VA - Let Me Tell You About The Blues : Detroit [3 CD, 2010]

 

Detroit in the 1940s and ‘50s didn’t have a thriving record industry like Chicago. Detroit artists went there because that’s where the companies were. Even musicologist Alan Lomax made just one visit for the Library of Congress in 1938, when he recorded Calvin Frazier and Sampson Pittman. Nevertheless, enterprising individuals like Jack and Devora Brown, Bernard Besman and Joe Von Battle did their best to reflect the city’s musical talent. The Browns’ Fortune label moved into blues recording after years of pop and rockabilly releases, Besman’s Sensation encompassed blues, jazz and R&B, while from his first 1948 recordings on JVB, Von Battle covered a broad blues spectrum. Musicians walked in to record in the small studio at the back of his record shop at 3530 Hastings Street. Men such as Robert Richard, Walter Mitchell, the garrulous Detroit Count (‘Hastings Street Opera Pts. 1 & 2’) and even Von Battle himself . Besman took the prize when John Lee Hooker was brought to him. Others he recorded included Sylvester Cotton, Andrew Dunham and James Taylor. He also sold Hooker masters (‘Never Satisfied’, ‘I’m In The Mood’, ‘I’m A Boogie Man’) to other companies, as well as Eddie Burns (‘Hello Miss Jessie Lee’). The Browns recorded the John Brim Combo and Big Maceo.

The JVB procession went on, with records by L.C. Green, Playboy Fuller, Johnny Howard, Washboard Willie and One String Sam. Most prized of all are songs by Baby Boy Warren (‘Hello Stranger’, ‘Sanafee’ and ‘Chicken’) with Sonny Boy Williamson (Rice Miller) at his very best. There were R&B hits, too, by saxophonists Paul Williams (‘Thirty-Five-Thirty’) and Wild Bill Moore (‘We’re Gonna Rock’), pianist T.J. Fowler (‘T.J. Boogie’) and guitarist Emmit Slay (‘Looky Ploot’). Band vocalists included Kitty Stevenson , Alberta Adams and LaVern Baker, as Bea Baker (‘I Want A Lavender Coffin’) and Little Miss Sharecropper (‘I Want To Rock’). Jackie Wilson began as Sonny Wilson with ‘The Rainy Day Blues’ and Calvin Frazier sang with T.J. Fowler’s band. John Lee Hooker had a band backing on ‘No More Doggin’’, while JVB tried their luck with The Kool Kats, Gip Roberts and Lena Hall. It’s no surprise to learn that Berry Gordy, Mary Wells and Stevie Wonder were regular visitors to Joe Von Battle’s shop.


Disc 1


01. Calvin Frazier / She's A Double Crossing Woman [00:02:53]
02. Sampson Pittman / Highway 61 Blues [00:03:35]
03. Robert Richard / Cadillac Woman [00:03:38]
04. Detroit Count / Hastings Street Opera Part 1 [00:03:03]
05. Walter Mitchell / Stop Messing Around [00:03:15]
06. Slim Pickens / Notoriety Woman [00:02:59]
07. Robert Richard / Root Hog [00:03:14]
08. Walter Mitchell / Pet Milk Blues [00:03:49]
09. Sylvester Cotton / Sak-Relation Blues [00:02:59]
10. Joe Von Battle / Lookin' For My Woman [00:03:07]
11. Detroit Count / Hastings Street Opera Part 2 [00:03:23]
12. Sylvester Cotton / Ugly Woman Blues [00:02:42]
13. John Lee Hooker / Henry's Swing Club [00:03:13]
14. James Taylor / Little Bitty Woman [00:02:46]
15. Andrew Dunham / Sweet Lucy [00:03:04]
16. Baby Boy Warren / My Special Friend Blues [00:02:43]
17. Sylvester Cotton / Stormy Weather Blues [00:02:46]
18. John Brim Combo / Strange Man [00:03:07]
19. Big Maceo / Worried Life Blues No.2 [00:02:49]
20. Andrew Dunham / Hattie May [00:03:04]
21. Big Maceo / Without You My Lide Don't Mean A Thing [00:02:55]
22. John Lee Hooker / Never Satisfied [00:03:04]
23. Eddie Kirkland / That's All Right [00:02:18]
24. John Brim Combo / Mean Man Blues [00:02:58]
25. Eddie Burns / Where Did You Stay Last Night [00:03:11]

