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BLUES
& GOSPEL
Various
Artists Collections - Post War Memphis Blues
| VARIOUS ARTISTS |
Memphis Archives 7008 |
Memphis Blues Caravan, Vol 1 |
● CD $12.98 |
11 tracks, 40 mins, recommended A splendid collection of
country and juke joint blues by Memphis based blues performers - most of
whom were part of the travelling blues festival in the early 70s called
the Memphis Blues Caravan. The recordings here were made between 1972 and
1975 - some live concerts and some informal home recordings. The expected
artists like Sleepy John Estes, Bukka White and Furry Lewis are here and
are in fine form. What makes this collection so valuable is a chance to
hear some fine performers who are not as familiar including the
magnificent singer/ guitarist Sonny Boy Nelson (Eugene Powell) whose
reluctance to record is a real shame as he is an outstanding musician.
Other gems come from singer/ piano player Big Sam Clark, the obscure but
excellent Earl Bell and others. The selections were well recorded and the
enclosed booklet has informative notes by Steve LaVere and some good
photos. (FS)
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| VARIOUS ARTISTS |
Memphis Archives 7009 |
Memphis Blues Caravan, Vol 2 |
● CD $12.98 |
11 tracks, 44 mins, recommended Another fine set with
familiar figures like Skip James, Bukka White, Furry Lewis, and Johnny
Shines in top form. I particularly like Furry's evocation of his medicine
show act - if only there were a video of it! Of the lesser known
performers there are excellent performances by barrelhouse pianist and
singer Memphis Piano Red, singer/ guitarist Little Red Holmes, urban
bluesman Big Daddy Rucker (actually from San Diego but he does a B.B. King
song and the guitar player is from Memphis, so ...!) and outstanding
singer/ harmonica player Boy Blue who had first recorded for Alan Lomax in
1959. "Legendary" figures Joe Willie Wilkins and Charlie Booker
are interesting but not very exciting. Still, a most worthwhile set. (FS)
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| VARIOUS ARTISTS |
Titanic TRC 6006 |
Red Hot About The Blues - Unreleased Sun
Recordings |
● CD $18.98 |
29 unreleased Sun recordings - mostly alternate takes along
with a few never before issued songs - Billy Emerson, Houston Boines, Hot
Shot Love, Willie Nix, Doctor Ross, Sammy Lewis & Willie Johnson,
Eddie Snow, Raymond Hill, Little Milton and Roscoe Gordon.
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| VARIOUS ARTISTS |
Hi (UK) 118 |
River Town Blues |
● CD $16.98 |
Compact disc reissue of the double album Hi UKLP 427
featuring all the blues recordings cut for Memphis's Hi label and its MOC
subsidiary in the 60s and early 70s and are among the last commercial
recordings of blues made in Memphis by a relatively good sized label. Many
of the recordings were produced by the multi-talented Willie Mitchell.
There are 6 tracks by the fine soul flavored Don Hines including an
excellent version of Stormy Monday Blues and the intense Trouble
Is My Name. Big Amos Patton and Big Lucky Carter are more down home
flavored and have six tracks each. There are four tracks by the very fine
Detroit singer Joe L. Carter including his topical Please Mr Foreman
and a searing version of As the Years Go Passing By. The rest of
the set features the more blues oriented recordings of R&B/ soul
artists Don Bryant, Willie Mitchell, Gene Miller & George Jackson. 76
minutes of music on this 30 track CD. Excellent sound and informative, if
microscopic, notes by Clin Escott. (FS)
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| VARIOUS ARTISTS |
Ace CDCHD 265 |
The Original Memphis Blues Brothers |
● CD $18.98 |
26 tracks, 74 min., highly recommended. Not just a simple,
straight forward reissue of the 1989 Ace LP CHAD 265, this new improved
version omits two alternate takes, re-credits a track, includes 11 new
tracks, and uses the same Ernest C. Withers photo of Junior Parker-Elvis
Presley-Bobby Bland. For the record, the brothers are now : Johnny Ace,
Bobby Bland, Earl Forest, Rosco Gordon, B. B. King, Little Junior Parker,
and Ike Turner. The 11 new tracks include 4 alternate takes of B. B.
King's first RPM sides (3 available for the first time), 5 Rosco Gordon
tracks new to CD reissue, and Ike Turner's first (RPM) release of 1952, You're
Driving Me Insane/Trouble And Heartaches. Of the other brothers,
singer-drummer-songwriter Earl For(r)est is featured on 7 titles,
including I Cried, originally credited to Johnny Ace. The
accompaniment on all these tracks have yet to be determined, but I would
guess that when it comes to the guitar solos, even B. B. King helps out
(say on a few of the early Earl Forest Meteor sides), while on the Bobby
Bland/Junior Parker sides, we have either Matt Murphy or even Calvin
Newborn. (EL)
JOHNNY ACE: Midnight Hours Journey/ BOBBY BLAND: Crying All Night Long/
Drifting From Town To Town/ Dry Up Baby/ Good Lovin'/ Love Me Baby/ EARL
FOREST: I Can't Forgive You/ I Cried/ I Wronged A Woman/ Rumpus Romp (Instr.)/
Sad And Lonely/ She Calls Me Daddy aka Whole Heap Of Mama/ Trouble And Me/
ROSCO GORDON: Don't Have To Worry 'Bout You No More/ Run To Me Baby/ She
Rocks Me/ So Tired/ That Gal Of Mine/ B.B. KING: B.B.'s Boogie/ Mistreated
Woman/ The Other Night Blues/ Walkin' And Cryin'/ LITTLE JUNIOR PARKER:
You're My Angel/ Bad Women, Bad Whiskey/ IKE TURNER: Trouble And
Heartaches/ You're Driving Me Insane
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| VARIOUS ARTISTS |
Bear Family BCD 15801 |
The Sun Singles, Vol 1 |
● CD $89.98 |
4 discs, 104 tracks, 5 hrs., essential Once again, you can
depend on Richard Weize of Germany's Bear Family Records to do it right.
