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Like a siren call
to the obsessive collector the budget priced blues box sets
from European labels like JSP, Proper and Boulevard Vintage
are almost impossible to resist. For those, like myself,
who feel the obsessive compulsion to
own, say, the complete recordings of Blind Lemon Jefferson,
Blind Blake, Charlie Patton or Memphis Minnie, or
at least a huge chunk of prime Wynonie Harris, Big Joe Turner
or Lightnin' Hopkins for a small outlay, these are boon
times. Previously you could only find these type of box
sets from labels like Bear Family or Mosaic and enticing
as they were, they weren't exactly cheap. How you say can
these labels put out four and five disc box sets for a mere
$20-25 bucks? And what about the quality? The how has to
do with copyright law. It seems that in England, the copyrights
to most recordings last for 50 years after the date of the
first issue. This means that everything recorded before
1955 is up for grabs and can be packaged and sold at a low
price because this material is now essentially in the public
domain. As to the quality of the box sets don't expect lavish
affairs like the amazing Bear Family sets or Mosaic, and
certainly nothing on the order of Revenant's gorgeous Charlie
Patton box "Screaming and Hollering the Blues"
or Dust-to-Digital's daunting gospel behemoth, "Goodbye
Babylon." For the most part the budget priced boxes
come with good, sometimes excellent notes from respected
blues writers and in my experience very good sound quality
that's on par or better than what's already available. The
labels mentioned also issue all manner of roots box sets
but for this article we'll stick to the blues. The box sets
reviewed below are among my favorites and are not listed
in any particular order and is certainly not comprehensive
(I can't buy them all but I'm trying!) but should give you
some idea of what's available.
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Between 1926 and his
untimely death in 1929, Blind Lemon Jefferson
was the biggest selling blues artist of the era. He was
the first male blues star and his success opened the door
for all who followed. Paul Oliver described Lemon’s blues
as: "Starkly dramatic, stripped of all superfluities,
cruelly beautiful as the Texas landscape, Blind Lemon’s
recordings burn their way to the hearts of his hearers."
Nearly 80 years after his death listening to Lemon is like
taking a trip back to the very essence of the blues as he
sings vividly about those black snakes, floods, prisons,
easy riders, rabbit foots and so much more. The
Complete Classic Sides Remastered collects 94
tracks, almost all of Lemon's output (three alternates
were left off) in chronological order. JSP has done an exceptional
remastering job, reducing the usual deluge of clicks, pops
and surface noise associated with old Paramount 78s, uncovering
hidden nuances and bringing Lemon's brilliantly idiosyncratic
guitar playing and marvelous vocals to the fore. A marked
improvement over the Document series but perhaps not as
good as Yazoo's recent "Best Of" collection. For
less committed fans the "Best Of" is a good choice
but there's so many fine little anthologized gems on the
JSP box that more avid collectors will find this attractive
set hard to pass up.
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The mysterious Blind
Blake was one of the most supremely accomplished
guitarists of the pre-war era whose technical mastery was
perhaps only rivaled by Lonnie Johnson, although the two
played vastly different styles. Blake was a master of the
fast picking, ragtime style that flourished in the Southeast
region. Rev. Gary Davis, himself one of the region's finest
guitarists, said this about Blake: "I ain't never heard
anybody on a record yet beat Blind Blake on the guitar.
I like Blake because he plays right sporty." Indeed
"sporty", lively, buoyant are all good adjectives
for Blake's astonishing fret work but he was also an exceptionally
fine composer and his clear, laid back vocals have their
own charm. All The Published Sides finds
JSP once again working their magic on these poorly pressed
and battered records with sound markedly improved from previous
reissues although there's still a number of records that
seem immune to any attempts at remastering. This is one
of JSP's most thoroughly entertaining pre-war boxes as we
find Blake in a variety of settings working with Johnny
Dodds, fine blues ladies like Elzadie Robinson, Irene Scruggs
and Leola Wilson plus Gus Cannon, Papa Charlie Jackson and
others. Blake's genius really shines on mostly instrumental
numbers (usually with a few lively vocal interjections)
like "Dry Bone sHuffle", "Sea Board Stomp",
"Guitar Chimes" and the jaw dropping "Blind
Arthur's Breakdown." The box is rounded out with informative
notes by Drew Kent under the heading "The Vanished
Bluesman" (Blake's disappearance in 1929 is one of
the blues most enduring mysteries).
