#483: The Anthology: 1947-72 [2001]

This is really an album of two parts, as different as night and day. The first half is a collection of Waters' work between 1947-55, a collection of relatively slow and primitive guitar and bass tunes. These tracks are mostly of interest to hardcore blues fans, such as those who named their music magazine after a 1950 single by Waters. The second half of this album is propulsive, raucous blues rock, with squealing electric guitars, stomping pianos and hammering drums, which captured the imagination of everyone from Eric Clapton to Mick Jagger and the Black Keys on enormous hits like Mannish Boy and Forty Days and Forty Nights. Overall, the Anthology captures the evolution of one of the most important figures in popular music history, though for my money the first half could have easily been left off. 2.8/5.