Bearing witness to that is this, the first of five boxed sets chronicling
the history of Memphis's preeminent 50's record label, the home of
rockabilly, the home of more than a few solid blues artists, and, as a
label, one arguable candidate for the birthplace of rock 'n' roll - Sam
Phillips' Sun Records. Here then, in chronological order are the first 52
single records, sides A and B, put out by that venerable and undeniably
influential label. The sound quality is superb, newly remastered from best
available sources; the accompanying 68 page booklet, filled with rare
photos, is nothing short of wonderful, and the music - in its variety, its
spontaneity, and its intensity - captures some of the very essence of what
is meant by "roots music." Disc one opens in 1952 with Sun 175,
two after-hours instrumentals by sax player Johnny London,Drivin' Slow
and Flat Tire. Subsequent numbers include Joe Hill Louis's We
All Gotta Go Sometime, Willie Nix's Baker Shop Boogie, Rufus
Thomas's Bear Cat, Jimmy De Berry's Take a Little Chance,
the Prisonaires' Just Walkin' in the Rain, and Little Junior's Blue
Flames' Fussin' and Fightin' Blues. Disc Two opens in 1953 with the
Ripley Cotton Choppers, a white string band, performing Silver Bells
and Blues Waltz. The program then features I Know by the
Prisonaires, Mystery Train by the Blue Flames, Chicago Breakdown
by Doctor Ross, Beggin' My Baby by Little Milton, No Teasing
Around by Billy 'The Kid' Emerson, the extraordinary and wonderful Troublesome
Waters by white gospel soloist Howard Seratt, and Fallen Angel
by Hardrock Gunter. Disc three begins with Raymond Hill's Bourbon
Street Jump, then offers The Great Medical Menagerist by
Harmonica Frank, Buddy Cunningham's jarring pop efforts Right or Wrong
and Why Do I Cry?, a record whose ownership is described in the
liner notes as "the cruellest part of being a completist," Elvis
Presley's first eight sides including That's All Right and Good
Rockin' Tonight, the Jones Brothers' rare gospel single, Look to
Jesus
and Every Night, and Slim Rhodes's Uncertain Love. And disc four
finishes off 1955 with Red Hot by Billy 'The Kid' Emerson, Cry Cry Cry by
Johnny Cash, Phillips's rare foray into doo-wop, Sitting by the Window by
the Five Tinos, Let the Jukebox Keep on Playing by Carl Perkins, Weeping
Blues by Rosco Gordon, The Signifying Monkey by Smokey Joe, the great
country ballad I've Been Deceived by Charlie Feathers, and Someday You
Will Pay by the Miller Sisters. Without the slightest exaggeration: Much
too good to miss!
(DH)
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| VARIOUS ARTISTS |
Varese Vintage 66254 |
Sun Records - 25 Blues Classics |
● CD $15.98 |
There's no shortage of Sun blues reissues available but if
you don't have any this would certainly be a good place to start. It
features a mix of certified classics as well as obscurities not originally
issued. It's arranged chronologically starting with Joe Hill Louis's We
All Gotta Go Sometime from 1952 and ending with Frank Frost's Jelly
Roll King issued on Phillips International in 1962. Along the way you
get Jimmy DeBerry & Walter Horton (one of the all time great harmonica
instrumentals Easy), Little Junior's Blues Flames, Pinetop Pekins,
Earl Hooker, Doctor Ross, james Cotton, Pat Hare, Billy "The
Kid" Emerson (the original recording of red Hot), Eddie Snow,
Rosco Gordon and others. Excellent sound and informative notes by Bill
Dahl but no discographical info.
JAMES COTTON: Cotton Crop Blues/ Straighten Up Baby/ JIMMY DEBERRY &
WALTER HORTON: Easy/ BILLY "THE KID" EMERSON: Red Hot/ When It
Rains It Pours/ FRANK FROST: Jelly Roll King/ ROSCO GORDON: The Chicken
(Dance With You)/ GUITAR RED: Go Ahead On/ PAT HARE: I'm Gonna Murder My
Baby/ EARL HOOKER: The Hucklebuck/ SAMMY LEWIS WITH WILLIE JOHNSON: I Feel
So Worried/ LITTLE JUNIOR'S BLUE FLAMES: Feelin' Good/ Love Me Baby/
Mystery Train/ LITTLE MILTON: Lookin' For My Baby/ Somebody Told Me/ JOE
HILL LOUIS: Hydramatic Woman/ We All Gotta Go Sometime/ WILLIE NIX: Baker
Shop Boogie/ PINETOP PERKINS: Pinetop's Boogie Woogie/ DOCTOR ROSS: Come
Back Baby/ The Boogie Disease/ EDDIE SNOW: Ain't That Right/ RUFUS THOMAS:
Bear Cat (The Answer To Hound Dog)/ Tiger Man (King Of The Jungle)
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