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For diversity's sake
you can't beat some of JSP's regional box sets. Despite
some flaws, Texas Blues: Early Blues Masters From
The Lone Star State is an enjoyable mini-history
of pre-war Texas blues. We get recordings from Henry Thomas,
Oscar Woods, Black Ace, Ramblin' Thomas, Little Hat Jones,
Willie Reed, Jesse Thomas, Coley Jones, Pete Harris and
Smith Casey. There's some formidable slide playing from
the Black Ace and his mentor Oscar Woods who plays with
a distinct Hawaiian influence. Highlights include the incredible
"Fence Breakin' Blues" with a band called the
Shreveport Home Wreckers and solo on the superb "Lone
Wolf Wolf Blues." Worlds away are the recordings of
songster Henry Thomas who's repertoire is clearly from an
era just before the blues became the blues. Born in 1874
Henry "Ragtime" Thomas plays ballads, dance pieces
and proto-blues. Likewise Coley Jones' music stems from
an earlier era and is quite enjoyable if not on the same
level as Thomas. We get the complete recordings of Ramblin'
Thomas who plays some delicate slide work and sings sensitively
on numbers like "Ground Hog Blues" and "No
Job Blues." Little Hat Jones was another distinctive
guitarist and moving singer who's complete recordings are
presented including the beautifully poignant "Bye Bye
Baby Blues", one of my all-time favorites. Jesse "Babyface"
Thomas was the brother of Rambling Thomas and a fine bluesman
in his own right who's four pre-war sides are included (he
made some fine recordings in the post-war era). Pete Harris
and Smith Casey are a bit odd inclusions having made field
recordings for the Library of Congress, although both are
well worth a listen. Good notes by Neil Slaven although
it's obvious the notes were written first and then the track
listing was changed, leading to a bit of confusion! All
in all good sound although the Henry Thomas sides come across
better on the Document collection. Also where's Texas Alexander?
Maybe JSP is saving him from a later collection.
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From Texas we hop over to
Memphis for the 4-CD Masters of Memphis Blues which
is a terrific sequel to their prior Memphis box, "Memphis
Jug Band With Gus Cannon's Jug Stompers." This a flawless
box that includes Gus Cannon's first recordings as Banjo
Joe plus the complete pre-war recordings of Furry Lewis,
Frank Stokes, The Beale Street Sheiks, Robert Wilkins, Little
Buddy Doyle and Allen Shaw. If you've only heard Furry's
later recordings, these early sides when he was in his prime
will be a revelation. Furry's lays down some impressive
guitar, whether on slide or fingerpicking, heartfelt vocals
and some fabulous songs including reworkings of "Billy
Lyons And Stock O' Lee" and the incredible "Kassie
Jones - Part 1 & 2." The blues of Robert Wilkins
are filled with intricate, propulsivley melodic fret work
and his rich expressive vocals. Like Furry, Wilkins tackles
a wide array of subjects like rambling on his classic two-part
"Rolling Stone", prison in "Jail House Blues"
and "Police Sergeant Blues" and those "low-down"
woman in his transcendent "That's No Way to Get Along."