Disc 2

01. John Lee Hooker / I'm In The Mood [00:03:10]
02. Eddie Kirkland / It's Time For Lovin' To Be Done [00:03:00]
03. Robert Henry / Old Battle Ax [00:02:27]
04. L.C. Green / 38 Pistol Blues [00:02:56]
05. John Lee Hooker / I'm A Boogie Man [00:02:20]
06. Playboy Fuller / Sugar Cane Highway [00:03:14]
07. Eddie Burns / Hello Miss Jessie Lee [00:03:10]
08. L.C. Green / Hastings Street Boogie [00:03:25]
09. Playboy Fuller / Gonna Play My Guitar [00:03:12]
10. Eddie Burns / Dealing With The Devil [00:02:58]
11. Eddie Kirkland / No Shoes [00:02:49]
12. Sam Kelly / Ramblin' Around Blues [00:02:37]
13. L.C. Green / Goin' Down To The River Blues [00:02:56]
14. Baby Boy Warren / Sanafee (Not Welcome Anymore) [00:02:51]
15. Johnny Howard / Natrual Man Blues [00:02:43]
16. John Brim / Bus Driver [00:02:55]
17. Baby Boy Warren / Hello Stranger [00:02:45]
18. Henry Smith / Good Rockin' Mama [00:02:24]
19. Johnny Howard / Dark Night Blues [00:02:31]
20. Henry Smith / Lonesome Blues [00:03:24]
21. Baby Boy Warren / Chicken [00:03:13]
22. One String Sam / I Need A $100.00 [00:03:07]
23. Washboard Willie / Washboard Blues Part 2 [00:02:53]
24. Calvin Frazier / Rock House [00:03:01]
25. One String Sam / My Baby OOO [00:03:07]

Disc 3

01. Paul Williams / Thirty-Five, Thirty [00:03:16]
02. Wild Bill Moore / We're Gonna Rock [00:02:42]
03. T. J. Fowler / T. J. Boogie [00:02:55]
04. Paul Williams / The Hucklebuck [00:03:09]
05. T.J. Fowler / Red Hot Blues [00:02:33]
06. Detroit Count / Little Tillie Willie [00:03:01]
07. Emmit Slay / Looky Ploot [00:02:24]
08. Wild Bill Moore / Burnt Toast [00:02:29]
09. Kitty Steveson / It Ain't Right [00:02:46]
10. Emmit Slay / Beulah [00:02:44]
11. Little Miss Sharecropper / I Want To Rock [00:02:44]
12. Sonny Wilson / The Rainy Day Blues [00:02:29]
13. Maurice King & His Wolverines / I Feel So Good [00:02:57]
14. The Kool Cats / That's The Best I Can Do For You Blues [00:03:07]
15. Maurice King & His Wolverines / I Want A Lavender Cadillac [00:02:57]
16. Calvin Frazier / Got Nobody To Tell My Troubles To [00:02:47]
17. T.J. Fowler & Alberta Adams / Say Baby Say [00:02:16]
18. Harvey Hill Jr / She Fool Me [00:02:53]
19. Calvin Frazier / Little Baby Child [00:02:35]
20. Alberta Adams / Remember [00:02:55]
21. Joe Weaver & His Blue Notes / J.B. Boogie [00:02:43]
22. John Lee Hooker / I Do Like I Please [00:03:27]
23. Gip (Sandman) Roberts / No One Monkey Goin' To Run My Show [00:02:37]
24. Lena Hall / Five Long Years [00:02:19]
25. John Lee Hooker / No More Doggin' [00:02:28]

The Chieftains - Essential [2 CD, 2006]

 The Essential Chieftains is a career-spanning greatest hits album by The Chieftains first released in 2006. It is part of the ongoing 'The Essential' Sony BMG compilation series, their last release for RCA ending a 20-year history since signing with the label in 1986.

