Mosaic Select 30: Boogie Woogie and Blues Piano

"While most Mosaic limited-edition boxed sets concentrate on recordings by an individual bandleader or a single record label, 'Boogie Woogie and Blues Piano' features sessions by a number of different artists from several labels active in the 1930s and early '40s, when boogie-woogie was very popular. Fifteen different pianists are featured (if one counts Lionel Hampton playing two fingered-duo piano in a band setting), though it is the giants of the genre, Meade "Lux" Lewis, Pete Johnson, Albert Ammons, and Jimmy Yancey who are given the most exposure. The first three are individually paired (Johnson and Ammons) and play together as a trio, occasionally accompanying blues vocalist Joe Turner or adding a superfluous rhythm section. Lewis is clearly the most inventive of them all, especially when performing his hit 'Honky Tonk Train Blues' (revived in a big-band setting by rocker Keith Emerson during the '70s) or his lesser-known 'Whistlin' Blues'. Ammons has the strongest rhythmic sense, as displayed in the two takes of 'Shout for Joy'. Johnson is heard in several small group sessions as well, featuring Turner along with alto saxophonist Buster Smith and trumpeter Hot Lips Page. Yancey, who was recorded more sporadically than Lewis, Johnson, and Ammons, is extensively featured, playing solo, accompanying singer Faber Smith and occasionally singing himself. Yancey's slower, blues-drenched style is unmistakable for anyone else, highlighted by his own 'Yancey Stomp' and the two takes of 'Yancey's Bugle Call'. There is a sampling of other pianists, including Joe Sullivan, Mary Lou Williams (who played nearly every style that appeared during her lifetime with authority), Teddy Wilson (who never considered himself a talented boogie-woogie player), Nat King Cole, and Sir Charles Thompson (each of whom duets with Hampton and the more commercial Freddie Slack. The blues piano sessions of Cripple Clarence Lofton wrap this enjoyable collection with a flourish. The sound restoration and Dan Morgenstern's excellent liner notes add to the value of this limited-edition compilation." (Review by Ken Dryden from AllMusic. See here.)

