5 comments about The Best of Hooker 'n Heat.

1. Like ice cream pizza, Hooker 'n' Heat is a pairing of two great things that doesn't quite work. The record company realized that the original 2-disc Hooker 'N' Heat release was overbloated, so they pared it down to this 1-disc....but it's still just not worth the money.
   
   Find a Hooker compilation that includes "Burning Hell" (which is nearly ANY Hooker compilation) and you're good to go.



2. Hooker 'N Heat is almost universally considered the greatest album in the long and storied careers of both Delta bluesman John Lee Hooker and California boogeymen Canned Heat. These wonderful songs are as improvisational as any jazz session: Hooker finds a beat, starts off, and lets the boys in the band play catch-up until they run out of musical ideas and the song ends. Hook has special praise for Alan Wilson, the Heat's wunderkid harpist, noting that Wilson is the best harmonica player ever: "I don't know how he follow me, but he do." In this best of the best compilation from those sessions (a great idea for us budget-minded listeners), standout songs include "Burning Hell," which is the Hook's rockin' and rollin' take on the afterlife, "The World Today," a talking piece circa 1970, in which the fiftysomething Hooker identifies with young people and is glad "the old coots are gone," and "Boogie Chillen' 2," an 11-minute jamfest of Hooker's first hit that will have you jumping out of your seat. For their part, the Heat add outstanding instrumental support (singer Bob "the Bear" Hite adds no vocals, but aids in production duties); as noted above, Wilson's harp work is fabulous, and this record must be seen as the crowning achievement of his career. (Sadly, he died while waiting for the record to be released; thats his picture on the wall in the album photos.) In short, a thrilling offering from two of the rockingest, boogieingest (is that a word?) artists ever, and one to surely lift you out of your seat. Get this disc and turn up the heat!!!



3. i rarely rate anything 5 stars, but this one makes it. when john lee plays "peavine" i can hear it coming down the tracks. and the 11 minute version of "boogie chillen" is excellent. the version of "burnin' hell" is my fav of all time - the harp is excellent (like john lee said, "i don't know how he follow me but he do."). i've got at least a half dozen of his cds and this one may be the best.



4. This recording for those of you that weren't around, was a meeting of a giant bluesman and some of the best original 60's hippie bluesmen. Hooker at the time was only known to bluesheads or ghetto dwellers.The Canned Heat, well what more to say. No frills, no wah wah's, just Gibson guitars playing mean mean ol blues. There was no SUPERSTAR "Hooker", just a bunch of guys that felt the music and laid it down as it was for them at the moment. Very little production or editing, just live blues in the studio. A seminal recording, have owned it since it was released.



5. There are plenty of John Lee Hooker cds that are way better than this one. It is boring. Besides, Canned heat has a double disc best of release that makes all others seem unnecessary.

5 comments about King Biscuit Time.

1. If you like really great Blues Harmonica, this is an excellent choice. This CD has a good selection of tempos and feeling, but it's definitely all Blues. If you've never heard SBW II, he is quite different than SBW I (no relation), and I prefer his style of early Blues. It's not exactly delta blues, although I think that's what many might classify it as: SBW II seems to have a broader appeal.



2. Aleck "Rice" Miller, Sonny Boy Williamson II, was around long enough to have played with Robert Johnson at one end of his career, and with Eric Clapton at the other. He was born at the tail end of the 19th century in Glendora, Mississippi, he taught the basics of blues harmonica to a young Howlin' Wolf, and he was present the night Robert Johnson was poisoned.
   
   And even though he took his moniker from the younger Tennessee bluesman John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson, Miller's style was nothing like Williamson's.
   
   In fact, no-one really sounded like Rice Miller. His raspy vocal delivery was sly, world-weary, and delightfully evil, and his inimitable harp-playing relied on short, rhythmic bursts one minute and powerful, passionate blowing the next. The liner notes to a 1960s LP of his stated with disturbing seriousness that only a man who had long since sold his soul to the devil in exchange for not having to breathe while performing could sing and play the way Miller did.
   And Rice Miller was perhaps the best songwriter the blues has ever seen, displaying an attention to detail which is rare in the blues. His songs were full of mordant wit, with largely autobiographical lyrics that truly hold up to the scrutiny of the printed page.
   
