No comments about The Gold Tapes From The Ace Vault.

No comments about Seattle's Best Blues, Vol. 2.

No comments about Dirty Blues, Vol. 3.

No comments about I Have to Paint My Face: Mississippi Blues 1960.

2 comments about Blues Masters, Vol. 3: Texas Blues.

1. What?!
   It says you have to enter a title for your review.
   
   Anyway...this 60-minute 1992 Rhino compilations brings together 59 years worth of Texas blues, from Blind Lemon Jefferson's scratchy 1927 waxing "Match Boy Blues", to a 1986 live rendition of Stevie Ray Vaughan's "Texas Flood" (oddly titled "Flood Down In Texas").
   It is quite an eclectic collection, and I personally don't think that Stevie Ray and Blind Lemon go very well together even as great as they both were. But there is nothing wrong with the music at all, and the Lone Star state has produced many top-notch blues artists of whom Jefferson, Sam "Lightnin'" Hopkins ("Short Haired Woman") and electric blues guitar innovator Aaron "T-Bone" Walker are probably the most influential. T-Bone is represnted by his seminal composition "They Call It Stormy Monday (but Tuesday's just as bad)".
   
   Big Mama Thornton is here as well with her original (and still definitive) reading of "Hound Dog", smooth singer/pianist Charles Brown croons his R&B classic "Drifting Blues", and ZuZu Bollin's horn-driven jump-blues "Why Don't You Eat Where You Slept Last Night?" is another highlight, as is Lillian Glinn's confident reading of her own "Cravin' A Man Blues", and the soulful slow blues "Changing Neighborhoods" by contemporary bluesman Anson Funderburgh.
   
   This is not excactly everything you need to know about Texas blues music, of course, but it is a really nice sampler, featuring some familiar cuts and a number of more obscure tracks which should delight "mid-level" blues fans.



2. History of Texas Blues from the beginning. Everyone from Blind Lemon Jefferson to SRV and the Fab T'birds! Love that Lucy Mae Blues and Why Don't You Eat Where You Slept Last Night! Here's some authentic deep real blues. You won't regret buying this one.

No comments about Flashbacks, Vol. 3 - Copulation Blues 1926-1940: Hot & Sexy.

3 comments about Folk, Gospel & Blues: Will the Circle Be Unbroken.

1. I heartily recommend this two disk set to enthusiasts and neophytes, alike. For some reason, the Amzn. site is showing only a partial list of the tracks. That's a shame, as it leaves out many of the real gems on the collection. Peruse the entire list below and you'll see what I mean:

   CD1
   1. Ezekiel Saw De Wheel - Fisk Jubilee Singers
   2. Crazy Blues - Mamie Smith & Her Jazz Hounds
   3. Careless Love Blues - Bessie Smith
   4. Frankie - Mississippi John Hurt
   5. Lord I Can't Just Keep From Crying - Blind
   Willie Johnson
   6. What Are They Doing In Heaven Today -
   Washington Phillips
   7. Sitting On Top Of The World - The Missi-
   ssippi Sheiks
   8. Blues Before Sunrise - Leroy Carr & Scrap-
   per Blackwell
   9. If You See My Saviour - Thomas A. Dorsey
   10. Broke Down Engine - Blind Willie McTell
   11. Mister Tom Hughe's Town - Leadbelly
   12. Cross Road Blues - Robert Johnson
   13. Key To The Highway - Big Bill Broonzy
   14. Nine Foot Shovel - Joshua White
   15. Cowboy's Lament - Burl Ives
   16. Me And My Chauffeur Blues - Memphis Minnie
   17. Swing Down Chariot - The Golden Gate
   Quartet
   18. Dere's A Man Goin' Round / I Know De Lord -
   Paul Robeson
   19. Baby Please Don't Go - Big Joe Williams
   20. Hard Day Blues - Muddy Waters
   21. I'll Never Forget - Ira Tucker & The Dixie
   Hummingbirds
   22. I'll Fly Away - The Trumpeteers
   23. I Will Move On Up A Little Higher - Mahalia
   Jackson
   24. Greenfields - The Brotehrs Four

