One of Chicago's greatest blues treasures,
Otis Rush's stinging, vibrato-laced left-handed guitar style and intense vocals make his best recorded sides seem inevitable and immediate. This 20-track set collects some of
Rush's earliest (and arguably the best) singles, originally released by
Eli Toscano's Cobra Records between 1956 and 1958 (including his classic and intense debut single, "I Can't Quit You Baby") and by Chess Records ("So Many Roads, So Many Trains" from 1960), and it makes for a nice introduction to the architect (along with
Buddy Guy,
Magic Sam, and others) of the so-called Chicago West Side guitar style.