   This CD collects most of Miller's earliest recordings, his magnificent 1951 Trumpet sides. The raw original versions of several songs that whe would later record for Chess are here, including "Cross My Heart", "Nine Below Zero", "Too Close Together", and the classic "Eyesight To The Blind". And since Miller was already in his early 50s at the time and had established a style of his own many years before, these performances are every bit as impressive as his later Chess sides.
   
   Miller is backed by drums, piano, bass and electric guitar, and slide guitar legend Elmore James is credited as one of the guitarists on several tracks, alongside pianist Willie Love and the "eternal sideman", Joe Willie Wilkins. Wilkins taught B.B. King guitar in the 40s, and recorded with Little Walter, Big Walter Horton, Elmore James, Roosevelt Sykes and several others.
   The fidelity here doesn't match Miller's Chess sides, but there is so much power and grit in these 57 year old recordings that it really doesn't matter all that much.
   
   This CD reissue also includes Elmore James' first single, the famous rendition of Robert Johnson's "I Believe I'll Dust My Broom", which features Rice Miller on harp, as well as a thirteen-minute KFFA broadcast from 1965, the year Rice Miller died. That one includes his versions on "V-8 Ford", "Right Now", "Come Go With Me", and T-Bone Walker's "They Call It Stormy Monday".
   
   "King Biscuit Time" is a tremendous collection of Sonny Boy in his prime, and a must-have for any and all fans of blues harmonica.
   4 1/2 stars - highly recommended.



3. Sonny Boy somehow gets swept into a corner because he only had a few records that were "hits" in the 1950s, "Don't Start Me To Talkin'" and "Mighty Long Time," his masterpiece on this CD. However, when he died, artists including The Moody Blues, Jack Bruce, Jimmy Reed, Paul Jones of Manfred Mann, John Maysll, Van Morrison, Eric Clapton and others recorded tributes to him. He recorded with the Animals and Yardbirds, Jimmy Page, jazzmen Chris Barber and Roland Kirk and others. The real story is that Sonny Boy II (not the same Sonny Boy Williamson who recorded "Good Morning Little School Girl"} was Alex Miller, a blues harp player, songwriter and singer who had been playing in the Mississippi delta since the late 1920s with people like Robert Johnson and Robert Lockwood Jr., Joe Willie Wilkins, Pinetop Perkins, Ike Turner and others. He was THE star of the Delta, so popular he didn't need to record until 1950 when he started to record these sides with Jackosn Mississippi's Trumpet Records. He was an escaped convict who became an international blues star using another man's name (John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson among others) and another's as his alias (his brother Willie Miller). He was truly hiding in the spotlight.



4. For hearing the man born as Alec (Rice) Miller as he had rounded into near-complete game shape, in the years immediately preceding the seminal sides he would cut for Chess beginning in the mid-to-late 1950s, there is no better package than this of Sonny Boy Williamson's incandescent, embryonic recordings for the ancient Trumpet label. Many of these songs would get the Sonny Boy makeover when he re-cut them during his Chess years, and it's intriguing to compare between the Trumpet originals and the Chess refineries of such signature songs as "Eyesight To The Blind," "Cross My Heart," "Nine Below Zero," "Mr. Down Child," and "Mighty Long Time." Then again, the tandem treat is to hear a good enough dollop of some of Sonny Boy's more personal material, particularly the slightly haunting "West Memphis Blues," which he wrote about the fire that actually burned down the house he had bought with his wife.

