2 comments about Gaz's Rockin' Blues.

1. This is one of the best and craziest collections of jump blues music I have ever had the pleasure of listening to!!
   BUY IT NOW!!!!



2. At the time of writing the tracklisting here refers to a different CD.
   
   This is the correct list:
   
   1. Arthur Crudup - I Want My Lovin'
   2. Sonny Boy Williamson - Polly Put The Kettle On
   3. Junior Parker's Blue Flames - Feeling Good
   4. H Bomb Ferguson - Bookies Blues
   5. Floyd Dixon - Hey Bartender
   6. Jesse Allen - Let's Party
   7. Wynonie Harris - Lovin' Machine
   8. Willie Mabon - Say Man
   9. Willie Mabon - Poison Ivy
   10. Robert T. Smith - Workin' Again
   11. Larry Dale - Drinkin' Wine Spo-De-O-Dee
   12. Shirley & Lee - When Day Is Done
   13. Barbie Gaye - My Boy Lollipop
   14. Johnny Otis - New Orleans Shuffle
   15. Tabby Thomas - Mmm I Don't Care
   16. Fluffy Hunter & Jessie Powell - Walk Right In
   17. Gene Coy & His Killer Dillers - Killer Diller
   18. Jackie Brenston - Independent Woman
   19. Smoki Whitfield - Function At The Junction
   20. Lowell Fulson - I Believe I'll Give It Up
   21. Johnny Guitar Watson - Gangster Of Love
   22. Amos Milburn - One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer
   23. The Kinks - All Day & All Of The Night
   24. John Mayall - I'm Your Witchdoctor
   25. 101'ers - Sweetie Of The St Moritz
   26. Gaz's Rebel Blues Rockers - Aggravation Station
   
   Disc: 2
   1. The Specials - Too Much Too Young (Live)
   2. The Blues Busters - Little Vilma
   3. Joe White - Now and Forever More
   4. Lord Tanamo - You Belong To My Heart
   5. The Survivors - Rawhide
   6. Justin Hinds - Higher The Monkey Climbs
   7. Don Drummond & Drumbago 65 - Treasure Island
   8. Alton Ellis - You Are Not To Blame
   9. Jimmy Cliff - King Of Kings
   10. Dandy With Rico - Rudy, A Message To You
   11. Ken Boothe - The One I Love
   12. Desmond Dekker - Fu Manchu
   13. n/a - Got To Be At The Party
   14. Ken Boothe - Can't You See
   15. Dave Barker - Double Heavy
   16. Jo Jo Bennett - Canteloupe Rock
   17. Laurel Aitken - Skinhead Train
   18. Destroyers - Pressure Tonic
   19. Freddie Notes & The Rudies - Rudexodus
   20. The Paragons - Got To Get Away
   21. Toots & The Maytals - 54-46 Was My Number
   22. Dennis Alcapone - Cassius Clay
   23. Delroy Wilson - Have Some Mercy
   24. Don Junior (Vin Gordon) - Movie Swing
   25. The Instigators - Instigators Five O

No comments about The Story of Black & Blue 1976-1988, Vol. 2.

1 comments about Hey! Piano Man.

1. The sound is a little scratchy on some of the tracks. Many are crystal clear, and some are inbetween. It says remastered but for some of them is still isn't all that great so some would be more for historical interest than listening pleasure.
   
   The liner notes are just 2 small pages on each CD. Still, this is classic stuff by four of the greatest names from the origins of boogie and blues. And, you can't beat the price, 88 songs on 4 cds = about 30 cents each so even if you skip half of the tracks (which you won't) it is still a bargain.

No comments about Wild Women Do Get the Blues.

No comments about Black Top Blues-A-Rama, Vol. 4: Down & Dirty.

1 comments about Midnight at St. Jude's.

1. I haven't heard much of this type of music before hearing this album. "Pray" sold me instantly, and left me wanting to hear more.
   
   It's an amazing piece; I'm looking forward to listening to the rest of the music on this album.

No comments about Blues T-Bone Style.

3 comments about Black Appalachia: String Bands, Songsters and Hoedowns (Deep River of Song).

1. Too much of the general view of socalled old time music comes from the suburban, middle class people, who retreat to it thinking they are getting to something so white, so "celtic" that culturally they are making the same flight from Black people musically that they have made residentially.
   
   However, we pervade. This is real old time music, the Black music that is at the core and foundation of Southeastern American traditional music. You see it, you feel it, in all its glory right here.
   
