Got it in the mail today....
and all I can say is: SWEEEEEET!!!!
I've only sampled 3 cd's so far, and it's already been worth the money..
After I bought, I was a little worried that I'd get a lot of overlap with the B.B.King I already have -- but it doesn't overlap much, and there's a TON more artists.
This is EXACTLY what I was hoping for!
Thank you Jokersmoker !!
edit: OK... something a little annoying about "Essential Blues" vol. 1... is that it has some "narration" after each 3rd song. Assuming the same is true with vol 2, and vol 3 -- that would be pretty annoying to put them in a CD-changer and/or listening to them in a party/social setting. It's as if there's an educated DJ talking about the songs -- but CD's (for me) are what I listen to when I want to AVOID DJ's!!
It doesn't affect me much, though, because I'll be ripping all these to mp3's, so I can weed them out. Just a heads up for someone considering buying the vol 1, 2 or 3 seperately. The other CD's don't have that narrative stuff.
My opinion still stands that this is one great collection.