   Then, there are the bonuses: one of the last broadcasts of the legendary "King Biscuit Time" on which Sonny Boy would appear before his death; and perhaps the earliest known version Elmore James would cut of his signature "Dust My Broom," this one with Sonny Boy (who was long reputed to have tricked him into cutting it for Trumpet) sliding in with some fills showing he was a deft an accompanist/partner as he was a harmonica virtuoso. Accompanying the cantankerously poetic Sonny Boy, mostly, are such legends of Memphis/Helena blues as guitarist Joe Willie Wilkins (Robert Jr. Lockwood he ain't, but for laying a sensible support and spitting out the occasional fill and run he acquits his own self very nicely), bassist Cliff Bivens, drummer Frock, and pianist Dave Campbell, and they deliver yeoman's work.




5. Rice Miller was a man of many faces, tones, and zip codes. THis disc packs some of the fiercest, most downhome sounds that Mississippi had to offer. Includes a radio broadcast from the KING BICUIT FLOWER HOUR and definitve versions of such tunes as "She Brought Life Back To The Dead," "Cool Blues," and "Eyesight To The Blind." As well, "Mighty Long Time" is a marvel. Wonderful harp with Willie Love on piano, and Elmore James on guitar for most tracks. Some of the best Sonny Boy available in the States.

No comments about Blowin' the Blues.

5 comments about Too Bad Jim.

1. R.L. Burnside wasn't discovered until late in life. How could this talent have been hidden so long? This is just great, gritty, no frills, blues. Almost hypnotic at times (ie. "When my First Wife...,). "Shake Em On Down", "Old Black Mattie" and "Going Down South" are just house-shaking good tunes. "Short Haired Woman" and "Death Bell Blues" conjures up images of R.L. sitting on his back porch on a hot, Mississippi summer evening. This is just great stuff. Unfortunately Fat Possum records would get the bright idea on future R.L. releases to bastardize his music with loops and other hip-hop sound effects. I guess they were trying to get a younger, more "hip" audience or something. But that's a whole other review. "Too Bad Jim" is hard to beat, but if you like this (how could you not like this?) also check out his live CD "Burnside on Burnside" which is also excellent.



2. Most likely this is RL at the top of his craft. He was always great, but on TooBadJim he was inspired, not that he didn't always have such moments, he was otherworldly, celestial. I am amazed that this wonderful man and player even existed, from the farms of Holly Springs, Miss., carefully honing his god givens in the denizens of Junior Kimbroughs'bar and lounge. This is really what music is supposed to be, clean, honest, and earned. This is the real thing. Bless Robert Palmer for recording these guys and showing the world what the scene was like in the deep south. They are all terrific in their own right, but rl burnside was the patriarch, their guiding light, student of the delta blues, a natural born world shaker. May he live on through toobadjim and everything else, his wisdom passed on to his family, friends and everybody who listens to his work. He really was "special".



3. This is unshaven, dusty, floor-board blues, something to drink a beer to under a spidery, greasy, yellowed light bulb. R. L.'s weathered voice rides through the gritty lyrics with as much wavering siltiness as his metal guitar slide. The back bass and beat are played straight-faced and without frills, raw and undiluted. Thankfully the producers chose to play it hands-off with this one; every hang-nail, every skitter and skip, and every raggedy edge is left intact, meaning that these blues sound exactly the way they are: authentic.
   
   For a live performance, however, this CD is remarkably short. Remarkably. Just as the performers are pulling you into their boot-tappin', head-shakin' world, the songs stop. If there weren't other, longer Burnside records out there, this would be a five-star album. As it is, though, its lamentably short time makes it a wonderful footnote to an already stellar and long-toned career.



4. Hard to believe this record came out over 10 years ago and now both the producer and the artist are dead. RIP, RL! You were the root, the blues walking and talking like a man. Anyone who doesn't own this record should purchase it immediately and play at maximum volume while making love to someone else's woman.



5. In his documentary "Deep Blues," eccentric producer Robert Palmer introduced us to a brand of blues that comes not from the Delta, but from the hill country region of northwest Mississippi. While it bears a vague resemblance to its lowlands cousin, Hill Country Blues is a whole 'nother critter altogether. It is, as Palmer describes in the liner notes of this CD, a "slashing, droning trance-blues," a "churning, jamming one-chord exercise in stamina and mass-hypnosis."

