This 24 track CD features top-drawer 1960s Chicago blues and R&B from Federal Records (the King subsidiary), with almost all the tracks new to CD. The headline artists are future soul star Syl Johnson, Lee "Shot" Williams and recent UK visitor Eddy Clearwater, all produced by the great Sonny Thompson. A major revelation is the marathon 1961 session by the unknown Willie Wright & the Sparklers, with as tough a set of "new" blues as you are likely to hear this year. In his notes, Chicagoan Bill Dahl (the co-compiler with John Broven) contributes the colourful stories behind the recordings, based on personal interviews.