George Thorogood and the Destroyers - 30 Years of Rock - Greatest Hits

 I think that I first heard George Thorogood in the late 70's, as I was just really discovering more about original blues music. I dug his firey guitar work and his simplistic arrangements, all based on the works of the likes of Elmore James, John Lee Hooker, Bo Diddley and more. As he got more popular, I kinda lost track of him, but I've been interested in revisiting his stuff for a while so when I found this one at the library, I grabbed it.

He starts this set with his take on Elmore's "Madison Blues", showing off his slide prowess in this upbeat boogie, and speaking of boogie (chillen), he does an excellent take on Hooker's "One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer", organizing the arrangement a bit, adding some of his own rap, some excellent riffage, and creating one of his best known performances. He turns Hank Williams' country classic "Move It On Over" into a slide guitar rocker, "Who Do You Love" - c'mon, is it possible to do a bad version of this one? - into his own "Bad To the Bone", which, while good, I don't think is as successful as some of the others due to the over-the-top boasting and I know that's typical for blues music, but something here feels a bit forced, but it's still a rocker.

"I Drink Alone" I think works a bit better, and the puns are pretty funny, "Gear Jammer" is positively frantic, appropriate for a song about being on the run from the law, he takes on "Willie and the Hand Jive", "The Sky Is Crying" (Elmore's slow blues) and Chuck Berry's "Reelin' and Rockin"", all fairly faithfully. More upbeat blues-rock in "You Talk Too Much" and "If You Don't Start Drinkin'", a bit of teenage agnst in "Get a Haircut", more Berry-ish rock'n'roll in "Rockin' My Life Away", a little different bit of r'n'r for "American Made" - not sure how to describe this one, good'n'rockin' but a little different in an odd way - and it all closes with another, not as successful, take on "Who Do You Love", this one previously unreleased - probably realized it was an experiment that didn't quite work.

Pretty solid throughout although, as usual, I dig the earliest stuff the best, but not much to complain about here from start to finish. If ya dig simple, bluesy rock'n'roll, it's a goodie.