Eric Clapton's solo career was built right down the middle of the road on crafty song selections, and this 12-song set features the most commercial of those choices, with radio-ready versions of Bob Marley's “I Shot the Sheriff” and J.J. Cale's “After Midnight” and “Cocaine,” among others, but he also wrote some solid tunes, too, that fit with his laid-back but distinctive vocal style, including “Wonderful Tonight” and “Let It Rain” (co-written with Bonnie Bramlett), and a pair of absolute gems from his Derek & the Dominos period, “Bell Bottom Blues” and the gorgeous, iconic “Layla,” which are also compiled here. The end result is a nice portrait of a rock guitarist settling into his middle years with some of the fire gone but a good deal of grace left.

Mr. Wonderful is the second studio album by British blues rock band Fleetwood Mac, released on 23 August 1968. In the US, the album was not released, though around half of the tracks appeared on English Rose. An expanded version of Mr. Wonderful was included in the box set The Complete Blue Horizon Sessions. The album was broadly similar to Fleetwood Mac's self-titled debut album, albeit with some changes to personnel and recording method. The album was recorded live in the studio with miked amplifiers and PA system, rather than plugged into the board. The vocals were distorted with a Vox amplifier and most of the album was recorded in mono. A horn section was featured throughout the album and Christine Perfect (later Christine McVie) of Chicken Shack played keyboards. Compared to the huge success of the band's first album, Fleetwood Mac, the follow-up received mixed critical reviews.

The third release by Kim Simmonds and company, but the first to feature the most memorable lineup of the group: Simmonds, "Lonesome" Dave Peverett, Tony "Tone" Stevens, Roger Earl, and charismatic singer Chris Youlden. This one serves up a nice mixture of blues covers and originals, with the first side devoted to studio cuts and the second a live club date recording. Certainly the standout track, indeed a signature song by the band, is the tour de force "Train to Nowhere," with its patient, insistent buildup and pounding train-whistle climax. Additionally, David Anstey's detailed, imaginative sleeve art further boosts this a notch above most other British blues efforts.

Remixed and expanded (with two additional tracks recorded but chopped off the vinyl version) for its debut on CD in 1999, this is a sturdy, workmanlike Rory Gallagher release. Reverting back to a trio, Gallagher toughens up his sound and blazes through some robust blues rockers like "Last of the Independents," "Shadow Play," and "Brute Force & Ignorance" (one of his best hard rock riffs) with nervy energy. Gallagher's swampy side emerges on "Cloak & Dagger," another song that explores his fascination with B-movie gumshoes, a common theme for the Irish blues-rocker.

Most famous for his vocal and guitar work in the group Ten Years After, Alvin Lee had a long solo career after the band dispersed, still working in the hard rock, rockabilly, and British blues style that TYA did until his sudden death in Spain in the spring of 2013. This set captures his last live show, a concert held in Raalte, Holland, on May 28, 2012, with a crisp rhythm section of Pete Pritchard on bass and Richard Newman on drums. The show was recorded, and although it wasn't recorded to be an official release, Lee was pleased with the performance and authorized its release, not knowing, of course, that it would be his swan song.

One of the most important bands originating from England's R&B scene during the early '60s, the Animals were second only to the Rolling Stones in influence among R&B-based bands in the first wave of the British Invasion. The Animals formed in Newcastle upon Tyne in the early 1960s. The band moved to London upon finding fame in 1964. The Animals were known for their gritty, bluesy sound and deep-voiced frontman Eric Burdon, as exemplified by their signature song and transatlantic No. 1 hit single, "House of the Rising Sun", as well as by hits such as "We Gotta Get Out of This Place", "It's My Life", "I'm Crying" and "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood". The band balanced tough, rock-edged pop singles against rhythm and blues-orientated album material and were part of the British Invasion of the US.

As far as odds and ends packages go, Original Fleetwood Mac (1971) is an undeniably strong collection culled primarily from the band's first incarnation, featuring John McVie (bass/guitar), Mick Fleetwood (drums), Peter Green (guitar/vocals), and Jeremy Spencer (guitar/piano/vocals). As evidenced by the material, this quartet are an unmistakably blues-based combo. Early on they distinguished themselves as not only interpreters of traditional fare, but skilled composers, especially Green, who penned the vast majority of these selections. While their entire output during this era can be found on the six-disc Complete Blue Horizon Sessions: 1967-1969 (1999), the best of those secondary sides are contained within this disc.

This four-disc, 68-track collection paints a broad definition of the blues, with cuts ranging from vintage country blues (Robert Johnson's “Cross Road Blues,” Son House's “Death Letter Blues”) to uptown jazz blues (Nina Simone's “Blues for My Mama,” Billie Holiday's “Billie’s Blues”), Chicago blues (a live version of “Howling Wolf” by Muddy Waters), British blues (Jeff Beck's “JB’s Blues”), and contemporary acoustic blues (“Am I Wrong” by Keb' Mo'), with plenty of stops in between, making for a random but varied playlist that circles the different approaches and musical definitions of the genre.

Of the numerous British blues-rock bands to spring up in the late '60s, the Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation was one of the better known, though solid reception on tours did not translate into heavy record sales. Musically, the group recalled John Mayall's Bluesbreakers during the 1966-1967 era that had produced that group's A Hard Road album, though with a somewhat more downbeat tone. The similarities were hardly coincidental, as the band's founder and leader, drummer Aynsley Dunbar, had been in the Bluesbreakers lineup that recorded the A Hard Road LP. Too, bassist Alex Dmochowski would go on to play with Mayall in the 1970s, and guitarist Jon Morshead was friendly with fellow axeman Peter Green (also in the Bluesbreakers' A Hard Road lineup), whom he had replaced in Shotgun Express.

Rory Gallagher ‘All Around Man – Live In London’ is a 23-track live album of unreleased material taken from a previously undocumented period of one of the greatest guitarists of all time. Released as double-CD and triple-LP sets, this exhilarating album is pulled from two nights at the Town & Country Club (now the The O2 Forum) in London in December 1990. ‘All Around Man – Live In London’ was recorded from the shows that supported Gallagher’s eleventh, and sadly, last studio album ‘Fresh Evidence’ that was released in May 1990. This album features captivating live versions of tracks from that album as well as songs from the 1987 ‘Defender’ album plus other career favourites. This new album has been mixed from the recently found multi tracks and mastered at Abbey Road Studios, and the album’s cover is a painting by Irish graffiti artist Vincent Zara who has stencilled Rory’s image across his home country.

Peter Green is one of the best guitarists of his generation and after a period in the wilderness he re-emerged in 1997 to critical acclaim with the Splinter Group. The material Peter Green recorded with the Splinter Group on five albums for Snapper Music represents a true return to form for the ex-Fleetwood Mac guitarist, including the W.C. Handy award winning album The Robert Johnson Songbook. This new vitality was confirmed on the classic limited edition double live album Soho Session (sold out week one), recorded at the world-famous Ronnie Scott's club.