Year Of The Blues Related CD's

 As I write this Martin Scorsese's seven-part film series "The Blues" is just wrapping up. The seven films offered a personal and impressionistic view of the blues according to the director of each film. If you have any interest in blues than surely you've already seen some of the films which have suffered no shortage of advance hype. The hope is that the films will spark a renewed interest in the blues and create a new generation of fans. The record companies, of course, hope to sell some product which is evident in the avalanche of CD tie-ins all stamped boldly with "Martin Scorsese Presents" just in case you're not sure what you're supposed to buy. The record companies are no fools and noted that CD sales were brisk after Ken Burns' much hyped "Jazz" series. Sony and Universal Music have combined their mighty forces to quench the thirst of those who are running out to buy blues related product with the following: "Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues" (21 song best of), 5-CD box set of music featured in the series, soundtracks for each seven of the films plus 12 individual artist collections. In this article I'll review some of these tie-ins to give you a guideline before you max out those credit cards in a spate of blues film induced mania.

 First off lets take a look at the single artist CD's which include sets by Muddy Waters, Eric Clapton, B.B. King, J.B. Lenoir, Jimi Hendrix, The Allman Brothers Band, Bessie Smith, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Son House, Keb' Mo', Taj Mahal and Robert Johnson. These are all mid-line priced, 10 to 16 trackers that, quoting from the CD's themselves, "are the definitive commercially available collections" and "featuring the most popular and influential music of each artist's career." Well that's not the case with any of these collections and there better collections available of almost every artist. If you are totally new to blues some of these make a decent enough entry point. Lets take a look.

 The best collections are by J.B. Lenoir who is probably the least known and the Son House collection. The J.B. Lenoir disc collects 15 sides from the 50's of mostly good time Chicago blues featuring Lenoir's distinctive high pitched vocals. Lenoir didn't sound quite like anyone else on the Chicago scene and this set features politically minded numbers like "Eisenhower Blues", "Korea Blues" plus humorous good timers like "Give Me One More Shot", "Don't Touch My Head" (about his new process) and his enduring "Mama, What About Your Daughter." Unfortunately none of his deeply socially conscious acoustic numbers from the 60's are included. The Son House collection can be recommended to newcomers because it includes performances from all periods of his career. Son House personified the passion of the Delta blues like no other on intensely moving songs like "Preachin' Blues, Pt. 1" (one of 3 songs from his legendary 1930 session), "Walking Blues" (one of 4 songs from two legendary sessions in 1941-42) and "Death Letter" one of 8 songs from his successful 60's comeback period.

 <--THIS ARTICLE WILL BE COMPLETED 10/6/03-->