1.1. Meade "Lux" Lewis - Honky Tonk Train Blues

1.2. Meade "Lux" Lewis - Whistlin' Blues

1.3. Meade "Lux" Lewis - Bear Cat Crawl

1.4. Albert Ammons - Shout For Joy

1.5. Albert Ammons - Shout For Joy

1.6. Joe Turner & Pete Johnson - Goin' Away Blues

1.7. Joe Turner & Pete Johnson - Roll 'Em Pete

1.8. Meade "Lux" Lewis, Pete Johnson & Albert Ammons - Boogie Woogie Prayer (Pt. 1)

1.9. Meade "Lux" Lewis, Pete Johnson & Albert Ammons - Boogie Woogie Prayer (Pt. 2)

1.10. Pete Johnson - Boogie Woogie

1.11. Harry James - Boo-Woo

1.12. Harry James - Boo-Woo

1.13. Harry James - Woo-Woo

1.14. Harry James - Woo-Woo

1.15. Harry James - Home James

1.16. Harry James - Jesse

1.17. Pete Johnson & Albert Ammons - Boogie Woogie Man

1.18. Pete Johnson & Albert Ammons - Barrel House Boogie

1.19. Pete Johnson & Albert Ammons - Cuttin' The Boogie

1.20. Pete Johnson & Albert Ammons - Foot Pedal Boogie

1.21. Pete Johnson & Albert Ammons - Walkin' The Boogie

1.22. Pete Johnson & Albert Ammons - Sixth Avenue Express

1.23. Pete Johnson & Albert Ammons - Pine Creek

1.24. Pete Johnson & Albert Ammons - Movin' The Boogie

2.1. Pete Johnson - Cherry Red

2.2. Pete Johnson - Baby, Look At You

2.3. Pete Johnson - Jump For Joy

2.4. Pete Johnson - Lovin' Mama Blues

2.5. Meade "Lux" Lewis, Pete Johnson & Albert Ammons - Cafe Society Rag

2.6. Joe Sullivan - Low Down Dirty Shame

2.7. Joe Sullivan - I Can't Give You Anything But Love

2.8. Joe Sullivan - I Can't Give You Anything But Love

2.9. Benny Carter - Joe Turner Blues

2.10. Benny Carter - Joe Turner Blues

2.11. Benny Carter - Beale Street Blues

2.12. Benny Carter - Beale Street Blues

2.13. Will Bradley - Down The Road A Piece

2.14. Will Bradley - Down The Road A Piece

2.15. Will Bradley - Down The Road A Piece

2.16. Ray McKinley & Freddie Slack - Southpaw Serenade

2.17. Ray McKinley & Freddie Slack - Southpaw Serenade

2.18. Will Bradley - Basin Street Boogie

2.19. Will Bradley - Basin Street Boogie

2.20. Teddy Wilson - A Touch Of Boogie

2.21. Lionel Hampton - The Munson Street Breakdown

2.22. Lionel Hampton - Central Avenue Breakdown

2.23. Lionel Hampton - Bouncing At The Beacon

2.24. Henry "Red" Allen - K.K. Boogie

2.25. Henry "Red" Allen - K.K. Boogie

3.1. Mary Lou Williams - Little Joe From Chicago

3.2. Jimmy Yancey - Yancey Stomp

3.3. Jimmy Yancey - State Street Special

3.4. Jimmy Yancey - Tell 'Em About Me

3.5. Jimmy Yancey - Five O'Clock Blues

3.6. Jimmy Yancey - Slow And Easy Blues

3.7. Jimmy Yancey - The Mellow Blues

3.8. Jimmy Yancey - I Received A Letter

3.9. Jimmy Yancey - East St. Louis Blues

3.10. Jimmy Yancey - Bear Trap Blues

3.11. Jimmy Yancey - Old Quaker Blues

3.12. Jimmy Yancey - Cryin' In My Sleep

3.13. Jimmy Yancey - Death Letter Blues

3.14. Jimmy Yancey - Death Letter Blues

3.15. Jimmy Yancey - Yancey's Bugle Call

3.16. Jimmy Yancey - Yancey's Bugle Call

3.17. Jimmy Yancey - 35th And Dearborn

3.18. Jimmy Yancey - 35th And Dearborn

3.19. Cripple Clarence Lofton - Strut That Thing

3.20. Cripple Clarence Lofton - Monkey Man Blues

3.21. Cripple Clarence Lofton - Policy Blues

3.22. Cripple Clarence Lofton - Brown Skin Gal

3.23. Cripple Clarence Lofton - You Done Tore Your Playhouse Down

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Down in the Basement: Joe Bussards Treasure Trove of Vintage 78s, 1926-1937

Excellent collection of vintage 78rpm singles from the nineteen twenties and thirties. There are many recognisable names here such as Gary Davis, Blind Blake, Uncle Dave Macon and Big Bill Broonzy, however it is an excellently curated collection. The Stripling Brothers' 'The Lost Child' and Cajun duo Soileau & Robin's 'Easy Rider Blues' are, personally, new found favourites.