   CD2
   1. Blowin' In The Wind - Bob Dylan
   2. The Patriot Game - The Clancy Brothers &
   Tommy Makem
   3. Green, Green - The New Christy Minstrels
   feat. Barry McGuire
   4. We Shall Overcome - Pete Seeger
   5. The Sound Of Silence - Simon & Garfunkel
   6. Death Letter - Son House
   7. Little Boxes - Malvina Reynolds
   8. Will The Circle Be Unbroken - The Staple
   Singers
   9. Suzanne - Leonard Cohen
   10. Going Up To The Country, Paint My Mailbox
   Blue - Taj Mahal
   11. These Days - Tom Rush
   12. Mean Mistreater - Johnny Winter
   13. I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man - Willie Dixon
   14. Blue River - Eric Andersen
   15. Longer - Dan Fogelberg
   16. Romeo's Tune - Steve Forget
   17. Pride And Joy - Stevie Ray Vaughan And
   Double Trouble
   18. Steady On - Shawn Colvin
   19. Galileo - Indigo Girls
   20. Stand Still - Shirley Ceasar feat. John P.
   Kee
   21. Every Morning - Keb'Mo'

   BEK




2. This album is so good it's unbelievable; It's such a great listening experience. I especially love the rendition of
   "Will The Circle Be Unbroken" by The Staple Singers it carries so well and the emotions come through.

   There are so many great songs on this album for true fans of classic blues and folk that I would almost venture
   that it has no equal. The 60-page booklet is a nice added bonus, plenty of insight into the artists and songs.

   If you have never really listened to bluesy folk music, give this disc a try. I definitely recommend adding this album
   to any collection of American folk and blues recordings.




3. The entire series put out by Sony, "Soundtrack for a Century" is a wonderful enterprise, especially if you love historical curiosities as well as great hits. From the rare to the very popular, each volume brings a wealth of great music.

   This particular volume is a curious mix from turn of the century gospel and blues to the folk music of The Clancy Brothers and the New Christy Minstrels. If you are a fan of the Clancy Brothers, nopte that there is an error in the liner notes. The notes say it is Tommy Makem singin "The Patriot Game" while in fact it is Liam Clancy.

   While it is hardly a "soundtrack for the century" since it only contains artists who recorded for labels in the Columbia family, this volume and all volumes is a very valuable addition to a complete music library.

2 comments about Atlantic Blues: Piano.

1. Not a bad song on it, and unusual for a complilation it flows from one song into the next quite well.



2. In his liner notes to this Atlantic Records piano blues anthology, "Living Blues" magazine editor Jim O'Neal writes that "The Atlantic team knew what they liked; they also knew what sold." It's instructive, then, that six songs from the original vinyl release -- two each by Little Brother Montgomery and Ray Charles, one each by Professor Longhair and Joe Turner -- remain off the CD reissue 11 years later. Musical archeology only sells so far.

   This carelessness of sequencing (two songs each from Jimmy Yancey and Meade Lux Lewis would have made their cases) is part of why "Atlantic Blues Piano" is weakest among the label's four volume blues series despite some exceptional performances. You get some of blues' finest pianists and samples of native city styles (Chicago, Kansas City, New Orleans. But the artists are caught either pre-ascension (Charles on a 1953 audition tape of Lowell Fulsom's "Low Society," Amos Milburn quarterbacking Texas Johnny Brown's jumpin' "After Hours Blues" with a superb intro) or post-peak (Yancey, heard without "Mama," heard here two months before his death with a somber "Mournful Blues" and salute to fellow piano great Pinetop Perkins).

   O'Neil acknowledges this in his liner notes. "Most of the pianists represented on this volume were already well-established recording artists by the time they went into the studio for Atlantic," he wrote."...their Atlantic sessions were in one way or another intended to recapture or restore past glory."

   That said, enough excellent music remains on this collection to earn partial recommendation. The New Orleans piano style is well-represented by Longhair's signature song "Tiptina," while Longhair disciple Dr. John rocks on a too-funky "Junco Partner" from 1971's "Gumbo." Turner (with ace Kansas City pianist Pete Johnson) provides some classic early R&B with 1956's "Roll 'Em Pete" while Lewis (helped by a young John Scofield on guitar) gallops through "Fore Day Rider" and the ballad "My Chile."

   "Atlantic Blues: Piano" is worthwhile for completists, but unfulfilling for casual listeners. Blues or R&B piano fans would do better reading the artist lineup, then finding a full album from that performer.

No comments about 20 Best of Blues.

1 comments about Blues Live from Mountain Stage.

1. Mountain stage is a terrific radio program that is seldom heard around these parts, yet these records document the strength and talent that the program has attracted over the years. Here, the focus is on the blues, and mountain stage has gathered a strong stable of artists. A welcome addition to any collection.