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BLUES & GOSPEL

Various Artists Collections - Slide & Bottleneck

VARIOUS ARTISTS Rhino 71126 Blues Masters, Volume 15: Slide Guitar Classics ● CD $11.98

18 tracks, 64 min., recommended With the exception of Blind Willie Johnson's Dark Was the Night from 1927, this last volume of the Rhino blues anthology focuses on slide guitar works from the 50s through the 80s and moves from black masters to white keepers of the flame. The true pioneers, of course, are turn of the century Hawaiian musicians. That kernel of truth notwithstanding, the numbers here include Elmore James's knockout Dust My Broom, Muddy Waters's Honey Bee, Robert Nighthawk's Maxwell Street Medley, Homesick James's Homesick's Shuffle, Chuck Berry's Deep Feeling, Canned Heat's Rollin' and Tumblin', and Ry Cooder's 1987 version of All Shook Up. All in all, a fitting finale for the series featuring fine sound quality, several photos, and notes by Cub Koda of Goldmine Magazine. (DH)

VARIOUS ARTISTS Yazoo 1026 Country Blues Bottleneck Guitar Classics 1926-1937 ● CD $14.98

Focusing on Delta blues slide guitarists and guitar duos, this is a long-time favorite available at last on CD. Barbecue Bob's Atlanta Moan is not his best, but this is soon remedied with Sylvester Weaver & Walter Beasley's Bottleneck Blues, a charming frontporch duet. Ruth Willis' Man Of My Own is another slide pairing with brilliant structures by Curley Weaver and Fred McMullen. Bukka White's Panama Limited is a train novelty showcasing his hard-driving solo style to perfection, followed by Robert Johnson's timeless Milkcow Calf Blues. The Hawaiian angle is covered by Jim & Bob, whose St. Louis Blues instrumental is a virtuoso display with tango undertones! My Wash Woman's Gone is a fast-paced attention getter from Memphis Minnie & Kansas Joe, and this 14-track program ends with two quintessential slidin' blues nuggets - King Solomon Hill's high and mournful Whoopie Blues, and Ramblin' Thomas' So Lonesome. We also hear from Black Ace, Oscar Woods, Bo Weavil Jackson and more. As with other Yazoo collections (Guitar Wizards, #1016; Bottleneck Guitar Masterpieces, #1046; Hawaiian Guitar Hot Shots, #1055), this is invaluable for guitarists and string nuts, and detailed notes are a plus. (MB)
BARBECUE BOB: Atlanta Moan/ BLACK ACE: Black Ace/ KING SOLOMON HILL: Whoopie Blues/ BO WEAVIL JACKSON: You Can't Keep No Brown/ JIM & BOB, THE GENIAL HAWAIIANS: St. Louis Blues/ ROBERT JOHNSON: Milkcow's Calf Blues-tk2/ KANSAS JOE & MEMPHIS MINNIE: My Wash Womans Gone/ IRENE SCRUGGS: My Back to the Wall/ THE SHREVEPORT HOME WRECKERS: Fence Breakin' Blues/ RAMBLIN' THOMAS: So Lonesome/ WEAVER & BEASLEY: Bottleneck Blues/ BUKKA WHITE: The Panama Limited/ RUTH WILLIS: Man Of My Own/ OSCAR WOODS: Evil Hearted Woman Blues

VARIOUS ARTISTS Easydisc 9003 Slide Guitar Spotlight ● CD $7.50

VARIOUS ARTISTS Bullseye Blues 9533 Slidin'... Some Slide ● CD $14.98

VARIOUS ARTISTS Wolf 120.103 The Best Of Slide Guitar ● CD $14.98

15 tracks, 72 mins, recommended An entertaining collection of mostly electric Chicago style blues featuring slide guitar. I know that some of these tracks are drawn from other Wolf albums but I don't know if that applies to everything here. There's energetic upbeat Elmore flavored sides from Lil' Ed Williams, John Littlejohn, J.B. Hutto and Hound Dog Taylor. Eddie Taylor didn't often play slide but when he did he came up with nice Robert Nighthawk style single string slide as he does here on The Moon Is Rising. Muddy Waters is in good form on a 1973 version of Long Distance Call recorded in Europe in 1973 and Homesick James is his usual idiosyncratic self on Sad & Lonesome with Snooky Pryor on harp. Rock blues fans will enjoy the contributions from Boston based performers Maynard Sylva and Cub Koda though they aren't my cup of tea. Also featured are John Primer, Johnny B. Moore, Louis Myers & Houston Stackhouse. A few tracks were recorded live and have rough sound but on the whole the disc sounds good. Booklet notes by Brett Bonner are surprisingly free of Wolf's usual typos. (FS)