VA - American Folk Blues Festival 1962-1965 [5 CD, 1995]

 

From 1962 until 1971, the American Folk Blues Festival was responsible for bringing dozens of the most celebrated American blues artists to audiences from England to Poland. For many of the musicians, these were the largest audiences they'd ever played to, and the first (and often only) decent money they ever made. This five-CD set captures the vital early years of the festival more fully than any prior issues, with previously unreleased bonus tracks (some of which overlaps). The 1962 volume was recorded live in Hamburg, and has no extra tracks, but the material is so vital and robust that this volume, featuring Memphis Slim, John Lee Hooker, T-Bone Walker, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, never needed it. The 1963 disc, recorded live in Bremen, opens with three previously unreleased live Memphis Slim cuts, and follows these with a previously unissued Muddy Waters solo acoustic guitar piece and three more never-issued numbers featuring Muddy backed by Dixon, Otis Spann, and Matt "Guitar" Murphy. The three Sonny Boy Williamson bonus tracks were very late in the day and constitute some of the very last songs left behind by the increasingly ailing harp legend. The 1964 volume is a little less enhanced, with two songs by Willie Dixon and one song each by Sonny Boy Williamson, Sleepy John Estes and Hammie Nixon, and Sugar Pie DeSanto. The 1965 volume was always the odd one in this series; as a studio recording rather than a concert document, it lacks the vibrancy of the earlier volumes, but its eight bonus tracks do include some interesting moments by Buddy Guy, Big Mama Thornton, John Lee Hooker, and Big Walter Horton. The sound quality is good, but given the time that's passed, a full set of notes might have been nice.


Disc: 1

1. Rockin' the House - Memphis Slim
2. I Wanna See My Baby - T-Bone Walker
3. I'm in Love - T-Bone Walker
4. I'm Crazy 'Bout You - Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee
5. Stewball - Willie Dixon
6. Let's Make It - John Lee Hooker
7. Shake It Baby - John Lee Hooker
8. Night Time Is the Right Time - John Lee Hooker
9. Ah'w Baby - Shakey Jake Harris
10. Love My Baby - Shakey Jake Harris
11. Crying at the Station - Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee
12. Wee Baby Blues - Memphis Slim

Disc: 2

1. Blues Is Everywhere - Memphis Slim
2. John Henry - Memphis Slim
3. Wish Me Well - Memphis Slim
4. Memphis Boogie - Memphis Slim
5. My Captain - Muddy Waters
6. Catfish Blues - Muddy Waters
7. Blow Wind Blow - Muddy Waters
8. My Home Is in the Delta - Muddy Waters
9. Five Long Years - Muddy Waters
10. That's All I Want Baby - Sonny Boy Williamson
11. Don't Misuse Me - Sonny Boy Williamson
12. I Don't Know - Sonny Boy Williamson
13. I'm Gettin' Tired - Sonny Boy Williamson
14. Goin' Down Slow - Otis Spann
15. Sonny Boy's Harmonica Blues - Sonny Boy Williamson

Disc: 3

1. Goin' Down Slow [Alternate Take] - Otis Spann
2. Sittin' and Cryin' the Blues - Willie Dixon
3. Crazy for My Baby - Willie Dixon
4. Grant Spivey - Victoria Spivey
5. T.B. Blues - Victoria Spivey
6. Big Roll Blues - Big Joe Williams
7. Back in the Bottom Blues - Big Joe Williams
8. I Have No Friends - Big Joe Williams
9. Baby Please Don't Cry - Big Joe Williams
10. Careless Love - Lonnie Johnson
11. C.C. Rider - Lonnie Johnson
12. It's Too Late to Cry - Lonnie Johnson
13. Matt's Guitar Boogie - Matt "Guitar" Murphy
14. Bye Bye Blues - Memphis Slim

Disc: 4

1. I'm Trying to Make London My Home - Sonny Boy Williamson
2. Dissatisfied - Sonny Boy Williamson
3. Everytime I Get to Drinkin' - Sunnyland Slim
4. Ain't It a Pity - Lightnin' Hopkins
5. Baby Please Don't Go - Lightnin' Hopkins
6. I'm a Tearing Little Daddy - Sleepy John Estes
7. I Ain't Gonna Pick No More Cotton - John Henry Barbee
8. No Title Boogie - Hubert Sumlin
9. Slip-In Mules - Sugar Pie DeSanto
10. Dust My Broom - Howlin' Wolf
11. I Got to Cut Out - Sonny Boy Williamson
12. Weak Brain and Narrow Mind - Willie Dixon
13. Big Legged Woman - Willie Dixon
14. Your Best Friend's Gone - Sleepy John Estes
15. Baby, What You Want Me to Do - Sugar Pie DeSanto

