5 star content + 2 star sound quality = 3.5 (rounded to 4) s
Baberufus | West Jordan, UT USA | 04/13/2009
(4 out of 5 stars)
"This CD is a perfect complement to the indispensable Elmore James 1951-1955 3 disc box set, as all the songs are from his last recording session, much later in 1963. Elmore James's voice is rougher at this later stage, but bluesier--overall, better IMO. And his guitar playing is his best ever! One of the greatest things about this CD is that it features a COMPLETE version of "I Can't Hold Out." This track is included in the "The Sky Is Crying: The History of Elmore James" CD that I have already reviewed, but on that CD the end of the song fades out way too soon, during the "Talk to me, baby..." tag. That's the best part of the song! Grrrrrrr! Well, on this CD, you get a complete version--no fadeout--although this version doesn't COOK as much as the faultly faded version on the History Of CD. Still, though, good enough to make up for the fadeout.
The sound quality is not that good. Granted, sound quality standards in the industry in 1963 were probably not much better than what is presented here, but the few tracks from this session that show up on the History Of CD sound WAY better, so it follows that ALL the tracks from this 1963 session could have been similarly revamped to sound better. Alas, it wasn't done for this CD.
But overall, this is a MUST HAVE CD for all Elmore James fans or Chicago blues fans in general!"