   Too many recordings these days suffer from excessive post-production, processed until they've been homogenized, sterilized, or just plain castrated, but this ain't slicked-up big city blues, Bubba. Uh Uh. Robert Palmer is a blues bloodhound; he knows where the Real Blues live, and on this CD records them in their element as they happen. The results are, in a word, profound.

   Burnside plays a wicked, ratty slide over the top of a hypnotic backbeat laid down by backup guitarist Kenny Brown, bassist Dwayne Burnside and drummer Calvin Jackson. Recorded live at a jukejoint owned by fellow bluesman Junior Kimbrough, "Too Bad Jim" is raw, nasty & compelling, coming through with all the fevered urgency of a jukejoint jam session.

   ".44 Pistol" is a raucous and swaggering counterstroke to the haunting cover of Lightnin' Hopkins "Death Bell Blues" which follows. Two other Hopkins tunes, "Short Haired Woman" and "Miss Glory B." get the Burnside treatment. "Fireman Ring The Bell" seems to borrow much from Bill Broonzy's "Rollin' & Tumblin'."

   This is Deep Blues as it should be heard, bare and honest without any fancy production tricks to spoil it. Just buy it.

3 comments about Blues Gold.

1. This CD is a must for any person who wants to truely understand the history of our people. The song really express the love, the pain, and yes even the hate that time brought to the lives of us. The instruments seems to take on a life of there own it is like they became one with the singer. The words reflect the mood of today life styles for many. I think that the BLUES GOLD shoul dbe in evry ones collection. One listen and you will understand.



2. A nice mixture of old and new, familiar and not-so -- sort of a Blues Greatest Hits. I was a little put off by the packaging, which is so plain as to look like a cheesy reissue set, but the liner notes are good, the sound quality is good, and above all, the music is good.



3. This thirty-eight track, two-hour-plus anthology does an excellent job of presenting fifty years of blues from the post-World War II era through the present day. Disc one includes such Chicago blues giants as Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Howlin' Wolf and Buddy Guy who all recorded for Chess. While many of these artists did not enjoy huge crossover success, they influenced everyone from Elvis ("Hound Dog") to the Yarbirds ("I'm a Man"), The Rolling Stones ("I'm a King Bee"), Cream ("Spoonful") and George Thorogood ("One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer"). Every song on disc-one is a classic, from T-Bone Walker's million-selling "Call It Stormy Monday" to Bobby "Blue" Bland's No. 2 R&B hit "Turn on Your Love Light" (which peaked at No. 28 on the pop charts). Disc-one is required listening for anyone with even a remote interest in the blues.
   
   Disc-two, while it includes such blues stalwarts as Albert King, Etta James and B.B. King, focuses more on contemporary standard-bearers. Eric Clapton and Duane Allman perform Little Walter's "Mean Old World" from the LAYLA sessions. The Allman Brothers perform a live version of Muddy Water's "Trouble No More." And a then sixteen-year-old wunderkind Johnny Lang takes on the Sonny Boy Williamson classic "Good Morning Little School Girl." In addition, there are other performances by such modern blues artists as Robert Cray, Keb' Mo' and Susan Tedeschi.
   
   This is by no means an exhaustive look at the blues, but it is a solid collection of the some of the best songs of the genre. And while many of these songs may already be in your music library, it's nice to have them all gathered together in one collection. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

4 comments about The Best Blues Album in the World...Ever!.

1. Although the title is totally hyperbole, this is an excellent collection of blues tunes of various eras and styles.

   I am a relative newcomer to the blues, so a compilation like this is right up my alley. It lets me get a taste of different aspects of the blues, and to discover artists that I would not have otherwise been exposed to.