VARIOUS ARTISTS Columbia 46218 The Slide Guitar : Bottles, Knives & Steel ● CD $11.98

The sound of the slide guitar is one of the most haunting and evocative in the blues and this collection features some of the finest exponents of the style. There are two tracks by the wonderful Sylvester Weaver & Walter Beasley including their lovely slide guitar duet Bottleneck Blues. Weaver also does a solo on Guitar Rag which was later adapted by country steel guitarist Leon Mcauliffe into the most popular slide guitar tune of all time Steel Guitar Rag. There are two cuts by the magnificent gospel singer/ guitarist Blind Willie Johnson including his utterly spine chilling Dark Was The Night. There are also tracks by Barbecue Bob, Ruth Willis with Blind Willie McTell, Tampa Red & Georgia Tom, Charlie Patton, Robert Johnson, Casey Bill Weldon (a previously unissued track), Bukka White and rare slide guitar outings by Blind Boy Fuller and Leadbelly. from the post war era there is the lovely 1953 recording of gospel singer/ guitarist Sister O.M. terrell and a track from Son House's 1965 Columbia LP. Detailed and interesing notes by Richard Spottswood. (FS)
BARBECUE BOB: Untitled/ BLIND BOY FULLER: Homesick & Lonesome Blues/ SON HOUSE: Pearline/ BLIND WILLIE JOHNSON: Dark Was The Night/ God Don't Never Change/ ROBERT JOHNSON: Traveling Riverside Blues/ LEADBELLY: Packin' Trunk Blues/ CHARLEY PATTON: High Sheriff Blues/ TAMPA RED: You Can't Get That Stuff No More/ SISTER O.M. TERRELL: Swing Low, Chariot/ SYLVESTER WEAVER: Guitar Rag/ WEAVER & BEASLEY: Bottleneck Blues/ St. Louis Blues/ CASEY BILL WELDON: I Believe I'll Make A Change/ BUKKA WHITE: Bukka's Jitterbug Swing/ Special Stream Line/ RUTH WILLIS & BLIND WILLIE MCTELL: Experience Blues/ BUDDY WOODS: Don't Sell It (Don't Give It Away)/ Muscat Hill Blues

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VARIOUS ARTISTS	Rhino 71126	Blues Masters, Volume 15: Slide Guitar Classics	● CD $11.98
18 tracks, 64 min., recommended With the exception of Blind Willie Johnson's Dark Was the Night from 1927, this last volume of the Rhino blues anthology focuses on slide guitar works from the 50s through the 80s and moves from black masters to white keepers of the flame. The true pioneers, of course, are turn of the century Hawaiian musicians. That kernel of truth notwithstanding, the numbers here include Elmore James's knockout Dust My Broom, Muddy Waters's Honey Bee, Robert Nighthawk's Maxwell Street Medley, Homesick James's Homesick's Shuffle, Chuck Berry's Deep Feeling, Canned Heat's Rollin' and Tumblin', and Ry Cooder's 1987 version of All Shook Up. All in all, a fitting finale for the series featuring fine sound quality, several photos, and notes by Cub Koda of Goldmine Magazine. (DH)

VARIOUS ARTISTS	Yazoo 1026	Country Blues Bottleneck Guitar Classics 1926-1937	● CD $14.98
Focusing on Delta blues slide guitarists and guitar duos, this is a long-time favorite available at last on CD. Barbecue Bob's Atlanta Moan is not his best, but this is soon remedied with Sylvester Weaver & Walter Beasley's Bottleneck Blues, a charming frontporch duet. Ruth Willis' Man Of My Own is another slide pairing with brilliant structures by Curley Weaver and Fred McMullen. Bukka White's Panama Limited is a train novelty showcasing his hard-driving solo style to perfection, followed by Robert Johnson's timeless Milkcow Calf Blues. The Hawaiian angle is covered by Jim & Bob, whose St. Louis Blues instrumental is a virtuoso display with tango undertones! My Wash Woman's Gone is a fast-paced attention getter from Memphis Minnie & Kansas Joe, and this 14-track program ends with two quintessential slidin' blues nuggets - King Solomon Hill's high and mournful Whoopie Blues, and Ramblin' Thomas' So Lonesome. We also hear from Black Ace, Oscar Woods, Bo Weavil Jackson and more. As with other Yazoo collections (Guitar Wizards, #1016; Bottleneck Guitar Masterpieces, #1046; Hawaiian Guitar Hot Shots, #1055), this is invaluable for guitarists and string nuts, and detailed notes are a plus. (MB) BARBECUE BOB: Atlanta Moan/ BLACK ACE: Black Ace/ KING SOLOMON HILL: Whoopie Blues/ BO WEAVIL JACKSON: You Can't Keep No Brown/ JIM & BOB, THE GENIAL HAWAIIANS: St. Louis Blues/ ROBERT JOHNSON: Milkcow's Calf Blues-tk2/ KANSAS JOE & MEMPHIS MINNIE: My Wash Womans Gone/ IRENE SCRUGGS: My Back to the Wall/ THE SHREVEPORT HOME WRECKERS: Fence Breakin' Blues/ RAMBLIN' THOMAS: So Lonesome/ WEAVER & BEASLEY: Bottleneck Blues/ BUKKA WHITE: The Panama Limited/ RUTH WILLIS: Man Of My Own/ OSCAR WOODS: Evil Hearted Woman Blues

