1 comments about Roy Brown & New Orleans R&B.

1. It starts with undeniable power and never stops - it makes you laugh, cry, jump up and down and SHOUT! Praise be to Roy Brown, Dave Bartholomew and Professor Longhair!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No comments about The Best of the Vetco Years.

1 comments about Cool Cool Blues: The Classic Sides 1951-1954.

1. Four discs. 68,68,71,78 min. each approximately. Remastered sound. There are 103 sides by Rice Miller,known as Sonny Boy Williamson and some friends and acquaintances here,and some of the tracks are some of the best blues recordings of this time period. Starting out with Eyesight To The Blind,a well-known title and Williamson's first release,the music continues along the same vein. Besides Williamson on vocals and harmonica,he is accompanied by the great Willie Love on piano with bass, drums,and guitar. The guitartists range from unknown to Elmore James to B.B.King. The first cd is devoted to Williamson as the main performer. The emphasis is squarely on Sonny Boy,with the backing group supporting him in an understated,but always authentic sound that really makes these tracks shine. The second cd begins with the awesome Big Joe Williams,whose voice and guitar is one of the highlights of this set. The tracks here are in a John Lee Hooker style,both in the vocals and especially in the guitar,which is used as a counterpart to the vocals. Together they weave a sound as real and primal as any blues you'll hear. Williams is supported by only a bass player,putting his vocals at the center. The next few tracks are by Luther Huff and his brother. Both play guitar with Luther taking the vocal spotlight. His few tracks are good but nothing extraordinary. Next up is another friend of Sonny Boy's,Arthur Crudup. Backing him is a bass,drums,piano,and harmonica combo. Sonny Boy plays harmonica on a couple of tracks. These tracks are done in a jump-blues style and are very enjoyable. Both Bobo Thomas and Elmore James each appear on one track each,with James listed as doing an alternate recording of Dust My Broom ,with Sonny Boy on harmonica,on the box. This alternate is not on my copy nor is it listed in the booklet. Jerry McCain,a Little Walter disciple,has the next few tracks. Accompanied by his own harmonica,and with a tenor sax plus the usual rhythm section,these sides are also in a jump-blues vein. The third cd starts off with Willie Love,a vocalist-piano player who could lay down some great blues. The backing consists of guitar,bass,drums,and tenor sax. Love's style was a bit more in the "city" style of blues. Sherman Johnson is up next and he continues in the "city" style of blues with a commercial sound aimed at making a hit record. The rest of the tracks on this cd are by Tiny Kennedy and Wally Mercer,respectively. Both are in the same vein as Willie Love,but with a very commercial sound. The final cd features Sonny Boy Williamson,Willie Love,and Arthur Crudup. Williamson's sound is still in his typical style,but with a bit more of a commercial feel to it. Besides his harmonica and the usual small group backing,there is also a tenor sax in the mix,which gives the sound a different feel than when Sonny Boy first recorded. Crudup's vocal on his two tracks are primal in sound,with the guitar looking ahead to a more modern sound. Willie Love finishes this collection with some fine downhome blues vocals out in front of the usual bass,drums,tenor sax backing. This is a good collection that gives a good view of blues music that was being produced in the South during the early fifties. Anyone who is interested in this period and these artists would be advised to pick this up.

No comments about Blues Guitar Legends.

1 comments about The Vintage Years.

1. This handsomely packaged 4-disc box set brings together the vast majority of B.B. King's 50s and 60s recordings for the various labels in the Modern family.
   
   King's many excellent 50s singles are often overlooked by compilers, which means that those who "only" own, say "The Anthology" or MCA/Chess's "Greatest Hits" will find that 95% of this material is new to them.
   The large 76-page booklet is thoroughly researched and well-written, and each individual CD focuses on a theme of sort: Disc one concentrates on hits like "Sweet Little Angel", "Sweet Sixteen", "How Blue Can You Get" "3 O'Clock Blues", "Did You Ever Love A Woman" etc, and it is the best and most varied, with numerous highlights and only a couple of clunkers (two boring, saccharine ballads).
   The disc titled "Memphis Blues 'n' Boogie" is probably the least exciting...the material is consistent but unvaried with very few real highlights. The third disc is devoted to King's more or less succesful forays into soul, gospel, doo wop, and rock & roll, and the final one, "King Of The Blues", focuses on King's urbane 60s recordings.
   
   Serious B.B. King fans will want to add this set to their collection right away, but more casual fans will probably find that five hours of B.B. King is just too much. You can get the best of these 106 recordings on "Do The Boogie: B.B. King's Early 50s Classics" and the twofer CD reissue of his first to LPs, "Singing' The Blues/The Blues", and most people will be happy with that, especially since much of King's output in the 50s and 60s (and 70s, 80s, and 90s output for that matter) was more consistent than varied.

5 comments about Singles Collection: The London Years.