   Represented here are some of the early delta bluesmen (Lightnin' Hopkins "Abilene", mislabeled as "Shotgun Blues"), the early electric blues (Muddy Waters' "Mannish Boy"), the '60's revival (B. B. King's "3 O'Clock Blues"), the great female blues singers (Koko Taylor's smokin' "Wang Dang Doodle"), the British blues bands (John Mayall's "Spinning Coin"), contemporary American blues rock (Johnny Winter's "Illustrated Man"), and lesser known contemporary artists (Colin James' infectious cover of "No More Doggin'").

   Throw in selections by Albert Collins, Elmore James, Howlin' Wolf, Chuck Berry, John Lee Hooker, Albert King, Freddie King, Buddy Guy, J. J. Cale, and others, and you have a blues compilation CD that may not be "The Greatest in the World", but one that both novices and long time blues fans can enjoy. Highly recommended to anybody with ann interest in the blues.




2. Calling your album the "best ever" takes balls, but this CD stands the test. From classics like Muddy Waters' 'Mannish Boy' or Little Walter's 'My Babe' to hot female singers like Etta James and the dynamic Koko Taylor to oldies radio station's staples like 'Reeling and Rockin'' by Chuck Berry and classic rock blues like Gary Moore's 'Still Got The Blues', this CD covers a lot of ground.

   If you want an introduction to the blues and can only buy one CD, this should be it! If you already love the blues, you'll love hearing these songs again and remember them like your first kiss. Either way, this CD will put sadness in your heart or heat in your loins, sometimes in the same song!




3. Not even close to the best ever. The actual title should read: "The Best Blues Album For Which We Were Able To Get Rights To The Songs Quickly" or something like that. The fact is this double disc set is just a grab bag of songs with absolutely no thought put into it whatsoever. With a few exceptions, disc one is practically a throw away. Larry McCray, Kinsey Report, Gary Moore, and Terry Evans et. al. are all ok modern blues artists but hardly deserve to be on a blues album titled "The Best Ever" -especially one limited to only two discs.

   This is a Virgin release, so poor understanding of the genre is to be expected. However, to boldly exclaim that this is the best ever compilation is a rather ostentatious position -even for the Virgin people. The best ever blues compilation would certainly be a difficult undertaking. However, this set completly ignores the likes of giants like Big Maceo, Tommy Johnson, Sonny Boy Williamson I & II, Robert Johnson, Tampa Red, Lowell Fulson, Big Bill Broonzy, Lonnie Johnson, Roosevelt Sykes, Robert Nighthawk, Jimmy Witherspoon, Floyd Dixon, and so many many more important and entertaining historical blues artists. The most shocking eversight is the absence of T-Bone Walker!

   Really, I think this is a waste of your money. Even on its own level the flow is odd especially on disc one. Disc two has a better grouping and flow of great blues artists and songs, but still not worth the price. There has yet to be a true "best of" compilation to be released, so for now I suggest you may want to explore the best attempt to date. It is a four disc box set released on MCA in 1996 called "Mean Old World."




4. I really enjoyed these CDs. it gives a good mix of old school and new school blues so to speak. From todays best to the acoustic sounds of yesteryear, this CD entertained me for a very long time with some great blues.

5 comments about Harlem Street Singer.

1. The Reverend picks you up, makes you want to sing, and if you play guitar, this album will make you want to trade in the axe and let someone else play it! He sings and you want to sing...its got a really nice groove about it too, it moves along, chugs along...all by himself.....check him out on youtube, 'if i had my way' i love it.



2. If heaven really exixts, Reverend Gary Davis will be playing at the gates to welcome us all in. Man!! Only a blind man could finger a guitar the way this man did. At some point the material becomes secondary to the performance of this incredible gifted musician and singer. This is music from the very core of one's being. Though there isn't a bad cut on the album, my favorite's are "Let Us Get Together" and "I Belong To The Band," to mention a few.
   
   This is the music that influenced some of the greats, I recommend it highly.



