Unspoiled by Progress: 20 Years of Hardcore Blues is the second compilation album by American blues rock musician Walter Trout. Released on June 23, 2009, by Provogue Records, it features previously unreleased recordings from across Trout's solo career, including live tracks and radio recordings, as well as three new studio tracks. The album reached number 5 on the US Billboard Blues Albums chart and number 10 on the UK Jazz & Blues Albums Chart.
Background
Trout released Unspoiled by Progress to mark the 20th anniversary of the start of his solo career, compiling recordings from various shows and radio sessions between 1989 and 2005.[2] In a review of the album for the website AllMusic, Michael G. Nastos reports that "This collection has Trout picking favorites from various live performances recorded over the years by the BBC and, as he puts it, were selected favoring performance over recording quality."[1] The album features the last recording with Trout's band of bassist Jimmy Trapp, who died in 2006.[1] Alongside recordings from throughout Trout's career, Unspoiled by Progress also features three new studio recordings by Trout and his band – bassist Rick Knapp, drummer Michael Leasure and keyboardist Sammy Avila – one of which ("They Call Us the Working Class") was released alongside a music video ahead of the album.[3]Unspoiled by Progress was issued by Provogue Records in Europe on June 23, 2009,[1] and in North America on July 21, 2009.[3]
Media response to Unspoiled by Progress was positive. Michael G. Nastos of AllMusic gave the album four out of five stars and wrote that "While there's nothing groundbreaking here, or out of character with Trout's reputation and estimable talent, it's a solid collection of songs featuring the worked-up guitar of the leader that should appeal to the guitar hero nation without reservation."[1] Alan Jones of Get Ready to Rock! described the album as "truly great", awarding it a full five-star rating and noting that "With all of Walter's releases you always worry that he's going to change and get all modern on our asses, but as the title says – he's unspoiled by progress, and we hope that continues for a very long time."[6] Other positive reviews came from Guitar magazine, which proclaimed that "His guitar shines through on both the studio and live recordings. The grooves are all top-notch"; and Classic Rock magazine, which stated that "20 years later and he is playing with a vigour and stamina that outstrips young pretenders less than half his age. This is a winning testament to a seasoned but still emotively charged performer".[7]
Track listing
All tracks are written by Walter Trout, except where noted
Unspoiled by Progress: 20 Years of Hardcore Blues track listing
