The Best of Little Walter

The Best of Little Walter is the first LP record by American blues performer Little Walter.[5] First released in 1958, the compilation album contains ten Little Walter songs that appeared in the Top 10 of the Billboard R&B chart from 1952 to 1955,[8] plus two B-sides. The album was first released by Checker Records as LP-1428, which was the first LP record released by Checker, and then released on Chess Records with the same catalog number.[3]

The Best of Little Walter
Greatest hits album by
Little Walter
Released1958
RecordedMay 12, 1952 – January 25, 1955 in Chicago, Illinois[1][2]
GenreChicago blues
Length35:44
LabelChecker LP 1428[3]
ProducerLeonard Chess, Phil Chess, Willie Dixon
Little Walter chronology
The Best of Little Walter
(1958)		 Hate to See You Go
(1969)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[4]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music[5]
Record Mirror[6]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[7]

The album has been reissued numerous times, although it has been largely superseded by the twenty-song collection Little Walter His Best: Chess 50th Anniversary Collection.

Artwork and packaging

The album cover features a black-and-white photo portrait shot by Grammy award winning photographer Don Bronstein of Little Walter holding/playing a Hohner 64 Chromatic harmonica and liner notes by Studs Terkel, who had written Giants of Jazz. The original LP featured a black label.

Accolades

In 1991, The Best of Little Walter was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame in the "Classics of Blues Recordings – Album" category.[3] In 2003, the album was ranked #198 in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time".[9]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Walter Jacobs (Little Walter), except where noted

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."My Babe" (Willie Dixon)2:44
2."Sad Hours"3:15
3."You're So Fine"3:07
4."Last Night"2:46
5."Blues with a Feeling" (Rabon Tarrant, re-written by Jacobs)3:10
6."Can't Hold Out Much Longer"3:03
Side two
No.TitleLength
1."Juke"2:47
2."Mean Old World" (T-Bone Walker, re-written by Jacobs)2:57
3."Off the Wall"2:52
4."You Better Watch Yourself"3:04
5."Blue Light"3:14
6."Tell Me Mamma"2:47

Personnel

The following people contributed to the Best of Little Walter:[1][2]

Singles chart

The songs "Juke" and "My Babe" peaked at #1 on Billboard magazine's R&B Singles chart. "Sad Hours", "You're So Fine", and "Blues with a Feeling" made it to #2 on the same chart. "Last Night" and "Mean Old World" peaked at #6, "Off the Wall" and "You Better Watch Yourself" reached #8, and "Tell Me Mama" made it to #10.[8]

Release history
Region Date Label Format Catalog
United States 1958 Checker/Chess Records LP 1428
United States 1967 Checker Records LP 3004
United States 1988 MCA Records/Chess Records LP CH-9192
Cassette CHC-9192
CD CHD-9192

References
  1. George R. White; Robert L. Campbell; Tom Kelly. "The Chess Label Part I (1950–1952)". Robert Campbell. Clemson, South Carolina: Clemson University. Retrieved March 9, 2011.
  2. George R. White; Robert L. Campbell; Tom Kelly. "The Chess Label Part II (1953–1955)". Robert Campbell. Clemson, South Carolina: Clemson University. Retrieved March 9, 2011.
  3. Past Hall of Fame Inductees Archived 2012-07-17 at the Wayback Machine. Blues Foundation. Go under 1991 Hall of Fame Inductees and click on The Best of Little Walter--Little Walter (Checker, 1958) to view the album review.
  4. AllMusic
  5. Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 5. MUZE. pp. 273–274.
  6. Jopling, Norman (10 October 1964). "Little Walter: The Best Of Little Watler" (PDF). Record Mirror. No. 187. p. 12. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 April 2022. Retrieved 16 August 2022.
  7. The Rolling Stone Album Guide. Random House. 1992. pp. 354–355.
  8. Whiburn, Joel (1988). Top R&B Singles 1942-1988. Record Research. p. 613. ISBN 0-89820-068-7.
  9. "#198 The Best of Little Walter". Rolling Stone. 2003. Archived from the original on June 12, 2010. Retrieved September 20, 2010.
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