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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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The smooth and ever
dapper Wynonie Harris was a larger than life figure who
shouted the blues with abandon backed by blasting horn powered
combos that propelled his good time music to the top of
the charts during the 40's and 50's. Rockin' The
Blues is a phenomenal undertaking collecting everything
(4 CD's/81 tracks) "Mr. Blues" cut between 1944
and 1950. Housed in
a handsome box complete with a 52 page illustrated booklet
this is the almost definitive look at one of the
greatest blues shouters of all time. While there are many
Wynonie Harris "hit" collections this set is particularly
valuable for collecting Wynonie's early sides which have
rarely been anthologized. "Rockin' The Blues"
follows Wynonie's trajectory from his somewhat less than
confident 1944 debut with the Lucky Millinder orchestra
right through his string of rocking R&B chart toppers
for the King label. It would have been nice to extend this
collection to one more disc to include early 50's standouts
like "Lovin' Machine," "Bloodshot Eyes,"
"Keep On Churnin" but that's a minor quibble.
Wynonie had help from a crew of blistering horn players
like Howard McGhee, Illinois Jacquet, Jack McVea and Tab
Smith, Hal Singer, Arnett Cobb and others. Harris is in
consistently high flying form on high powered numbers like
""Who Threw The Whiskey In The Well"",
(number one on the charts in 1945), "Hard Ridin' Mama",
the two part "Battle Of The Blues" with Big Joe
Turner, "I Feel That Old Age Coming On", "All
She Wants To Is Rock", "I Like My Baby's Pudding"
and of course "Good Rockin' Tonight." Harris was
equally convincing on more introspective numbers like "Here
Comes The Blues", "Rugged Road" and the moody
"Stormy Night Blues." While this set finishes
up in October of 1950 that wasn't the end of the story.
Wynonie continued to rock on right up until his death in
1969, dying in style with a smuggled bottle of Johnny Walker
Red close by his bedside.
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While there were no
shortage of blues shouters in the immediate post-war era,
Big Joe Turner is generally recognized as the greatest of
them all. Turner shouted the blues for nearly fifty years
effortlessly spanning blues, R&B and rock & roll
and enjoying great success in each era. The Classic
Hits 1938-52 is a five-disc, 123-track collection
beginning in December, 1938 when he cut two sides with his
long time partner, the great boogie pianist Pete Johnson,
and wrapping up in September 1952 with a session for Atlantic
Records. This collects just about everything he recorded
during this period for labels like National, Aladdin, Freedom,
MGM, and Imperial. Whether singing seductive ballads, slow
blues or jumping numbers, Turner could do no wrong during
this period ably assisted by great bands that included the
likes of Pete Johnson, Pee Wee Crayton, Budd Johnson, Dave
Bartholomew, Fats Domino, Joe Houston, Albert Ammons, Don
Byas, Art Tatum, and Hot Lips Page. Turner and Pete Johnson
made a formidable team on early numbers like the immortal
"Roll 'Em Pete", the poignant "Piney Brown
Blues" and the seductive "Wee Baby Blues."
There's highlights galore including his magnificent National
recordings (many again with Pete Johnson) like "I Got
My Discharge Papers", "My Gal's A Jockey",
"I'm Still In The Dark" and so many others. Sound
quality is excellent and each CD comes with a four page
booklet with informative notes by Neil Slaven. Hardcore
fans will need this box although the less committed may
opt for the 3-CD set "Big, Bad & Blue: The Big
Joe Turner Anthology" on Rhino or the fine "Have
No Fear, Big Joe Turner Is Here" on Savoy which collects
26 prime National sides from 1945-1947.
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Lonnie Johnson was
a true musical innovator who's remarkable recording career
spanned from the 1920's through the 1960's. In Johnson's
single-string guitar style lie the basic precedents of such
jazz greats as Django Reinhardt and Charlie Christian, while
being a prime influence on bluesman as diverse as Robert
Johnson, Tampa Red and B.B. King. While his guitar skills
have been justly celebrated less has been said about his
bittersweet vocals, tinged with a world weary sadness and
capable of a rare subtly and nuance. It was a perfect match
for his well crafted and imaginative songs filled with dark
imagery, longing and an unflinchingly misogynist view of
woman and love. Johnson's many talents are well illustrated
on The Original Guitar Wizard a 4-CD, 95
track collection that culls some of his best material cut
between 1928 and 1952. In addition to recordings under his
own name it includes accompaniments to Victoria Spivey,
Texas Alexander and Clara Smith, duets with Eddie Lang and
tracks as a member of Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five
and Duke Ellington's Orchestra. Johnson was amazingly prolific
and artistically consistent during this period and this
set does a nice job cherry picking some of most memorable
recordings. Johnson had it all together as evidenced on
his initial 1925 recording, the remarkable, "Mr Johnson's
Blues" playing with unfettered brilliance on early
gems like "6/88 Glide" and "Woke Up With
the Blues in My Fingers." After a five year absence
from music, Johnson returned as impressive as ever on Bluebird
waxing inspired numbers like "Jersey Belle Blues",
"Crowing Rooster Blues" and his massive hit "He's
a Jelly-Roll Baker." Particularly valuable is the inclusion
of many of his under appreciated King sides (1947-1952).
