Amos Milburn - Chicken Shack Boogie Man [Proper Pairs] (CD)

All Music Guide

Amos Milburn's powerful boogie piano and bluesy vocals helped set the stage for rock roll in the late 1940s through the early 1950s. His recordings for Aladdin Records were big influences on artists like Fats Domino and Chuck Berry, and although Milburn didn't taste much success in the rock roll era, without him the genre might well have been a good deal duller. This twodisc set has a nice selection of Milburn's rockers, including a blistering "Down the Road Apiece," "Chicken Shack Boogie," and "Sax Shack Boogie" (it's easy to hear what Chuck Berry drew from Milburn on this one). He knew his way around a ballad, too, and there are some nice ones here, including "Everything I Do Is Wrong" and "In the Middle of the Night." One of Milburn's biggest themes was drinking, and several of those songs are also here, although unfortunately not perhaps his bestknown tune in this style, the ubiquitous "One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer." Casual listeners may be better served by a singledisc compilation, while ardent fans will no doubt want the sevendisc Mosaic box, but for listeners who fall between, this British set is perfect.

- Steve Leggett, All Music Guide