1. The Stripling Brothers - The Lost Child

2. Big Bill Broonzy - How You Want It Done?

3. Luis Russell & His Orchestra -The (New) Call Of The Freaks

4. The Dixon Brothers - The School House Fire

5. Weems String Band - Greenback Dollar

6. Rev. Gary Davis - You Got To Go Down

7. A.A. Gray & Seven-Foot Dilly - The Old Ark's A-Moving

8. James Coles Washboard Four - Runnin' Wild

9. Charley Jordan - Keep It Clean

10. Bill Johnson's Louisiana Jug Band - Get The "L" On Down The Road

11. Sweet Brothers & Ernest Stoneman - I Got A Bulldog

12. Coleman & Harper - Old Hen Cackle

13. Bessie Brown - Song From A Cotton Field

14. Gene Autry - Atlanta Bound

15. Soileau & Robin - Easy Rider Blues

16. Bill Brown & His Brownies - Hot Lips

17. Uncle Dave Macon - Uncle Dave's Beloved Solo

18. Blind Blake - Hastings Street

19. Field Ward & The Grayson County Railsplitters - Ain't That Trouble In Mind

20. Corley Family - Give The World A Smile

21. Long "Cleve" Reed - Original Stack O'Lee Blues

22. Fess Williams & His Royal Flush Orchestra - Hot Town

23. Gitfiddle Jim - Paddlin' Blues

24. Grinnell Giggers - Plow Boy Hop

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Blind Boy Fuller - Complete Recorded Works In Chronological Order, Volume 1: 23 September 1935 - 29 April 1936

"Blind Boy Fuller (born Fulton Allen, July 10, 1904 or 1907), a Piedmont blues guitarist and singer who was one of the most popular recorded musicians of his era. He was born in Wadesboro, North Carolina, one of ten children of Calvin Allen and Mary Jane Walker. After the death of his mother, he moved with his father to Rockingham, North Carolina. As a boy he learned to play the guitar and also learned from older singers the field hollers, country rags, traditional songs, and blues popular in poor rural areas of North Carolina.

 

"In his teens he worked as a laborer when he began to lose his eyesight. By 1928 he was completely blind, and a 1937 eye examination attributed his vision loss to the long-term effects of untreated neonatal conjunctivitis. He turned to whatever employment he could find as a singer and entertainer, often playing in the streets. By studying the records of country blues players like Blind Blake and live performances by Gary Davis, Allen became an accomplished guitarist, playing on street corners and at house parties in Winston-Salem, North Carolina; Danville, Virginia; and then Durham, North Carolina. In Durham, playing around the tobacco warehouses, he developed a local following, which included the guitarists Floyd Council and Richard Trice, the harmonica player Saunders Terrell (better known as Sonny Terry), and the washboard player and guitarist George Washington.

 

"In 1935, James Baxter Long, a record store manager and talent scout in Burlington, North Carolina, secured Allen a recording session with the American Recording Company (ARC). Allen, Davis and Washington recorded several tracks in New York City, including the traditional 'Rag, Mama, Rag.' To promote the records, Long credited Allen as Blind Boy Fuller and Washington as Bull City Red.

 

"Over the next five years Fuller recorded over 120 records, which were released by several labels. His style of singing was rough and direct, and his lyrics were explicit and uninhibited, drawing on every aspect of his experience as an underprivileged, blind [black] man on the streets—pawnshops, jailhouses, sickness, death—with an honesty that lacked sentimentality.

 

"In 1938 Fuller, who was described as having a fiery temper, was imprisoned for shooting a pistol at his wife, wounding her in the leg. His imprisonment prevented him from performing in 'From Spirituals to Swing,' a concert produced by John Hammond in New York City that year. Sonny Terry performed in his place and was the beginning of Terry’s long career in folk music. After Fuller was released from prison, he held his last two recording sessions, in New York City in June 1940, but by then he was increasingly physically weak, and much of the material did not match the quality and energy of his earlier recordings.

 

"Fuller's repertoire included a number of popular double-entendre 'hokum' songs, such as 'I Want Some of Your Pie,' 'Truckin’ My Blues Away' (the origin of the phrase 'keep on truckin''), and 'Get Your Yas Yas Out' (adapted as 'Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out' for the title of an album by the Rolling Stones), and the autobiographical 'Big House Bound,' about his time in prison. Much of his material was culled from traditional folk and blues songs. He possessed a formidable fingerpicking guitar style. He played a steel National resonator guitar. He was criticized by some as a derivative musician, but his ability to fuse together elements of traditional and contemporary songs and reformulate them in his own performances attracted a broad audience, best remembered for his up-tempo ragtime hits, including 'Step It Up and Go.' At the same time he was capable of deeper material, such as, his versions of 'Lost Lover Blues,' 'Rattlesnakin’ Daddy' and 'Mamie.' Much of his repertoire and style is kept alive by other Piedmont artists to this day.