3. Gary Davis was born blind, black, and broke in South Carolina in 1896. Big obstacles, but he also was blessed with talent and got paid for his guitar-pickin' by the time he was a teen. Ordained as a minister at age 36, he changed his song inventory to Gospel and hymns exclusively. He ended up in NYC, performing at mostly Black churches and on the streets. In the late '50's, the "Folk Revival" of blessed memory provided him a brief celebrity beyond those venues. This album was recorded in 1960 at the Jersey jazz studio of the legendary engineer Rudy Van Gelder. You get 44 minutes of soul survival stuff here, and any blues buff ought to own it. The more casual fan may have to listen a few times to really like Gary's vocals, but his guitar work is fun from the first chord. The recording quality is excellent. To me, the only flaw is that each song would have benefitted from one fewer sung verse, and one more instrumental passage. It's not that Gary's voice is any more rough than other bluesmen. The problem is that the lyrics of these church songs belabor the point and get a bit repetitious. Still, he was one of the best of his kind. Imagine him at 64, alone in the recording booth for three hours, doing 20 songs, of which these are supposedly the best takes of the best 12. He had not recorded anything in four years: in fact, he had only recorded in 1935, '54 and '56 prior to this August 24, 1960 session. On that day, Kennedy and Nixon were running for president, the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Yankees were heading toward a classic World Series, and I was living about 40 miles south of the studio, getting ready to begin 11th grade. Rev. Davis was doing something more important: preserving the Black church songs of early 20th century for posterity.



4. My collection includes all of The Reverend's recorded works. If you are going to buy just one Davis disc -- or if you are looking for a good introduction to this Blues/Ragtime master, "Harlem Street Singer" is unquestionably the best choice. The recording captures Davis at his most passionate vocally and at this top of his game as a gutarist. A lot of his early work suffers from poor recording technology, however this disc sounds like it was cut in a 21st Century studio.

   I'm not a religious person, but Davis' music is almost enough to send me running to church. The piercing conviction of the lyrics and sycopated guitar in Twelve Gates, Great Change and Samson and Deliah still send chills of guilt up my spine.




5. If you enjoy both blues and gospel music, you will discover on this CD that for Reverend Davis there is no distinction between the two forms. Samson and Delilah and Death don't Have No Mercy were tunes that influenced The Grateful Dead and other Rock bands, but here you get the full, original impact of these songs.

   Reverend Davis was without question one of the greatest blues guitar stylists ever, and this album captures some of his strongest recorded work. The importance and beauty of this recording cannot be overemphasized!

5 comments about One-Dime Blues.

1. One-Dime Blues, Etta Baker, Rounder Records, 1991
   
   Recently I mentioned in reviewing Elizabeth Cotton's Freight Train album from Folkways that there was something appealing about these North Carolina style guitar pickers. It is different from the Delta pick, for sure. They pick cleanly, simply but with verve. The Delta is a little more heavy-handed reflecting, I think, the woes of picking that cotton all week. Damn, I would be guitar picking like Keith Richards under those conditions. Ms. Baker shows her stuff here on this almost exclusively instrumental album from Rounder Records. The one vocal that she does do here -Broken-Hearted Blues- makes me wish that she had done more vocals but the guitar can carry her through on this album- no problem. Highlights here include some old country blues classics-John Henry, Crow Jane, Railroad Bill, Spanish Fandango and so on. Nice, nice touch. Nice, nice music.



2. Love her style of blues guitar picking. Love the mix of songs on the CD. Love her story. She's just an amazing woman. This CD must have for all blues fanatics.
   I'm so sorry she isn't with us any longer.



3. If you enjoy Jorma Kaukonen's fingerpick style, then you really will love Etta Baker. Just listen to her version of "Police Dog Blues." She was truly a fantastic musician who should have been better-known in her lifetime.



4. Wow - fabulous fingerpicking here. What a talent. Lively stuff that somehow leaves you with a real peaceful feeling. Mostly instrumentals, but a real heartfelt and poetic vocal in Brokenhearted Blues. I still find many of the tunes luring me into a zone even after listening to them countless times. Technically this is in the Piedmont Blues category, but you don't have to be a fan of this genre to fall for this album.



