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Woke up this morning... and I was back in 1925

Elias Mc Daniels | 08/12/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"As a Doctor Who fan, my greatest wish would be to travel back to pre-war America and see and hear some of the late, great blues stars of their generation. But let's face it, the Tardis is unlikely to materialise, pick me up and give me a ride there. So I'll have to settle for the next-best thing - an incredible four-CD journey that will at least let me listen to my heroes in all their glory and imagine I'm there with them as they croon, moan, hum and holler. And you won't get any closer to the real thing than with this superb £14.99 four-CD box set - arguably the most important and fascinating collection of rhythm and blues music compiled in recent years.

Attractively packed, the set features no less than 97 tracks culled from one of American music's most important eras, between 1925-1942, plus an incredibly informed 32-page booklet featuring comprehensive and musically-savvy sleeve notes. From the first, and frankly disturbing, field recording track from 1934 (My Soul Is A Witness by Austin Coleman) to the later urban sophistication of the last number (Mean Old World, by T-Bone Walker) this a collection that by turns fascinates, entertains, amuses and delights any self-respecting rhythm and blues fan with a sense of history.

The beauty of the boxset is that it resists the temptation to play safe. So many blues compilations are heavy on favourites such as John Lee Hooker, Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, BB King, and so on. Robert Johnson's in there for just one song, Preachin' Blues, but even greats like Son House just don't make it here. Instead, we are treated to some complete unknowns and peripheral players who, nevertheless, played a key role in the history of the genre.

Take Arthur `Big Boy' Crudup, for example. Who? Exactly. A man who didn't even learn to play guitar until he was 30, an artist of indifferent ability and largely forgotten by the music world. Yet Crudup penned a string of hits, including That's Alright Mama, and Mean Ol' Frisco that other artists feasted on - including a young hip-swingin' hopeful called Elvis Presley, no less. Without That's Alright, the world may have had to wait a little longer for the King's arrival. And didn't a certain Eric Clapton cover Mean Ol' Frisco a little later on? Crudup's original 1942 version of this number is featured here, and it's pretty good listening.

And how about Hambone Willie Newbern? He wrote the immortal Roll And Tumble Blues, giving us a riff that will be forever recalled and copied by scores of later artists, including Clapton, again. Good Morning Schoolgirl also became a timeless classic, and we hear the original 1937 version by John Lee `Sonny Boy' Williamson. And then there's Don't You Lie To Me, which everyone seems to think was written by a certain Chuck Berry, who made it famous, as well as The Rolling Stones and the Flaming Groovies. But it was the fabulous Tampa Red who was the original writer, and the definitive 1940 version is right here on CD 3. Tampa, gets star billing in the boxset, highlighting his perceived importance in the history of R&B, and the listener can only marvel at the control and dexterity of his single-string bottleneck riffs on numbers such as It's Tight Like That (1928).

For me, the first CD covering Country Blues And Spirituals, Jug Bands and Hokum, is a revelation. Stand-out tracks include Papa Charlie Jackson's Shake That Thing, Curley Weaver's No No Blues and Barbecue Bob's scintillating 12-string guitar on Ease It To Me Blues. The incomparably laid-back and multi-talented Blind Lemon Jefferson is also there with the classic Match Box Blues and the listener can only sit back and wonder at the fingerplay of Blind Blake on the irresistible Diddie Wah Diddie.

Disc 2 concentrates on Piano Boogie Woogie, Ragtime and Jazz - not particularly my scene, I thought. But I was surprised to find some absolute gems here, in particular Lil Johnson's hilarious Press My Button (full of wonderful double entendres), Louis Armstrong's Knockin' A Jug and Cab Calloway's melodramatic funster, Minnie The Moocher - guaranteed to lift anyone's spirits.

Next we move on to Urban Blues And Gospel on Disc Three, with Leroy Carr drawling his way through Barrelhouse Woman and Bill Bill Broonzy demonstrating why he was such a great singer on the same theme, this time with Barrelhouse When It Rains and Rockin' Chair Blues. Tampa Red pops up again with the catchy Don't You Lie To Me and the superb Big Maceo shows his piano and vocal skills to great effect on Worried Life Blues. This collection isn't just about guitars - there are some great pianists, big bands, little bands, kazoo players, jug-blowers and washboard raspers, all doing their thing in the name of entertainment. You have to hear ex-pro boxer Champion Jack Dupree's thumping piano style to believe it with Junker Blues (it's so punchy it sounds like he's playing in boxing gloves) and Sister Rosetta Tharpe (one of my favourites) wielding a mean electric Gibson guitar on This Train.

