking and explosive jump blues you will ever hear, truly a gigantically important recording. His harp performances on this set are tremendously powerful and creative, showcasing his inimitable style. Junior Wells and Buddy Guy play a strong mini-set, with Junior's vocals on Vietcong Blues some of the best he's ever done.
It is simply incredible that these recordings feature three guys who, over the years became some of my all-time favorite musicians, and remain so to this day: Johnny Shines, Otis Rush, and Charlie Musselwhite. Not that race matters, but Charlie, just as in the very first Ann Arbor Blues Festival in 1969, is the only white guy on the records. Since it's Chicago blues, Johnny Shines plays electric here, and he blows the doors off with his powerful and impassioned vocals. I am convinced that Shines, unlike any musician I can name, is at least as great acoustically as he is amped up. The great Big Walter "Shakey" Horton lends superb harp to Shines', and Johnny Young's sets, and Charlie--billed then as Memphis Charlie--plays a really nice harp duet with Big Walter.
The immortal Otis Rush, again, only in my opinion, the greatest combination blues singer/guitarist ever, tosses off a sublime version of I Can't Quit You Baby, which rivals and possibly exceeds his Cobra version.
This is an absolutely essential recording for anyone interested in blues Chicago-style: amplified, electric, stunningly powerful. These blues will grab you and will not let you go.

If not the Holy Grail, then close
As a serious blues musician, I am always on the lookout for those few seminal recordings which I might have heard about, but not owned. To go over to the jazz world for a moment, I would put Chicago the Blues Today
in the realm of A Love Supreme by Coltrane or Kind of Blue by Miles et al in terms of influence. And, as a harp player, the Junior Wells and James Cotton tracks are absolutely killer!!! I can't believe how good this is-one of the crown jewels.

Great Blues Compilation
Chicago: The Blues Today! contains great and classic performances. This three-CD set features two to three different artists on each CD, such greats as Otis Rush, Otis Spann, James Cotton, JB Hutto, Johnny Young, Homesick James Williamson, and Johnny Shines.

Highlight are Rush's I Can't Quit You Baby, My Black Mare by Young, Spann's Stomp by Spann, and Somebody Been Talking by Homesick James. This is a great collection for your blues collection.

Essential Blues
In early 1966, blues history was made with the issuance of a three-volume set of new recordings produced by blues historian Samuel Charters. This series was known as Chicago/The Blues/Today! and the release sent shock waves through the world of rock and roll. Every artist on the three volumes had recorded before (some, like Otis Rush and Junior Wells, had actually seen small hits on the R&B charts), but these recordings were largely their introduction to a newer -- and predominately white -- album-oriented audience.The "today" part of the title was no bit of hyperbole, either. This series accurately portrayed a vast cross section of the Chicago blues scene as one could hear it on any given night in the mid '60s.
Rather than record full albums (which Charters had neither the budget nor legal resources to pull off), each artist simply came in for a union-approved session of four to six songs, with each volume featuring three different groupings. With these recordings, blues suddenly gained respectability as something much more vital and vibrant than just a poor cousin of jazz. A new market for this music began, one that exists today in full blossom.Their effect on musicians was enormous. It's fair to assume that most blues-influenced artists had all three volumes in their respective collections, and the songs on them ended up in the repertoires of everyone from Jimi Hendrix (Junior Wells' "Rock Me") to Led Zeppelin (a note-for-note copy of Otis
Rush's "I Can't Quit You Baby") to Steppenwolf (Junior Wells' "Messin' with the Kid") and beyond. These recordings have stayed in print and been reasonably good sellers over the 30 years since their original release, all coming out on compact disc in the mid 1980s. This new packaging puts all three volumes together, but with no bonus tracks, as no extras were recorded for these sessions.So if one already owns these sides, what's the incentive this time around? That's easy: The sound is massively improved, with the bass that was rolled off the vinyl and original CD versions now being restored. This
makes the tracks truly come alive, especially on the Otis Rush and Junior Wells sides, both fortified with some major amounts of badass bass thumping by Roger Jones and Jack Myers, respectively. One can really hear the spaciousness of the old RCA studios where this stuff was cut for the first time, and the detailing of the mix is in sharp focus throughout, although the increased bass causes some unwanted distortion on the Homesick James Williamson tracks. The other plus is the new packaging, which features a nice booklet with detailed, updated notes from Charters, a nice appreciation from Ed Ward, and absolutely eye-boggling session photos taken by Charters' wife, Ann, that alone are worth the price of the set. With the glut of blues reissues out there, it is often a coin toss as where to best spend your hard-earned money. Even if you still have the original vinyl or CDs, this is one of the times when it would be best to spend the dough and add this one to your collection, because blues records seldom come as important, innovative, or just plain pleasurable to listen to as this set. File under "essential."

Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow!!!
In the sixties, the Chicago blues scene was so vibrant, alive, and brimming with great blues that an enterprising producer could (and did) literally pull some of the finest second-line bluesmen off the street, hustle them into a studio, and turn them loose. The resulting three-disc set represents some of the finest blues ever made, yet no one on this session is named Muddy, Wolf, Johnson, or Hooker! Of course, Junior Wells (with Buddy Guy in tow) is brilliant, especially with his moving "Tribute to Sunny Boy" (Williamson, of course!) and his fabulous "Messin' With The Kid" (later covered by the Blues Brothers, among others). JB Hutto is amazing, sounding as raw and unpolished as Robert Nighthawk, yet every bit as soulful. His mighty, slide-fueled renditions of "Going Ahead" and "Too Much Alcohol" will leave you begging for more! (More blues AND more alcohol, too!) Otis Spann, Muddy Waters long-time pianist, closes out Disc One with five mellow-yet-intense pieces, including an extra-wonderful "Spann's Stomp". Disc Two kicks off right-as-rain with another former Muddy colleague, harp extraordinaire whiz James Cotton. His frenzied cover of Ike Turners "Rocket 88" is the standout of his set. Otis Rush contributes a superb version of "I Can't Quit You Baby", later borrowed by Led Zeppelin, while former Elmore James cohort Homesick James weighs in with his first-rate "Set a Date." If there is a weak point of this set, it happens during the third disc, with Johnny Young and his rather annoying use of "blues mandolin"; however, his rendition of "One More Time" is very good indeed. Finally, ex-Robert Johnson sidekick Johnny Shines closes out the set in chilling, thrilling style, with "Dynaflow Blues" and "Black Spider Blues", while Big Walter Horton and Memphis Charlie (Musslewhite) serve up a sizzling version of "Rockin' My Boogie". A great 47-page booklet accompanies this box set, and the photos of winter in Chi-town circa 1965 are haunting and evocative indeed. In short, this is a must-purchase, for this three-disc wonder, recorded it seems only just yesterday, will give you true pleasure from Chicago blues not only today but tomorrow and far into the future as well!!!