Down And Out Blues” is one of the finest albums ever from the renowned Chicago blues label Chess Records. First issued in 1959, it is 34 minutes worth of some of the best electric blues ever recorded…Aleck ”Rice” Miller (Sonny Boy Williamson II) was the best songwriter of all the legendary Chess artists, an elegant and expressive singer (in spite of his hoarse, slightly nasal voice), and a tremendous harmonica player.
Claims that he sold his soul to the Devil in exchange for not having to breathe while he performed were once recounted with utter seriousness in the liner notes to one of his 60s LPs.”

His memorial album for Sonny Boy Williamson, issued in the year of his death, was only the second long-player ever issued on the blues legend.

The powers-that-were at Chess grouped recognized classics such as ”Bring It on Home” with a brace of previously unissued titles, including ”Too Young to Die,” ”One Way Out,” ”Peach Tree,” etc., all carefully sequenced to alternate hard, stomping numbers and slow, quieter ballad-style pieces, all of them showing the singer/harpist to fine advantage with a full electric backing. In Memoriam was later supplanted by numerous compilations of Williamson’s Chess Records library, but in its time this was a welcomed vault raid. And despite the somewhat slapped-together nature of the album, it still holds up surprisingly well, even in the wake of those bigger, more ambitious collections.