 

"Fuller died at his home in Durham, North Carolina, on February 13, 1941 (aged, maybe, 33 or 36)." (Biography by Juan Alejandro Forrest de Sloper. From his Book of Days Tales blog. See here.)

 

1. Baby, I Don't Have To Worry

2. I'm A Rattlesnakin' Daddy

3. I'm Climbin' On Top Of The Hill

4. Ain't It A Cryin' Shame

5. Looking For My Woman

6. Rag, Mama, Rag

7. Rag, Mama, Rag

8. Baby, You Gotta Change Your Mind

9. Evil Hearted Woman

10. My Brownskin Sugar Plum

11. Somebody's Been Playing With That Thing

12. Log Cabin Blues

13. Log Cabin Blues

14. Homesick And Lonesome Blues

15. Walkin' My Troubles Away

16. Walkin' My Troubles Away

17. Black And Tan

18. Keep Away From My Woman

19. Keep Away From My Woman

20. Babe, You Got To Do Better

21. Big Bed Blues

22. Truckin' My Blues Away

23. She's Funny That Way

24. Cat Man Blues

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Bob Dylan & The Band - The Genuine Basement Tapes Vol. 4

The fourth of five unofficial releases of Dylan's 1967 Saugerties, New York demo material on Italian label Scorpio. The mastering here is slightly different (more raw) than the official release of the complete tapes on Columbia, which gives them a certain charm and more of a feeling of being in that basement with Garth Hudson's tape recorder. This is music where you can really tell how much fun the musicians are having, songs are often as hilarious as they are musically touching. We hear Dylan change key midway through songs, the whole band cracking up as they reach seemingly completely unplanned musical peaks. A group of very talented and close knit musicians having a great time.

1. You Ain't Going Nowhere #1
2. Bourbon Street
3. All American Boy
4. Wild Wood Flower
5. See That My Grave Is Kept Clean
6. She'll Be Comin' Round The Mountain
7. Flight Of The Bumble Bee
8. Confidential To Me
9. I'm A Fool For You
10. Next Time On The Highway
11. The Big Flood
12. Every Time I Come To Town
13. See You Later, Allen Ginsberg
14. The Spanish Song #1 & #2
15. I Am Your Teenage Prayer
16. I'm In The Mood
17. Belchezaar #1 & #2
18. Bring It On Home
19. The King Of France

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John Fahey - Days Have Gone By

Features some of John Fahey's most inspired playing and audio experimentation. On almost every song here we hear moments of music that defy the ordinary, being laid down like a true American storyteller - creating new ideas seemingly from nothing. It could be said, however, that the success of Fahey's playing lies in the general orthodoxy of his influences: "American Primitivism," a term he coined to describe his playing, is very illuminating. Fahey blends together what the average American would know well, from folk standards ('My Grandfather's Clock') to blues ('Joe Kirby Blues') to hymns ('My Shepherd Will Supply My Needs') to the national anthem of Finland ('We Would Be Building'). The building blocks of Fahey's genius are (almost) all immediately familiar, and this is perhaps how he taps into the 'myth' of America so powerfully. Here Fahey's playing begins to be enjoined with artfully placed reverb, the sounds of thunder, rain and trains; more that stuns us into a dreamlike state to be party to the intense relationship shared by the man and his guitar.

