One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer: Essential Recordings

Personnel: George Thorogood (vocals, guitar); Ron Smith (guitar); Hank Carter (saxophone); Jeff Simon (drums); Uncle Meat Pennington (maracas, tambourine).
Audio Mixer: John Nagy.
Audio Remasterer: Marcello Azevedo.
Recording information: Blue Jay Recording Studio, Carlisle, MA; Dimension Sound, Boston, MA; The Mixing Lab, Newton, MA.
George Thorogood hasn't changed his sound one iota over the years, and his Destroyers (bass player Billy Blough and drummer Jeff Simon) have always given him a driving, simple backdrop for his rough-hewed vocals and spiky guitar playing. Not changing his approach (not that he should), though, means that his early records are still probably the ones to look for, and since this set takes key tracks (including his fun covers of John Lee Hooker's "One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer" and Elmore James' "The Sky Is Crying") from his first two albums, 1977's George Thorogood & the Destroyers and 1978's Move It on Over, it makes a nice little sampler of where it all started -- and then stayed. ~ Steve Leggett