Disc: 5

1. Highway 61 - Mississippi Fred McDowell
2. Slow Down Woman - J.B. Lenoir
3. Blues Harp Shuffle - Big Walter Horton
4. Christine - Big Walter Horton
5. Come on Back Home - Roosevelt Sykes
6. Five Long Years - Eddie Boyd
7. Big Question - Eddie Boyd
8. Rosa Lee - Jimmie Lee Robinson
9. King of the World - John Lee Hooker
10. Della Mae - John Lee Hooker
11. First Time I Met the Blues - Buddy Guy
12. Hound Dog - Big Mama Thornton
13. My Black Name Is Ringing - Doctor Ross
14. Della Mae [Alternate Take] - John Lee Hooker
15. Hound Dog [Alternate Take] - Big Mama Thornton
16. South Side Jump - Buddy Guy
17. If I Get Lucky - J.B. Lenoir
18. Got a Letter This Morning - Mississippi Fred McDowell
19. Sail On - Roosevelt Sykes

Elmore James – The Complete Fire And Enjoy Recordings [3 CD, 1960/1995]

Elmore James made a career from one slide lick – but oh, what a lick! In his ruthless, overdriven slide work, James’ electrified blues evoke the spirit of Robert Johnson and send a shiver down your spine.

Collectables has collected all of James’ 1959-’63 sides for the Chicago Fire and Enjoy labels, the last songs James waxed before his death in 1963. This three-CD set is packed with 63 songs, including covers of most of James’ hits, several alternates, studio chatter, and unreleased takes. While some cuts may lack the youthful vigor of his early sides, the sound quality is much better – and these are still rowdy, supercharged blues by the master. 

1-1 Make My Dreams Come True

1-2 Bobby's Rock

1-3 The Sky Is Crying

1-4 Held My Baby Last Night

1-5 Dust My Broom

1-6 Baby Please Set A Date

1-7 Rollin' & Tumblin

1-8 I'm Worried

1-9 Done Somebody Wrong

1-10 Fine Little Mama

1-11 I Can't Stop Lovin' You

1-12 Early One Morning

1-13 I Need You Baby

1-14 Strange Angels

1-15 She Done Moved (Instr.)

1-16 Something Inside Me

1-17 You Don't Have To Go

1-18 Stranger Blues

1-19 Stranger Blues (Alt.Version)

1-20 My Bleeding Heart

1-21 Standing At The Crossroads

1-22 On Way Out

2-1 Got To Move

2-2 Person To Person

2-3 So Unkind

2-4 My Kind Of Woman

2-5 Woke Up Screamin' & Cryin'

2-6 Do It If You Wanna

2-7 Shake Your Money Maker

2-8 Look On Yonder Wall

2-9 Poor Little Angel Child

2-10 Mean Mistreatin' Mama (Take 1-Incomplete)

2-11 Mean Mistreatin' Mama (Take 2-Alternate)

2-12 Mean Mistreatin' Mama

2-13 Sunnyland Train

2-14 You Know You're Wrong (Take 1-Incomplete)

2-15 You Know You're Wrong (Take 2-Alternate)

2-16 You Know You're Wrong (Take 3-Master)

2-17 Going Back Home Again

2-18 Look Up On The Wall

2-19 Find My Kind Of Woman (Take 1)

2-20 Find My Kind Of Woman (Take 3)

2-21 Dust My Broom (Alt.Take)

2-22 My Baby's Gone

3-1 Hand In Hand (Take 1)

3-2 Hand In Hand (Take 3)

3-3 Hand In Hand (Take 4)

3-4 I've Got A Right To Love My Baby

3-5 Everyday I Have The Blues

3-6 Dust My Broom (Alt.Take)