A1. Revolt Of The Dyke Brigade
A2. Impressions Of Susan
A3. Joe Kirby Blues
A4. Night Train Of Valhalla
A5. Portland Cement Factory At Monolith, CA
A6. A Raga Called Pat - Part One
B1. A Raga Called Pat - Part Two
B2. My Shepherd Will Supply My Needs
B3. My Grandfather's Clock
B4. Days Have Gone By
B5. We Would Be Building

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Jack Rose - Luck in the Valley

The late guitarist plays esoteric, eastern influenced blues pieces alongside traditional accompanied blues and country dance numbers in material recorded the year of his death. Rose always wore the influence of John Fahey on his sleeve (even if he rarely gave as much credit as was often due), and this is very clear here. Rose seems relaxed and easygoing for most of this record, with the click clack footstomping accompaniment (harmonica, jew's harp, banjo, bones) driving his playing and achieving a fine balance between down-home, unpretentious old fashioned blues playing and the more esoteric experiments of Fahey et al. It is a joy to hear Rose's final jam sessions on record even if this is not the cerebral exegesis of the man's talents we can find elsewhere in his discography.

A1. Blues For Percy Danforth
A2. Lick Mountain Ramble
A3. Woodpiles On The Side Of The Road
A4. When Tailgate Drops, The Bullshit Stops
A5. Moon In The Gutter
B1. Luck In The Valley
B2. Saint Louis Blues
B3. Tree In The Valley
B4. Everybody Ought To Pray Sometimes
B5. West Coast Blues

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Howlin' Wolf - Moanin' in the Moonlight

The definitive Howlin' Wolf collection, and certainly one of the finest examples of Chicago blues to be heard anywhere. Charles Burnett's primal voice roars of a life of betrayal and hard living like some wounded drunken wounded Polyphemus. This is a compilation of sides recorded between 1951 and 1959, We can hear the inspired talents of Willie Johnson (who is alleged to have played the first distorted power chord on record here), Willie Dixon and even Ike Turner, who features on piano on 'How Many More Years'. 

A1. Moanin' At Midnight
A2. How Many More Years
A3. Smokestack Lightnin'
A4. Baby How Long
A5. No Place To Go
A6. All Night Boogie
B1. Evil
B2. I'm Leavin' You
B3. Moanin' For My Baby
B4. I Asked For Water
B5. Forty Four
B6. Somebody In My Home

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Tim Hardin 3: Live in Concert

A friend of Karen Dalton's who, sadly, shared her fate. Dalton was the first to perform Hardin's 'Reason to Believe', which we hear a stunning performance of here. Hardin performs both solo and with an excellent 'jazz-esque' combo including bassist Eddie Gomez and vibraphonist Mike Mainieri. We can hear moments of magical, natural music here, although, according to Mainieri, Hardin was often "completely strung out" while performing and this particular night was "in terrible shape". Mainieri goes on to say that "what seemed like hesitancy on the part of us 'jazz' musicians was the result of us having to guess when he would strike the next chord or suddenly move to another section of the song." John Martyn, whose live style can perhaps be heard in its primordial form here, was guilty of this and, in the same way, we could easily call to mind Tim Buckley's freewheeling vocals (the substance abuse of both is well documented). Two songs in particular are a frightening insight into the singer's world: 'Lenny's Tune' makes clear reference both to Lenny Bruce's and (briefly) Hardin's heroin use, and 'Tribute to Hank Williams' also eulogises the singer with particular reference to the morphine that killed him. We hear the word morphine over and over. Tim Hardin would die from a heroin overdose in 1980, just over a decade after this concert and just as Bruce had done in 1966 and Williams before him in 1953. In spite of the roughness of Hardin's insobriety, we do hear wonderful, fantastically original music here that at time soars above and always differs in numerous ways not only from the recorded material, but likely from other live renditions also. Alongside Hardin's originals, we hear two very welcome Scott Walker songs: 'The Lady Came from Baltimore' and 'Black Sheep Boy'.