Johnson had switched to electric by this point and seamlessly
sailed into the R&B era achieving much commercial success
with more pop oriented material like his million selling
"Tomorrow Night." Included here are Johnson's
bluesier sides from this period including stellar items
like "Falling Rain Blues", "Little Rockin'
Chair", "Me and My Crazy Self" and the soaring
big band backed "Can't Sleep Any More." A 44 page
illustrated booklet is included with notes by Joop Visser
with complete discographical details.
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While several fine
compilations have already been issued containing Lowell
Fulson's earliest material from the late 40's and early
50's, this JSP 4-CD set pulls almost all of the early tracks
together for the first time. Lowell Fulson 1946
to 1953 is crammed with 113 tracks, and superb
sound, capturing Fulson in his early prime when he was cutting
for a string of West Coast outfits like Big Town, Down Beat,
Swingtime, and Trilon. Fulson is likely best known for his
mid-50's stint with Chess where he waxed "Reconsider
Baby" and "Hung Down Head", then later cut
some more updated funky R&B laced numbers for Kent like
"Tramp" and "Too Many Drivers." These
early sides, however, place him as a prime architect of
the transplanted Texas blues sound that had blossomed in
California (Fulson was actually born in Oklahoma) during
the 1940's led by T-Bone Walker and a legion of followers
like Pee Wee Crayton and countless others. What we get here
is a duel portrait of Fulson; first in a very effective
down-home style with minimal backing including simple but
compelling two-guitar duets with his brother Martin and
later with bigger, swinging jazz inflected bands in the
mold of T-Bone, Gatemouth Brown and B.B. King. Joining Fulson
are some stellar names including Lloyd Glenn and Billy Hadnott
(who also aided T-Bone Walker), as well as Eldridge McCarty's
piano, Que Martyn's tenor sax and Earl Brown's alto. The
box is chock full of great numbers like his earliest hit
"Trouble Blues" (1946), "Three O'Clock Blues"
and "Every Day I Have the Blues" both of which
pre-dated B.B.'s versions by several years. In addition
to possessing a fine voice his guitar work is often stunning
as evidenced on instrumentals like "Low Society",
"Guitar Shuffle","Juke Box Shuffle",
"Cash Box Boogie" and "Market Street Blues."
For those unfamiliar with Fulson's earliest work this incredible
collection will be a real revelation. Complete session information
and detailed liner notes are provided by Neil Slaven.
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While
our previous box sets have come from JSP and Proper there's
been a number of fine budget priced sets from the Boulevard
Vintage label. The label has made a name for itself with
their "The R & B Years" series, four CD sets
chronicling the biggest R&B hit of a certain year, so
far covering 1947 through 1954. They've also issued a couple
of excellent regional 4-CD blues boxes. Down Home
Blues Classics Texas 1946-1954 collects 100 tracks
of Texas country blues by both the well known and utterly
obscure. A good numbers of these have been out on CD before,
though some of the previous releases are out of print, and
there are some real gems don't seem to have been issued
on CD before. One full CD is devoted to Lightnin' Hopkins,
spanning 1946-1954, and includes many of his early classics
like "Katie Mae Blues", "Tim Moore's Farm",
"Jake Head Boogie" and "Sad News From Korea."
While Lightnin' is the best known artist the real meat is
the more obscure items by the amazing Stick Horse Hammond,
the brilliant singer/ guitarist Ernest Lewis, Perry Cain,
Rattlesnake Cooper, John Hogg, Wright Holmes, Soldier Boy
aka Lawyer Houston, Leroy "Country" Johnson, Willie
Lane, David "Pete" McKinley, Monster Parker and
Miss Country Slim. More familiar names include Texas Alexander
(his final sides from 1950), Mercy Dee Walton, Clarence
Garlow and Lil' Son Jackson. Sound quality is generally
very good and we get a well researched set of notes by the
unflagging Neal Slaven with some nice period photos.
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Also
from Boulevard Vintage comes Down Home Blues Classics
Chicago 1946-1945 again featuring an even 100 tracks
spread across 4 CD's from the golden age of Chicago Blues.
The emphasis here seems to be on capturing the sound of
newly transplanted southerners whose music still bore a
more southern feel. While most of this has been out on CD
before this is a very thoughtfully chosen selection featuring
some of the era's finest music. We get the complete 50's
recordings of several performers including J.B. Hutto, Johnny
Young and Homesick James. Along the way we get tremendous
performances by familiar names like John Brim, Robert Lockwood,
Johnny Shines, Junior Wells, Jimmy Reed, Tampa Red (a batch
of his great 50's sides), J.B. Lenoir and Snooky Pryor.
There's less familiar gems by artists like Lee Brown, Lazy
Bill Lucas and Little Willie Foster. A real bonus, and reason
enough to buy this set, is the inclusion of the recently
discovered first recording of Jimmy Rogers' "Round
About Boogie" from 1948 (issued under Memphis Slim's
name) plus the never before reissued recordings of powerful
vocalist Essie Sykes with Roosevelt Sykes on piano and Robert
Nighthawk on guitar. Sound is top notch and as in the above
set there's an 8 page foldout booklet with informative notes
by Paul Vernon and complete discographical details.
Stay
tuned for Part III...
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