Thirty-five years are a long time to be alive and well in the blues world and Alligator has done it with a bulletproof health. I know sometimes things have not been easy along all these years, and they have suffered difficult hard days, but here stands up this independent Chicago blues label, setting up over the rest with pride and satisfaction to have given blues lovers and fans, excellent productions and high quality prestigeous names in his catalog. This double “35 X 35” cd gathers thirty-five songs of thirty five artists and bands all them with the Alligator stamp. Selection has been carefully done, as it is always difficult to choose among 240 records with the ‘cream’ of blues musicians, prevailing quality over commercial purposes, on a recording that must be taken into account. Artists and songs included give a run through different blues styles, from Clarence ‘Gatemouth’ Brown or Albert Collins Texas sound to classic Professor Longhair, Katie Webster or actual Marcia Ball’s Louisiana grooves or Hound Dog Taylor and Son Seals Chicago rough-hawn, combined with a huge variety of soloist instruments like harps, pianos, guitars, horns…. My sincere congratulations to Bruce Iglauer and Alligator team for these thirty-five years of real good music and only wish them to follow up, at least, fifty years more.