Various Artists - This Is The Blues, Volume Two (2010)

Volume two of Eagle Records' four-disc This Is The Blues series is a 15-track compilation of blues and blues-rock performances featuring talent that ranges from the well-known (Rory Gallager, John Lee Hooker) to the obscure (Nine Below Zero). With a roster that is decidedly British, many of these tracks were culled from a Peter Green tribute album, which does nothing to lessen the impact of the performances. This Is The Blues, Volume Two is an entertaining and high-energy compilation, a perfect intro to the blues form for the newcomer, but certainly engaging enough for the seasoned blues fan.

This Is The Blues, Volume Two picks up pretty much where the first edition left off, putting Irish blue-rock guitar legend Rory Gallagher in the lead-off slot with a blistering cover of Peter Green's "Leaving Town Blues." Evidently culled from the 2003 compilation Man of the World: Reflections on Peter Green (as are tracks from Southside Johnny, Savoy Brown, and others), Gallagher's tribute to one of his musical idols is an inspired affair that opens with the guitarist's mournful mandolin intro before evolving into an effective country-blues dirge with red-hot guitar pounding.

Cream's Jack Bruce hooks up with former Humble Pie guitarist Clem Clempson for a swinging cover of Cyril Davies' "Send For Me." Evidently of an earlier vintage than Bruce's performance on volume one of this series, his voice is much more supple and lively here, his harmonica playing energetic; Clempson's guitarwork is playful and electrifying, Dick Heckstall-Smith's blasts of horn as cool as an arctic wind.

One of two collaborations between Asbury Park soulman "Southside" Johnny Lyons and "Lonesome" Dave Peverett, "Love That Burns" is a smoldering blues wildfire that offers up some devastating fretwork from Peverett's Foghat bandmate Rod Price and tearjerking, Little Walter-inspired harp riffs from Southside Johnny. The other Southside Johnny/Dave Peverett hook-up is a soulful R&B ballad "Baby When The Sun Goes Down," which offers an incredible vocal performance from Southside Johnny, accompanied by Price's muscular guitar and Tommy Mandel's solid keyboard work.

Blues legend John Lee Hooker takes on Jimi Hendrix's "Red House" with the great Booker T. Jones on keyboards and former Hendrix bandmate Randy California (of Spirit) on guitar. The result has to be heard to be believed, Hooker's powerful voice channeling the ghosts of the Mississippi Delta, his wiry fretwork embellishing the vocals while Booker T's gospel-tinged keys and California's nuanced rhythms provide the song's framework. Peter Green appears with a cover of Robert Johnson's "Traveling Riverside Blues," matching his voice and guitar with Nigel Watson's on a delightful acoustic-blues stomp.

Former Canned Heat guitarist Harvey Mandel provides a rockin' cover of Green's "Ramblin' Pony." With Jon Paris blazing on the harp and providing vocals, Mandel delivers a white-hot six-string performance that leaves naught but scorched earth in its wake, displaying why he is one of the blues-rock genre's most underrated performers. The other hidden diamond on This Is The Blues, Volume Two is by the unwarrantedly obscure British blues-rock outfit Nine Below Zero, whose swaggering, amplified version of Sonny Boy Williamson's classic tune provides both the band's name and statement of purpose. (Eagle Records, released June 22, 2010)

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