By some accounts Frank Stokes was playing on the Memphis
streets at the turn of the century which is reflected in
his repertoire of blues, medicine and minstrel songs. Stokes
recorded a varied and fascinating body of work aided by
his powerhouse guitar playing and declamatory vocals. He
also recorded with second guitarist Dan Sane as The Beale
Street Sheiks. Stokes hollers the blues, playing fierce
guitar on "What's the Matter Blues", a stunning
take on "'tain't Nobody's Business if I Do" and
dredges up ancient fare like "Mr Crump Don't Like It"
and "Chicken You Can Roost Behind the Moon." Not
all that much is know about Allen Shaw who recorded five
songs, only two of which were issued. "Moanin' the
Blues" is a real standout with fine slide and a huge
voice that rivaled Stokes. Little Buddy Doyle plays some
solid rough and tumble blues but is not in the same league
as the others. What sets these apart is some terrific harp
playing that may very well be a young Walter Horton. Sound
quality is very good with excellent notes by Neil Slaven.
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Sister Rosetta Tharpe
is finally getting some long overdue recognition. in 2003
MCA issued "The Gospel Of The Blues" which amazingly
was Tharpe's first domestic release of her seminal sides
on CD. The same year M.C, records issued the very fine "Shout,
Sister, Shout!: A Tribute To Sister Rosetta." She was
also prominently featured in Martin Scorsese's TV series
"The Blues" and there is biography of her life
in the pipeline. The culmination of all this is Proper's
fantastic 4-CD The Original Soul Sister,
collecting 81 tracks (1938-1949) accompanied by a thick,
40-page book of historical photos, liner notes and exhaustive
discography information, courtesy of Joop Visser. Tharpe
tread between the secular and sacred during her career often
upsetting the faithful in the process. While the bulk of
her music is lyrically gospel it's deeply infused with a
bluesy feel and a good dose of swing. Her guitar playing
is simply outstanding, wielding her guitar like gospel version
of Memphis Minnie and she could raise the rafters with her
soaring voice. Her first session from 1938 finds her mixing
blues and gospel with tracks like "Rock Me" and
"This Train" co-mingling with secular fare like
"My Man And I" and "Trouble In Mind"
and the rousing "Shout Sister Shout" one of many
tunes backed by the Lucky Millender Orchestra. Along the
way we are treated to live wartime radio broadcasts, find
Tharpe backed by great bands like Erskine Hawkins &
His Orchestra, Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five, Sammy
Price's Trio and on the final disc she teams with the marvelous
Marie Knight. A stunning collection from start to finish
by a true American musical genius and a perfect entry point
for those unfamiliar with the music of this remarkable woman.
In addition to the wonderful music this collection succinctly
illustrates how gospel and blues are really two sides of
the same coin. As Memphis minister and NAACP leader Dr.
Benjamin Hooks once said: "The thing that saved black
folk through all these years of slavery and second class
citizenship was Saturday night and Sunday morning. It took
both people to survive." Amen.
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Broke,
Black & Blue serves up 100 songs of pre-war
blues arranged chronologically to cover the first 22 years
of recorded blues, 1924 to 1946, featuring genuine stars
and many obscure but deserving artists. While not as thematically
concise as other box sets there's some fascinating material
here for those new to early blues as well as the more seasoned
collector. The first three discs present single tracks by
artists as diverse as the Memphis Jug Band, De Ford Bailey,
Tommy Johnson, Son House, Barbecue Bob, Jazz Gillum, Skip
James, Peetie Wheatstraw, Lonnie Johnson, and Bukka White,
alongside great lesser knowns like Emery Glen, Eli Framer,
Georgia Boyd, Kid Brown and a host of others. The final
disc titled, "Jumpin' At The Club Blue Flame"
features horn driven jump and boogie as we get multiple
cuts from fine performers like Lee Brown, Jimmie Gordon
and hip, up-to-date material from one time country bluesman
Johnny Temple. The set is housed in a sturdy, full color
CD-sized slipcase box with a informative 44 page booklet
written by Joop Visser. A thoroughly entertaining collection.
Stop
by next month for part II as we take a look at the following
box sets: "Wynonie Harris: Rockin' the Blues",
"Big Joe Turner: Classic Hits 1938-52", "T-Bone
Walker: Original Source", "Lonnie Johnson: The
Original Guitar Wizard", "Down Home Blues Classics
Chicago 1946 - 1954" and "Down Home Blues Classics
Texas 1946 - 1954."
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