''Blues Anytime: An Anthology of British Blues'' is a series of

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...

s featuring tracks from various

British blues British blues is a form of music derived from American blues that originated in the late 1950s, and reached its height of mainstream popularity in the 1960s. In Britain, blues developed a distinctive and influential style dominated by electric g ...

artists. Three volumes were released by

Immediate Records Immediate Records was a British record label, started in 1965 by The Rolling Stones' manager Andrew Loog Oldham and Tony Calder, and concentrating on the London-based blues and R&B scene. History Immediate Records was started in 1965. Signe ...

in 1968, followed by ''Blues Leftovers'' in 1969. The albums feature various tracks from such artists as

John Mayall John Brumwell Mayall (29 November 1933 – 22 July 2024) was an English blues and Rock music, rock musician, songwriter and producer. In the 1960s, he formed John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, a band that has counted among its members some of ...

, Tony McPhee, Savoy Brown Blues Band, Jo Ann Kelly, Jeremy Spencer, Cyril Davies,

Stuff Smith Hezekiah Leroy Gordon Smith (August 14, 1909 – September 25, 1967), better known as Stuff Smith, was an American jazz violinist. He is well known for the song " If You're a Viper" (the original title was "You'se a Viper"). Smith was, al ...

Albert Lee Albert William Lee (born 21 December 1943) is an English guitarist known for his fingerstyle and hybrid picking technique. Lee has worked, both in the studio and on tour, with many famous musicians from a wide range of genres. He has also m ...

, Dave Kelly and

Rod Stewart Sir Roderick David Stewart (born 10 January 1945) is a British singer and songwriter. Known for his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is among the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling music artists of all time, having sold ...

and were also the first release of several exclusive tracks recorded for Immediate between 1965 and '67. These include recordings by

Jimmy Page James Patrick Page (born 9 January 1944) is an English musician and producer who achieved international success as the guitarist and founder of the Rock music, rock band Led Zeppelin. Page began his career as a studio session musician in Lo ...

with

Jeff Beck Geoffrey Arnold Beck (24 June 1944 – 10 January 2023) was an English musician. He rose to prominence as the guitarist of the rock band the Yardbirds, and afterwards founded and fronted the Jeff Beck Group and Beck, Bogert & Appice. In 1975, ...

Nicky Hopkins Nicholas Christian Hopkins (24 February 1944 – 6 September 1994) was an English pianist and organist. He performed on many popular and enduring British and American rock music recordings from the 1960s to the 1990s, including on songs recorde ...

and the All-Stars, plus seven instrumentals recorded by Page and

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English Rock music, rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s l ...

, backed by members of

The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...

(

Bill Wyman William George Wyman ( né Perks; born 24 October 1936) is an English musician who was the bass guitarist with the rock band the Rolling Stones from 1962 to 1993. Wyman was part of the band's first stable lineup and performed on their first 19 ...

, bass,

Mick Jagger Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English musician. He is known as the lead singer and one of the founder members of The Rolling Stones. Jagger has co-written most of the band's songs with lead guitarist Keith Richards; Jagge ...

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica incl ...

and Ian Stewart, keyboard) and the only recorded output by Santa Barbara Machine Head.

Reissues

When Immediate initially released the original ''Blues Anytime'' albums in the USA, the first two volumes were simply titled ''An Anthology of British Blues'', with the third volume renamed as ''The Beginning: British Blues''. The ''Blues Anytime'' tracks were released again by Immediate in 1969 as two double albums titled ''Anthology of British Blues'', albeit presented in a different running order. The first was made up of ''Vol. 1'' side A, ''Leftovers'' side A, ''Vol. 3'' side A and ''Vol. 2'' side B, with the second being ''Vol. 1'' side B, ''Leftovers'' side B, ''Vol. 2'' side A and ''Vol. 3'' side B. In 1970, after the dissolution of Immediate Records,

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic ...

reissued the original ''Blues Anytime'' albums under the name ''British Archive Series: Blues for Collectors Vol. 1–4'',. A compilation of tracks from this series was released by RCA as ''Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page: Guitar Boogie'' (1971) In 1986, Line Records in Germany released the complete four-album-series as

box set A boxed set or (its US name) box set is a set of items (for example, a compilation of books, musical recordings, films or television programs) traditionally packaged in a box, hence 'boxed', and offered for sale as a single unit. Music Artists ...

1986's ''White Boy Blues, Volumes 1 and 2'' (

Castle Communications Castle Communications, also known as Castle Music, was a British independent record label and home video distributor founded in 1983 by Terry Shand, Cliff Dane, and Jon Beecher. Its video imprint was called Castle Vision. The label's producti ...

), is largely made up of ''Blues Anytime''. In 1996,

Charly Records Charly Records is a British record label that specialises in reissued material. Among the labels whose original releases are reissued by Charly are Vee-Jay, Sun, Immediate, BYG, Tomato, and Fania. History Charly Records was founded in Fran ...

released a 3 CD box set titled ''The Immediate Blues Anthology''; the first two discs covering the tracks from ''Blues Anytime Vol. 1'', ''Vol. 2'', ''Vol. 3'' and ''Leftovers'' presented in their original running order, with the third disc made up of other assorted tracks from the Immediate archives. The original series was reissued again in 2006 by

JVC JVC (short for Japan Victor Company) is a Japanese brand owned by JVCKenwood. Founded in 1927 as the Victor Talking Machine Company of Japan and later as , the company was best known for introducing Japan's first televisions and for developin ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, released across two CDs presented in mini LP sleeve replicas with obi strips. The first, titled ''Blues Anytime I'', combined the tracks from the original ''Blues Anytime Vol.1'' and ''Vol. 2'', using the original British artwork from ''Vol. 1'' as its cover art. The second, ''Blues Anytime II'', combined the tracks from the original ''Blues Anytime Vol. 3'' and ''Blues Leftovers'', but used the original American cover art from ''Vol. 1'' on the front and the cover from ''Leftovers'' on the back. (2006 JVC release)

Track listings

''Blues Anytime Vol. 1''

''Blues Anytime Vol. 2''

''Blues Anytime Vol. 3''

''Blues Leftovers''

References

External links

*http://music.geocities.jp/d2cd03/bluesanytime.html reproduction of liner notes {{Jeff Beck Immediate Records compilation albums Regional music compilation albums Blues compilation albums 1968 compilation albums 1969 compilation albums Albums produced by Mike Vernon (record producer) Compilation album series