The blues chart for the week ending September 8, 2012 offers the debut of Show of Strength, the final album from the late, beloved blues guitarist Michael "Iron Man" Burks. I don't know if there are enough hardcore blues fans to drive Burks' swansong any higher (especially considering the chokehold that Bonnie, Bonamassa, and the Tedeschi Trucks gang has on the top three spots). Still, I hope that Burks' album holds on for a few weeks and manages to nab some new fans for this underrated bluesman.
The other big debut this week is of Taj Mahal's The Hidden Treasures of Taj Mahal 1969-1973, a very cool two-CD set that offers up a disc of previously unreleased material from the Blues Hall of Fame member's early years, the set rounded out by a second disc featuring a 1971 live show from the Royal Albert Hall in England. Not much in the way of new releases this week, but the Ike & Tina Turner live set, What You Hear Is What You Get, is pretty nifty, capturing a livewire 1971 performance. Hardcore Tommy Bolin fans may enjoy The Ultimate Teaser, a three-disc set that reprises the talented guitarist's 1975 debut album with two discs of rare unreleased tracks.
Here are this week's Billboard Top Ten blues albums, ranked by sales:
10. Joe Bonamassa - Dust Bowl (J&R Adventures)
9. Taj Mahal - The Hidden Treasures of Taj Mahal 1969-1973 (Legacy Recordings)
8. Rev. Peyton's Big Damn Band - Between The Ditches (Side One Dummy)
7. Tedeschi Trucks Band - Revelator (Sony Masterworks)
6. Hugh Laurie - Let Them Talk (Warner Brothers)
5. Gary Clark, Jr. - The Bright Lights EP (Warner Brothers)
4. Michael Burks - Show Of Strength (Alligator Records)
3. Joe Bonamassa - Driving Towards The Daylight (J&R Adventures)
2. Tedeschi Trucks Band - Everybody's Talkin' (Sony Masterworks)
1. Bonnie Raitt - Slipstream (Redwing Records)
New releases this week: Ike & Tina Turner's What You Hear Is What You Get (BGO Records U.K.), Tommy Bolin's The Ultimate Teaser (429 Records)
Photo of Ike & Tina Turner's What You Hear Is What You Get courtesy BGO Records
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