1. THE ROLLING STONES SINGLES COLLECTION * THE LONDON YEARS consists of three CDs packed in the LP-sized box that was in vogue 10 or 15 years ago-- in hindsight, a wastefully expensive package. The included 72-page giant book is of recycled-quality paper. It's pages are dyed several starkly annoying colors, and all graphics are in low-grade B&W. Two pages of text in front, and two in back bookend the spread out song lyrics and lousy-looking photos. A hack job, design-wise.
   
   The music is little better, sonically. There's a persistent dullness to a lot of these tracks. Andrew Oldham is credited with oversight of this project, so it's surprising that the transfers aren't more vibrant. This great material has been badly served. Recommended only for serious fans or completists. A middling rating for a mediocre product.
   
   TOTAL RUNNING TIMES --
   DISC ONE -- 66:41
   DISC TWO -- 68:27
   DISC THREE -- 49:39



2. stones at thier best
   the londen years proves that early stones are the best



3. A comprehensive collection of single releases from 1963-71 which is far more than it proclaims in it's title. This is the most complete collection of Rolling Stones singles and b-sides available on CD format. From their first in June of 1963 (Come On b/w I Want to Be Loved), you will find almost every aspect of the Stones singles material represented, including British flip-sides and Decca/London singles released after 1971. This 3CD (4LP) set overlaps thirty-five (35) songs from the Hot Rocks collections (4CDs), but offers an additional twenty-three (23) selections. Remaining true to the singles, songs such as Sympathy For the Devil, You Can't Always Get What You Want, and Dandelion are heard as they were in their original edited (or extended) "single" form for this album. note-though it would have been a great highlight, this collection does not contain Street Fighting Man as it is heard in it's initial 7" form, that version remains otherwise unavailable on any official CD or LP. When the song Wild Horses was released as a single, it's b-side Sway was found in alternate form as well; that recording was not owned by Decca/London, and thus was not included in this collection.



4. What a great idea! While their most noteworthy contemporaries, the Beatles, were one of the first bands to explore the possibilities of creating great albums, by and large the Stones remained a band that created listenable, danceable, rockable hit singles. (There were some exceptional albums, however, such as Aftermath and Beggars Banquet.) So, their original record company has a great idea: Why not gather together ALL the Stones singles (the ones released on the London label from the years 1963-1976) with their flip sides (both US and UK) and release them in one great big beautiful box! Brilliant, huh??? Actually, it is an excellent concept and, for the most part, well executed. It is true that many of the Stones great singles are here: "Satisfaction," "Get Off of My Cloud," "Brown Sugar," "Let's Spend the Night Together," etc. It is also true that many of their lesser known singles and fabulous flips (B-sides) are here as well. Many other bands would feel very lucky to have just one song as good as "The Spider and the Fly," "The Under-assistant West Cost Promotion Man," "Play With Fire," "Little Red Rooster," and "Ruby Tuesday". So, that means it's a perfect compilation, right? Well, not quite. For one thing, both hits and flips include a lot of clunkers, such as "Sad Day", "Memo from Turner," "The Singer Not the Song" and "Surprise, Surprise." Also included are some of the mid-sixties demos later gathered on the album Metamorphosis, such as "I Don't Know Why" and "Jiving Sister Fanny." They are interesting ideas, but obviously unfinished. Finally, since this is a singles collection, that means we get the cut version of "You Can't Always Get What You Want." Most listeners will no doubt want the full version that contains the choral section at the beginning, found on the Let It Bleed album. Still, over 3/4 of the cuts are worthwhile, and many are classics not easy to find in one place. So, grab your boxers, put on this box, and rock this town!!!



5. This is the only Rolling Stones album I have, and I must say that it is quite exceptional. When I first got the album I was amazed by how many songs I had heard and enjoyed, and yet how many more great quality songs were available to learn. Now I can't imagine a time when I didn't know these songs, they are so good. I have listened to this collection many many times, and yes, the Stones are definitely as good as you've heard. Since I (haven't had the chance to) have not followed their career throughout time, I feel inadequate to say too much about the Stones except to say that I REALLY enjoy this set and highly recommend it to others. The new remastered set would be good, except it hasn't nearly the same amount of music and alot of redundancy to this set. I also don't know how much the improvement of remastering will do, these songs sound great as presented here. Since the Stones have much more blues sound than the beatles or other sixties contemporaries, I really like their sound. My favorite highlights: Come On (Chuck Berry did it, but this one really cooks,) Little Red Rooster (almost better than Howlin' Wolf's version,) Get Off My Cloud, Mother's Little Helper, Paint it Black, Sympathy for the Devil, etc. etc. etc. Don't miss out on this legendary rock band and this great set.

No comments about All the Blues You Need: The Indigo 5th Anniversary Box Set.

1 comments about Bessie Smith: The Complete Recordings, Vol. 4.

