Joe Bonamassa

This double-disc live set well illustrates why Bonamassa is considered the best guitarist of his generation. Preferring muscle over flash, Bonamassa's leads recall live Cream records, ZZ Top's Rio Grande Mud and Robin Trower's inventiveness more than straight S.R.V. shred. Bonamassa may be a blues guitarist but these songs are steeped in the ancient moves of classic rock; the Utica-bred virtuoso doesn't just play covers, he rearranges, throwing in whole sections from songs with a scholarly approach. Pretty much every cut on here has at least one section you wanna hear.