Gospel, of course, plays a big part in blues history. No streetwise busker would dream of playing all-secular songs when the audience demanded some gospel numbers and these were also perennial best-sellers on recorded music, even when times were hard. Hence the contributions of the wildly popular Ms Tharpe, Elder Otis Jones (Holy Mountain) and the spectacularly titled Somebody Stole Gabriel's Horn by the Three Keys.

Disc Four brings us to After Hours Swing, Boogie and Jive, allowing such luminaries as Count Basie and The Lionel Hampton Orchestra to take centre stage as music moved into a more sophisticated era of big band sound, even though the music remained mainly up-tempo. Albert Ammons And His Rhythm Kings showed here where music was heading with a cool rendition of Boogie Woogie Stomp, but there was still room for a more simple style on Floyd's Guitar Blues, by the astonishingly named Andy Kirk And His Clouds Of Joy. The song that deserves to knock everyone flat is the magnificent Bessie Smith's (pictured left) rendering of Backwater Blues, delivered in that powerful, sexy, laid-back voice that's instantly recognisable and backed by the superb pianist James P Johnson, whose rolling boogie woogie style is a delight but cleverly makes room for the vocals to shine through.

With so many treasures to trawl through, this massively impressive four-disc compilation deserves a place in any collection and a long, long listen. Cow Cow Davenport, Sleepy John Estes, Scrapper Blackwell, Kokomo Arnold, Speckled Red, the Harlem Hamfats, Jazz Gillum, Muggsy Spanier and Bumble Bee Slim may not be household names, and most of them still died penniless, even when they were moderately successful. Even Tampa Red, who once boasted a gold-plated National guitar and became know as "the man with the golden guitar", passed away destitute. As Lonnie Johnson says in Mr Johnson's Blues: "I want all you people to listen to my song. Remember me after all the days I'm gone". With this incomparable collection, we can at least do try to do that and applaud their priceless contributions to modern day music.

The Bluesman's Blog"

"...Blues Done Called Me...Pack My Things And Go..."

Mark Barry at Reckless Records, Lon | UK | 01/05/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Released in March 2008, this 4CD box set is the first issue from Rhythm And Blues Records - a new label out of the UK specializing in quality issues of R&B music from way back (Catalogue No: RANDB001).



It breaks down as follows...



Disc 1: "From The Delta To The City"

(Country Blues And Spirituals, Jug Bands And Hokum), 24 Tracks, 73:54 minutes

Disc 2: "The Rhythm"

(Piano Boogie-Woogie Ragtime And Jazz), 24 Tracks, 72:38 minutes

Disc 3: "Up River To Chicago"

(Urban Blues And Gospel), 25 Tracks, 72:59 minutes

Disc 4: "Jazzin' The Blues"

(After Hours Swing, Boogie And Jive), 24 Tracks, 72:49 minutes



There's an outer card wrap, which houses a 3-way fold out 4-disc clip holder. The 32-page booklet (attached to the centre inner sleeve) gives detailed track-by-track analysis of each song - when it was recorded, players if known, USA 78" catalogue numbers, chart positions etc... Between the texts are trade adverts, some artist publicity photos and small colour pictures of those beautiful Vocalion and Brunswick 78" labels...



Downsides - although the set looks nice, the discs are hard to get out of the clips and the attached booklet is difficult to read BECAUSE it's attached - the 2nd volume from 2009 in this series rectified all that - different inner holder and a pouch for a separate booklet (see separate review). If you want a full printed out version, the same detailed text is available from their website in colour.



Expertly and lovingly compiled by NICK DUCKETT and remastered by PR INTERNATIONAL, given the vintage of the recordings (1925 to 1942), the sound quality obviously varies enormously - some are awful, but others are superlative. It's amazing how good some of the Thirties Blues sounds - "Knockin' A Jug" by Louis Armstrong is stunning and the amazingly lewd "Lead Pencil Blues" by Johnnie Temple (a man not troubled by Viagra problems) sounds so good - it's eerie.



But what doesn't vary is the sheer charm of the recordings themselves - the ballsy nature of the lyrics - the poverty and despair of an entire part of society on the move (lyrics from Bessie Smith's "Backwater Blues" - Track 3 on Disc 2 - give this review it's title). It's like eavesdropping on history - and it's a feel that is both funny and heartbreaking at the same time. I also found that around the centre of Disc 2, the track choices 'so' begin to work - flowing into each other - it weaves a magical listen that had many customers coming to the counter in our shop asking, "who's this?"



Despite its packaging niggles, this box set of 97 remastered well-knowns and obscurities is both revelatory and great value for money - it's music you'll find yourself loving and wanting more of.



A rather lovely reissue really - recommended."