   This is the Black old time string band and dance music that was ignored by record companies that only wanted blues out of Black artists and by most folklorists who by an large were only interested in blues, work songs, or songs they in their narrow point of view could directly pin as African Survivals. This is a great broad survey to open you up to the music. After you see this, you will be impelled to search for more. A good help is my own listmania list on Old Time music from a Black point of view.
   
   Last week, I kept just the first selection, Jimmy Strother's "Cripple Creek" repeating on my CD for a couple hours. It was not just the great banjo playing, but the lyrics with real meaning: "Read and Run, Read and Run, don't let the sundown catch you here," Strothers sings from inside a Virginia prison.
   
   Syd Hemphil's recordings here are very important. Hemphil is not just a fiddler, a blues artist, a font of Mississippi folk tradition, but he was a leader in the African quills and drums, Mississippi Hill Country, fife and drum band tradition. Here Hemphil PlayS in a band of fiddle, banjo, guitar AND DRUM! Despite the attempts of the slave masters to surpress the drums for fear they would call us to rebellion, the drum remains integral to this music.
   
   More well known because of the Altamont recordings is the John Lusk band one of the wildest, great string bands, Black and white of all time. I could go on and and on about every one of these selections. However, rather than reading more of my words, you need to listen to more of this music!
   
   Many, including myself, have written about the limitations of John and Alan Lomax in their collection and writing and shaping of American traditional music through lenses they want it to be seen with. However,the more important point is they went out and found this music, recorded this music, made it breathe out to the public by their connection with the initial 1930s folk song movement, and Alan continued that association to his death a few years back!



2. I like the Lomax disks, I like real folk, country, and bluegrass music, and I usually like less polished music by early, uncommercial artists. Nevertheless, I don't listen to this disk much. The problem isn't the quality of the music, which is high. But it's not just less polished, it's totally unpolished. I think you really have to be searching for the roots of just this type of music to appreciate this disk.



3. This Cd represents a treasure of american music and lets one know that what this music really is is a mixture of european and african influences.

1 comments about Blues Bar-B-Que.

1. This CD has much in common with the backyard bar-b-que from which it takes its name. Some of it needs to be thrown out, but most of it is so satisfying that as soon as you're done you start looking forward to the opportunity to do it again.
   
   You can never go wrong with Marcia Ball. The green bullet screams in that painfully pleasing way through BBQ at JD's. Hot Sauce will have you shaking your hips while you shake a little dry rub on those ribs.
   
   If you put sauce on your meat while you cook it don't buy this CD. You don't know BBQ so you probably don't know blues.
   
   By the time you make it to Heartburn, track 9, you should be ready to give yourself a little heartburn with what you are taking off the grill. Pop open another Bud and hit repeat on this disc. This is livin'.

1 comments about Bullet Records Rhythm & Blues.

1. Fred James has been putting out a number of collections of classic rhythm and blues recordings from Nashville on the German SRV Blue label. "Bullet Records Rhythm & Blues" is the second reissue in this series of the important Nashville label. It focuses on jump blues and blues shouters. It opens with four selections by one of the greatest shouters, Wyonnie Harris, and in addition to his vocals, these recordings include the first recordings of pianist Herman `Sonny' Blount (better known as Sun Ra). These recordings may have also had Mr. Harris on drums. A few years later Mr. Blount would be leading a band in Chicago and emerge with his unique and influential big band. While these recordings will be of historical interest for that fact, there is plenty more here for fans of jump blues and blues shouters. Fred James speculates that its tenor saxophonist Buddy Tate's band backing Max Bailey whose songs includes an exhortation to the troops on "Drive Soldiers Drive." Alto saxophonist Sherman Williams' selections feature pianist-shouter Skippy Brooks who would later be a mainstay in Nashville for Excello, and sings six strong tracks including "Baby Don't You Want to Go," a reworking of "Kokomo Blues," a song that was the model for "Sweet Home Chicago." Two tracks by The Bobby Plater Orchestra feature members of Lionel Hampton's Orchestra backing a young Rufus Thomas, while Doc Wiley's two tracks include a hot jump instrumental and the more philosophical "Play Your Hand" with Wiley's strong piano and a nice vocal. A few cuts are more in the vein of Mills Brothers styled harmony, and fill out what is an exceptional reissue that will be of special interest to fans of blues shouters.