A1. The Lady Came From Baltimore
A2. Reason To Believe
A3. You Upset The Grace Of Living When You Lie
A4. Misty Roses
A5. Black Sheep Boy
A6. Lenny's Tune
B1. Don't Make Promises
B2. Danville Dame
B3. If I Were A Carpenter
B4. Red Balloon
B5. Tribute To Hank Williams
B6. Smugglin' Man

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Karen Dalton - It's So Hard to Tell Who's Going to Love You the Best

The distinctive, stripped-down debut full length of this tragic folk songstress. Dalton is sparsely accompanied here, but more notable is the dazed, dreamlike style of the playing enjoining her pained vocal. A heroin addict and life-long drug user ("even cocaine couldn't ease the pain..."), she stopped performing publicly in the early 70s and died, estranged from her children and family, due to an AIDS-related illness 20 years later. As such, it is no secret that there is real pain in her quietly impassioned bluesy drawl. The closest comparison is with friend and mentor Fred Neil (she sings two of his originals here: 'Blues on the Ceiling and 'Little Bit of Rain'), though her style is very much her own, something that's especially obvious in her adaptions of folk and blues standards (Lead Belly, of course, but a rendition Jelly Roll Morton's 'Sweet Substitute' shows the breadth of her influences and interpretive abilities). This is a rare document of a truly authentic musician who was at the centre of a unique period in musical history, one (for every Paul Simon or Bob Dylan) too often marred by truly tragic tales of substance abuse, depression and commercial neglect.

A1. Little Bit Of Rain
A2. Sweet Substitute
A3. Ribbon Bow
A4. I Love You More Than Words Can Say
A5. In The Evening (It's So Hard To Tell Who's Going To Love You The Best)
B1. Blues On The Ceiling
B2. It Hurts Me Too
B3. How Did The Feeling Feel To You
B4. Right, Wrong Or Ready
B5. Down On The Street (Don't You Follow Me Down)

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Blue Cheer - Vincebus Eruptum

The original Californian heavy blues album. It is normally called 'proto-metal', but that sells short what is actually on display in all its glory here: loose, triumphantly primitive blues played by drug addled hipsters at the height (and arguably at the geographical center) of the unapologetically degenerate counter-cultural madness that was gripping America. We hear furiously immediate overdriven guitar backed by clamorous, distant drums and roaring youthful vocals from the centre. The extended jam "Doctor Please", which singer Dickie Peterson makes no secret of calling a "celebration of drugs" and a "drug anthem", is just as strung out and heavy as anything it influenced. Likewise, the opening cover of Eddie Cochran's "Summertime Blues" is strangely off kilter in a way that is certainly psychedelic, but far from neurotic or hackneyed. This is the 2003 remastered CD with the bonus track "All Night Long".

1. Summertime Blues
2. Rock Me Baby
3. Doctor Please
4. Out Of Focus
5. Parchment Farm
6. Second Time Around
7. All Night Long

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Ray Bryant - Alone With The Blues

Bryant's debut release under his own name. The pianist is very much in his element here, feeling his way through original blues improvisations and some standards. There are some very interesting moments as Bryant holds the solo chair confidently and adventurously, clearly enjoying himself. Though heartfelt, these blue are not so melancholy.

A1. Blues #3
A2. Joy
A3. Lover Man
A4. Me And The Blues
B1. My Blues
B2. Rockin' Chair
B3. Stocking Feet

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Hot Women: Women Singers From The Torrid Regions Of The World

Features artwork and notes from legendary cartoonist and obsessive shellac collector Robert Crumb (you can read more about this in his excellent interview with Mats Gustafsson here). This is one of several compilations Crumb has contributed art to, including 2006's "The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of" on Yazoo, and his own selections on Abrams' "R. Crumb's Heroes Of Blues, Jazz & Country" from the same year. Crumb has always had a fascination with the inate power of the female form, and the striking, butch features of our cover singer here should come as no surprise to anyone familiar with the terrific and terrifying forms of his more erotic artwork. Musically speaking, whenever we dive into this era surprises are plentiful. Here is no exception: the theme allows for a broad range of styles, from cajun blues to latin music to Indian and Burmese folk music. There is plenty to relax, move and impress while we imagine ourselves as wayward travelers in a bygone era.