1. This is quite a nice set. Columbia was Bessie's own label, and Sony has done a nice job of issuing her tracks on CD: the sound is great. Nice booklet too.
   
   I always like the Chronological Classics (Melodie label), and they have five discs of Bessie; still, the Complete Recordings on Columbia is a really nice set at a really good price. Can't go wrong here: includes the three great tracks Bessie recorded on 8 May 1929 with Clarence Williams (piano) & Eddie Lang (guitar): "I'm Wild About that Thing," "You've Got to Give Me Some," and "Kitchen Man."
   
   Highly recommended.

3 comments about Swing Time! The Fabulous Big Band Era 1925-1955.

1. This is hardly a definitive collection - how can there be an ultimate swing set with only three discs? - but it IS a great collection for the novice, or just for the collector.
   My favorite disc is disc one, which gives an overview of the roots of swing from the 1920's and early '30's. Some hoppin' tunes here, the kind of Jazz that had parents fretting over the music their children were listening to. Yes, that's something that many younger folks are not aware of. This period in time was the beginning of the teenager as a rebellious sort, and that continued on until the Great Depression put an end to the frivolousness of their ways - driving fast and wild in their automobiles, wearing outrageous clothes, crazy bobbed haircuts, diggin' these hep cat grooves while dancin' as if they were possessed. And you thought that the teen's of the 1950's were out of control! My grandmother and her sisters were part of the roaring twenties scene and turned their mother's hair white!
   The Great Depression and the unrest in Europe of the 1930's didn't stop the swinging sounds that came out of the big American cities. The youth of the day needed a release, and the edgy music of Swing was IT. Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, the Dorsey Brothers, Chick Webb, and so many more kept the sounds coming and the kids alive, allowing them to forget their troubles for a few minutes while Tain't What You Do, Let's Dance, and Stompin' At the Savoy played on.
   Of course, WWII soon came to America and, although there were some swinging cuts, for the most part the music began to ease on the jumpin' and jumped on the vocal sounds instead. This set, however, shows us that, although the smooth Frank Sinatra may have been king of the jukeboxes during the war, the hep sounds still did abound with Take The A Train, Caldonia, and Let Me Off Uptown.
   This collection is a great starter set as an introduction to a musical form that was, in its day, every bit at wild as rock and roll was in the 1950's. There are glaring ommissions (no Sing Sing Sing?) but neat trivia tunes such as Hot and Anxious by the Baltimore Bellhops, which is where Glenn Miller 'borrowed' the rif for his In The Mood (also on this collection).
   A worthy set that's worth your buck.



2. Consider this three CD set from Columbia as a sort of start-up kit into the fabulous world of Big Band music. I'm one of those souls who always feel they were born in the wrong era and for a nostalgia nut like me these recordings still give off a vibe both jazzy and innocent. This was a time when men and women made music without the use of any technological recording wizardry and through a combination of craftsmanship and sheer moxie created a sound that was the "rock" and "rap" for whom some call the "greatest generation." There's a youthful exhuberance here. Just close your eyes when you here the first cut of "Sweet Georgia Brown" by the California Ramblers (featuring future Big Band stars Red Nicols and Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey) and you soon realize that your hearing not your granddad but guys in their twenties and thirties letting loose and sharing in what was primarily a Black American art form.
   
   "Swing Time" is a wonderfully designed package that includes a lavish booklet featuring both history and enlightening analysis of the era from writer Michael Brooks. Some musicologists will no doubt gripe about what may or may not be included here. No matter, for my untrained ears these 66 cuts speak for themselves brilliantly. .



3. 5 STAR for the music and 1 STAR for the reproductions.

   The music is the greatest! However, the quality of the CD's were horrendous. I have records that are 50 years old, played hundreds of times, that sound better! No matter if they used CEDAR or any other method of restoration, they sound lousy to me!!!

3 comments about The Complete Dinah Washington on Mercury, Vol. 1 (1946-1949).

1. The way this music is sold merits 0 stars. The music itself rates 5 stars. As another reviewer stated, it is a travesty that the sets are no longer in print. It is an equal travesty that Amazon and Universal Music Group are charging the same for MP3 downloads as the CDs cost when they were inprint. And you get nothing physical in return. And the lousy sound of a download. It seems odd that the Europeans are not interested in selling these recordings even older than 50 years, with the 50 year rule. To those considering buying the MP3's, see if you can find the CDs used cheap.



2. Dinah at her very youngest and best..the whole Mercury collection is a absoulute must if you are going to give the Queen her just due.



3. This is one of those CDs that make you realize how many incredible songs are out there that we don't know about! Dinah Washington owns all of them. Just listen to her interpretation of "I'll wait" and "How deep is the ocean" - these must be placed along with Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday. The fact that these albums are out of print is a travesty!! One of the best albums I've ever owned.