VARIOUS ARTISTS	Easydisc 9003	Slide Guitar Spotlight	● CD $7.50

VARIOUS ARTISTS	Bullseye Blues 9533	Slidin'... Some Slide	● CD $14.98

VARIOUS ARTISTS	Wolf 120.103	The Best Of Slide Guitar	● CD $14.98
15 tracks, 72 mins, recommended An entertaining collection of mostly electric Chicago style blues featuring slide guitar. I know that some of these tracks are drawn from other Wolf albums but I don't know if that applies to everything here. There's energetic upbeat Elmore flavored sides from Lil' Ed Williams, John Littlejohn, J.B. Hutto and Hound Dog Taylor. Eddie Taylor didn't often play slide but when he did he came up with nice Robert Nighthawk style single string slide as he does here on The Moon Is Rising. Muddy Waters is in good form on a 1973 version of Long Distance Call recorded in Europe in 1973 and Homesick James is his usual idiosyncratic self on Sad & Lonesome with Snooky Pryor on harp. Rock blues fans will enjoy the contributions from Boston based performers Maynard Sylva and Cub Koda though they aren't my cup of tea. Also featured are John Primer, Johnny B. Moore, Louis Myers & Houston Stackhouse. A few tracks were recorded live and have rough sound but on the whole the disc sounds good. Booklet notes by Brett Bonner are surprisingly free of Wolf's usual typos. (FS)

VARIOUS ARTISTS	Columbia 46218	The Slide Guitar : Bottles, Knives & Steel	● CD $11.98
The sound of the slide guitar is one of the most haunting and evocative in the blues and this collection features some of the finest exponents of the style. There are two tracks by the wonderful Sylvester Weaver & Walter Beasley including their lovely slide guitar duet Bottleneck Blues. Weaver also does a solo on Guitar Rag which was later adapted by country steel guitarist Leon Mcauliffe into the most popular slide guitar tune of all time Steel Guitar Rag. There are two cuts by the magnificent gospel singer/ guitarist Blind Willie Johnson including his utterly spine chilling Dark Was The Night. There are also tracks by Barbecue Bob, Ruth Willis with Blind Willie McTell, Tampa Red & Georgia Tom, Charlie Patton, Robert Johnson, Casey Bill Weldon (a previously unissued track), Bukka White and rare slide guitar outings by Blind Boy Fuller and Leadbelly. from the post war era there is the lovely 1953 recording of gospel singer/ guitarist Sister O.M. terrell and a track from Son House's 1965 Columbia LP. Detailed and interesing notes by Richard Spottswood. (FS) BARBECUE BOB: Untitled/ BLIND BOY FULLER: Homesick & Lonesome Blues/ SON HOUSE: Pearline/ BLIND WILLIE JOHNSON: Dark Was The Night/ God Don't Never Change/ ROBERT JOHNSON: Traveling Riverside Blues/ LEADBELLY: Packin' Trunk Blues/ CHARLEY PATTON: High Sheriff Blues/ TAMPA RED: You Can't Get That Stuff No More/ SISTER O.M. TERRELL: Swing Low, Chariot/ SYLVESTER WEAVER: Guitar Rag/ WEAVER & BEASLEY: Bottleneck Blues/ St. Louis Blues/ CASEY BILL WELDON: I Believe I'll Make A Change/ BUKKA WHITE: Bukka's Jitterbug Swing/ Special Stream Line/ RUTH WILLIS & BLIND WILLIE MCTELL: Experience Blues/ BUDDY WOODS: Don't Sell It (Don't Give It Away)/ Muscat Hill Blues