1. Cleoma Falcon - Blues Negres
2. Lydia Mendoza Y Familia - Mexico En Una Laguna
3. Toña La Negra - El Cacahuatero
4. Grupo De 'La Alegria' - El Tambor De La Alegria
5. Leona Gabriel - Liva
6. Araci Côrtes - Quero Sossego
7. Las Cuatro Huasas - La Papa Araucana
8. La Niña De Los Peines - Sevillanas Number 2 (The Girl Of The Combs)
9. Rosina Trubia Gioiosa - Lu Fistinu Di Palermo
10. Rita Abadzi - Mime Stelis Mana Anastin Ameriki
11. Maria Vasileiathou - Arostisa Manoula Mou
12. Cheikha Tetma - Guenene Tini
13. Aïcha Relizania - Khraïfi
14. Julie Marsellaise - Yama N'chauf Haja Tegennen
15. Ayda Sönmez - Neva Hicaz Gazel
16. Hamsa Khalafe & Ali Atia - Ballali Madja
17. Hadija Binti Abdulla - Bina Adamu, Part II
18. Maboudana & Badolo - Chant D'invitation A La Danse
19. Noforonin Dratsiambakaina, Hirain-Drazaivelo & Christine Zanany - Miverena Rahavana
20. Miss Nilam Bai - [Title In Hindustani]
21. Yadana Myit - [Title In Burmese]
22. Cô Ba-Thinh & Khâm-Thîen - Hát Du
23. Emma Bush & Johnny Noble - Lei E
24. Chants Populaires Tahitiens - Chant d'Amour

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Tom Waits - Bone Machine

One of Tom Waits' finest moments. These are songs of death, hardship and intense spiritual struggle. Waits plays out sepia-toned mysteries and tragedies, his characters ranging from the bare-chested outlaw ("Goin' Out West"), to the lonely outcast ("Whistle Down The Wind"), to the innocent child ("I Don't Wanna Grow Up"), to the mysterious, omniscient narrator ("Murder in the Red Barn"). Musically, Waits' vocal performance is as incredible as his arrangements: endlessly varied (almost with each different character), wild and robust. The cantankerous blues shuffling blueprinted with Waits' reinvention of himself on "Frank's Wild Years" is intensified here ("All Stripped Down" you could say—one of the best examples of this), and the heartfelt, boozy ballads that serve as the antidote are just as loose and wild, and the emotional potency is two hundred proof. Waits, now sober, can still inhabit a character at the bottom of a bottle ("except for drinkin', but I knew that I would...").

1. Earth Died Screaming
2. Dirt In The Ground
3. Such A Scream
4. All Stripped Down
5. Who Are You
6. The Ocean Doesn't Want Me
7. Jesus Gonna Be Here
8. A Little Rain (For Clyde)
9. In The Colosseum
10. Goin' Out West
11. Murder In The Red Barn
12. Black Wings
13. Whistle Down The Wind (For Tom Jans)
14. I Don't Wanna Grow Up
15. Let Me Get Up On It
16. That Feel

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Yazoo - Alabama Blues, 1927-1931

An excellent early compilation of Alabama bluesmen from the unrivaled Yazoo label. The bulk of the albums tracks are the work of Clifford Gibson and Edward Thompson, who both have unique styles and some staggeringly enjoyable songs. Gibson, in particular, was unique as a musician. The liner notes state: "the semi-improvisatory [sic] nature of his guitars licks makes his style, like Blind Lemon Jefferson's, somewhat inimitable" and that "all of Gibson's solos featured instrumental breaks which were, more often than not, absent from other country blues." Musically, Thompson is just as interesting: "all of [his] blues are in the key of E, he avoids monotony by changing his vocal delivery from piece to piece, as Blind Lemon Jefferson did." Certainly a case emerges for the depth of Jefferson's effortless talents, though each musician (as well as others featured) is very much his own man. Other notable highlights are Ed Bell's guitar work on "Mean Conductor Blues", which chimes with locomotive regularity under Bell's expressive vocal, and Marshall Owens' "Try Me One More Time"—a truly exception song that speaks for itself.