3-7 It Hurts Me Too

3-8 Talk To Me Baby

3-9 Can't Stop Loving My Baby

3-10 She's Got To Go

3-11 Pickin' The Blues

3-12 Twelve Year Old Boy

3-13 Up Jumped Elmore (False Start)

3-14 Up Jumped Elmore

3-15 Up Jumped Elmore (Black Snake Slide)

3-16 I Believe

3-17 I Gotta Go Now

3-18 Make My Dreams Come True (Alt. Take)

3-19 Back In Mississippi (Studio Conversation)

Bo Carter - Complete Recorded Works Vol. 1-5 [1928 - 1940]

 

Armenter "Bo Carter" Chatmon (June 30, 1892 – September 21, 1964) was an American early blues musician. He was a member of the Mississippi Sheiks in concerts, and on a few of their recordings. Carter also managed that group, which included his brother, Lonnie Chatmon, on fiddle and occasionally Sam Chatmon on bass, along with a friend, Walter Vinson, on guitar and lead vocals.


v. 1. 1928 to 4 June 1931.

1. Good old turnip greens
2. Bungalow blues
3. Mary blues
4. Electrocuted blues
5. Corrine Corrina
6. East Jackson blues
7. I'm an old bumble bee
8. Mean feeling blues
9. I've got the whole world in my hand
10. She's your cook but she burns my bread sometimes
11. Same thing the cats fight about
12. Times is tight like that
13. My pencil won't write no more
14. Banana in your fruit basket
15. Pin in your cushion
16. Pussy cat blues
17. Ram rod daddy
18. Loveless love
19. I love that thing
20. Backache blues
21. Sorry feeling blues
22. Baby, when you marry
23. Boot it
24. Twist it, baby

v. 2. 5 June 1931 to 26 March 1934.

1. So long, baby, so long
2. The law gonna step on you
3. Pig meat is what I crave
4. Howling tom cat blues
5. Ants in my pants
6. Blue runner blues
7. I've got a case of mashin' it
8. You don't love me no more
9. What kind of scent is this?
10. Pretty baby
11. I want you to know
12. Last go round
13. I keep on spending my change
14. Baby, how can it be?
15. Bo Carter special
16. Beans
17. Nobody's business
18. Queen bee
19. Tellin' you 'bout it
20. Please don't drive me from you door
21. Pin in your cushion
22. Banana in the fruit basket

v. 3. 27 March 1934 to 20 February 1936.

1. Howlin' tom cat blues
2. Don't cross lay your daddy
3. Who broke the latch?
4. Don't do it no more
5. Skin ball blues
6. Old shoe blues
7. Please warm my weiner
8. She's gonna crawl back home to you
9. Let me roll your lemon
10. Mashing that thing
11. Blue runner blues
12. Fifty-fifty with me
13. To her burying ground
14. When your left eye go to jumping
15. Ride my mule
16. T baby blues
17. I get the blues
18. Spotted sow blues
19. Rolling blues
20. All around man
21. Fat mouth blues
22. You better know your business

v. 4. 20 February 1936 to 22 October 1938.

1. It's too wet
2. Dinner blues
3. Ain't nobody got it
4. Cigarette blues
5. Pussy cat blues
6. The ins and outs of my girl
7. All around man (part 2)
8. Bo Carter's advice
9. Doubled up in a knot
10. Worried g blues
11. Your biscuits are big enough for me
12. Don't mash my digger so deep
13. Flea on me
14. Got to work somewhere
15. Sue cow
16. Shake 'em on down
17. A girl for every day of the week
18. Trouble in blues
19. World in a jug
20. Who's been here?
21. Whiskey blues
22. Shoo that chicken

v. 5. 22 October 1938 to 12 February 1940.

1. Let's get drunk again
2. Some day
3. Old devil
4. Country fool
5. Santa Claus
6. Be my salty dog
7. Five dollar bill
8. Ways like a crawfish
9. Brown-skin woman
10. Lucille, Lucille
11. The country farm blues
12. Border of New Mexico blues
13. Arrangement for me-blues
14. Lock the lock
15. Trouble, oh trouble
16. Baby Ruth
17. My baby
18. Policy blues
19. Tush hog blues
20. My little mind
21. Honey
22. What you want your daddy to do?