Motion Picture Blu-ray disc - Pride and Joy: The Story of Alligator Records

Robert Mugge's dynamic portrait of Alligator Records, the legendary Chicago blues label founded by Bruce Iglauer in 1971

In 1971, Bruce Iglauer founded Alligator Records, an independent record company which, in the decades since, has proven to be the most successful modern blues label. In early 1992, the label staged the Alligator Records 20th Anniversary Tour, starring Koko Taylor and Her Blues Machine, Elvin Bishop, Katie Webster, The Lonnie Brooks Blues Band (featuring Lonnie's son Ronnie Baker Brooks), and Lil' Ed & the Blues Imperials. Director Robert Mugge, having recently made the film DEEP BLUES (1991) about the blues traditions of Mississippi, decided to follow up with a tribute to Alligator and its roster of top contemporary blues artists from Chicago and elsewhere.

The resulting film, PRIDE AND JOY: THE STORY OF ALLIGATOR RECORDS, presents musical highlights from one of the four-plus-hour concerts that made up the tour.Songs in the film include "Pride and Joy" and "Ed's Boogie" (Lil' Ed), "Pussycat Moan" and "Lord, I Wonder" (Katie Webster), "El-Bo" and "Beer Drinking Woman" (Elvin Bishop), "I'd Rather Go Blind" (Koko Taylor), "Wife For Tonight" and "I Want All My Money Back" (Lonnie Brooks), "It's A Dirty Job" (Koko Taylor with Lonnie Brooks), and "Sweet Home Chicago" (final joint encore).

There’s also a look at Alligator's Chicago offices, and profiles of key performers and staff members. The "pride and joy" on display are not only that of fine musical artists plying their trades, but also that of a passionate, blues-loving entrepreneur succeeding in a business mostly controlled by corporate giants and littered with the wreckage of countless small, independent labels. Transferred to HD from the original 16mm film and lovingly restored.