A1. Barefoot Bill - Snigglin' Blues
A2. Clifford Gibson - Don't Put That Thing On Me
A3. Jay Bird Coleman - Coffee Grinder Blues
A4. Edward Thompson - Seven Sister Blues
A5. Ed Bell - Mean Conductor Blues
A6. Clifford Gibson - Tired Of Being Mistreated, Pt. 2
A7. Edward Thompson - Florida Bound
B1. Clifford Gibson - Keep Your Windows Pinned
B2. Edward Thompson - West Virginia Blues
B3. Clifford Gibson - Whiskey Moan Blues
B4. Edward Thompson - Showers Of Rain Blues
B5. Marshall Owens - Try Me One More Time
B6. Marshall Owens - Texas Blues
B7. George "Bullet" Williams - The Escaped Convict

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Blind Lemon Jefferson - King Of The Country Blues

Presented by the Yazoo label as an "in-depth documentary" of the great blues singer. The effect of this compilation of single sides on the imagination proves this accurate: very similar to reading Xenophon or Homer; while we visualise how radically different the world of the author may have been, we are struck with the overwhelming human immediacy of the works, which baffle us with ascendant simplicity, truth and pain ("the blues ain't nothin' but a good woman on your mind"). Jefferson's cousin said of him: "They were rough. Men were hustling women and selling bootleg and Lemon was singing for them all night... he'd start singing about eight and go on until four in the morning... mostly it would be just him sitting there and playing and singing all night." Jefferson would serenade criminals, bootleggers, hard drinking, near down-and-out men. The powerful dread of these songs is combined with the feeling of living life in spite of these circumstances: pain shared is some antidote to pain felt, and from death ("See That My Grave is Kept Clean"), to heartbreak ("Easy Rider Blues"), to alcoholism ("Broke and Hungry"), there is pain a-plenty on show here. 

1. That Crawlin' Baby Blues
2. Bad Luck Blues
3. Matchbox Blues
4. Hot Dogs
5. One Dime Blues
6. Shuckin' Sugar
7. Rabbit Foot Blues
8. Corrina Blues
9. See That My Grave Is Kept Clean
10. Easy Rider Blues
11. Broke And Hungry
12. Black Horse Blues
13. Lonesome House Blues
14. Oil Well Blues
15. He Arose From The Dead
16. Beggin' Back
17. Prison Cell Blues
18. Rambler Blues
19. Gone Dead On You Blues
20. Wartime Blues
21. Booger Rooger Blues
22. Right Of Way Blues
23. Big Night Blues

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David Allan Coe - Underground Album

Of course one of Coe's most controversial releases, this album (for fairly obvious reasons) was sold only at shows or through mail order via Coe's own D.A.C. label. Happily though, this is not just an exercise in cheap shock value. The musicianship is tight, Coe is on form if sounding a little strung out (one wouldn't expect a clean and sober man to be writing these songs anyway, who cares), and songs like "Nigger Fucker", "One More Time", "Little Susie Shallow Throat" and "Fuckin' in the Butt" are genuinely hilarious. More than anything, the sense of fun and endless good times pervades.

A1. Rock And Roll Fever
A2. Panheads Forever
A3. Nigger Fucker
A4. Coffee
A5. One Monkey
B1. One More Time
B2. Little Susie Shallow Throat
B3. Pick 'Em, Lick 'Em, Stick 'Em
B4. Don't Bite The Dick
B5. Fuckin' In The Butt

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