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Docendo Discimus | Vita scholae | 09/26/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Collectors and casual blues listeners should be equally pleased by this delightful companion volume to "The American Folk Blues Festival 1962-1966".



Released to coincide with volume three in the similarly titled (and equally magfinicent) DVD series, this disc includes 16 performances recorded by German promoters Fritz Rau and Horst Lippmann who originally booked the "American Folk Blues" tours through Europe.

And the sound is very, very good, crisp and clear. Big Mama Thornton opens the festivities, doing a tough, salacious "Hound Dog" which can wipe the floor with Elvis's version any day. She is backed by an all-star combo which includes Buddy Guy, pianist Eddie Boyd, and the wonderfully muscular rhythm section of Fred Below and bassist "Lonesome" Jimmy Lee. This version is faster than Big Mama's other officially issued recording from the 60s Blues Festivals, but no less great, and it is followed by a fine rendition of Sonny Terry's and Brownie McGhee's swinging acoustic "Stranger Blues", and the spooky-voiced Nehemia "Skip" James doing his version of "Pony Blues" titled "All Night Long".



Two 1963 performances by the ageing Sonny Boy Williamson (version 2.0, Rice Miller) are among the absolute highlights: A slow, gritty performance of "Keep It To Yourself", and a weary but wonderful "Your Funeral And My Trial", both of which feature Memphis Slim on piano.

Then comes Joseph Vernon Turner, Big Joe himself, swinging his way through a delightfully funky, jazz-flavoured "Flip, Flop And Fly", and Howlin' Wolf's fine performance of the slow "I'll Be Back Someday". Wolf is backed by a superb combo, the same one with which he first toured Europe in his own: Sunnyland Slim, Willie Dixon, Hubert Sumlin, and drummer Clifton James.



Willie Dixon's "Nervous" is a bit of a novelty item, albeit a clever one, but there is nothing lightweight about Bukka White mauling his National steel guitar and growling his way through a five-minute "Got Sick And Tired", or the great Son House doing a slow, somber six-minute rendition of his razor-edged "Death Letter".

Slide slinger Hound Dog Taylor is in higher spirits for the Elmore James-derivative "Wild About You", tearing through the fiery 2 1/2-minute boogie with harpist Little Walter Jacobs in staunch support, and Walter remains onboard for a great take on Koko Taylor's "Wang Dang Doodle".



Muddy Waters does a slow, mournful "Long Distance Call", one of the "bluesiest" of all this 16 blues tunes. He is backed by teenaged harpist Paul Oscher and the core of his own band, guitarists Luther "Snake Boy" Johnson and James "Pee Wee" Madison, and bassist Lawrence "Lil' Sonny" Wimberly.

Slide guitarist Earl Hooker greets the crowd with a cheeful "Thank the Hell outta ya", before launching into a scorching "Walking The Floor Over You"/"Off The Hook" instrumental medley, and Magic Sam Maghett is captured shortly before his premature death of heart failure, doing a terrific "All Your Love" as part of a lean, mean, three-piece combo.

The final song, an improvised "Bye Bye Blues", gathers the entire 1963 cast for a "sing-along", including Memphis Slim, Muddy Waters, Sonny Boy Williamson, Otis Spann and several others. You can catch the same performance on the DVD. One of them. I think it's the first one, but I'm too lazy to check.



Anyway. This CD is attractively packaged, with good liner notes and thorough recording information, and generally excellent fidelity.

A find for diehards and casual listeners alike. Highly recommended."