5. This is one awesome lady. It's infectious. I dare anyone to listen to her play and not tap your feet to the beat.

2 comments about Prison Songs (Historical Recordings From Parchman Farm 1947-48), Vol. 2: Don'tcha Hear Poor Mother Calling?.

1. I heard a great arraingement of "Berta" during the movie "The Piano" which stared Charles Dutton. I thought that arraingement or at least some approximation was on this CD but it turns out that track 8 'O' Berta' is a disapointing version of that great tune. Otherwise if you like to hear these types of songs you might like this cd.



2. This collection has real feeling and that's what music is supposed to be about. I highly recommend it.

5 comments about Screamin' and Hollerin' the Blues: The Worlds of Charley Patton.

1. WOW!!! 5***** The best of the BEST...Cannot say enough about this..but u cannot go wrong in this purchase!!! WOW!!!



2. I love this set, but for the price, I think it's more for those who, like me, fell off into the deep end. For the money, I would recommend the JSP set, it's $25 and has all of Patton's recordings.
   The JSP definetly has more noise reduction, which can be a plus to newbies,(but I prefer the more original sound of the recordings, no matter what. They are history after all.) That said, you get a copy of Fahey's long out of print book,( Which goes for more then $200) plus an amazing packaging by Revenant. There is much material hear to study.



3. This is the musical equivalent of a family Bible. You will pass it down from children to grandchildren. It cannot be likened to any other boxed set I have ever seen - not even the lavish and fantastic Bear Family country and rockabilly sets from Germany. The Folkways reissue of the Anthology of American Folk Music comes close in look and feel, but it's still 100 miles behind.

   There are three points that I would make to a potential purchaser that may not be totally obvious:

   1. These recordings sound really, really good for those on the old Paramount label - where the recordings were done poorly, no metal parts exist, and all extant CDs are dubbed from 78 RPM shellac pressings, some of which are in pretty bad shape (at one point the only existing copy of Willie Brown's "Future Blues" was broken in half!). I have not heard JSP's Patton boxed set, which would seem to be a great substitute at $25 for somebody who does not want to pay $150. However, I do have JSP's "Legends of the Country Blues," which has the 1930 Son House Paramount recordings that are on disc 4 of this set. This sounds much better. The JSP sounds more No-Noised to me, while this sounds more alive on the high end. I say that as someone who has bought a lot of the JSP sets, and who would have no hesitation recommending their work generally.

   2. This is not 7 CDs of just Charley Patton. This is a really good introduction to pre-Robert Johnson Delta blues. You get all the Paramount recordings of Son House, Willie Brown and Louise Johnson, two of whom were seminal figures, and the last of whom was just fun. (Somebody ought to make a movie about the roadtrip Patton, House, Brown and Johnson took to Wisconsin to record these tracks. They could get Charles Dutton to play the guy from the Delta Big Four who drove them.) You get a CD of some pretty essential stuff by various artists, including Tommy Johnson. You get the Delta Big Four, Son Sims and some others. You get a CD of interviews.

   3. It's bittersweet to say, but this set may get overtaken by future discoveries. It's criminally ironic that a full-body, first-generation photo of Charley Patton finally surfaced a year after this box came out. Also, it's known that there are other Patton recordings for which 78s have yet to be found; they may turn up if they haven't already.

   You KNOW you want to buy it. Don't you?




4. The previous reviews make some valid points about this stunning box set-it is really special, and like thing that are incremntally finer, it is geometrically more [money]- and i take my blues pretty seriously...
   it is, as mentioned, like a fine rare book-and the essential music (the first 5 cds ) are available ... in the Complete Works of Charley Patton (the five cd set in a slip case-limited liner notes) also listed here, and affordable for 'us bluesmen'.

   I am writing this to let all know that, aside from two additional cds, one containing interviews by others about Patton, and one of other artists who performed his work (thus the "worlds of CP" ), and some very cool posters and stickers and lovely packaging and other toys and eye candy, the essence is available for a fraction of the cost-same stuff from "masked marvel productions" the orignator of this lovely tome -made in the UK. Unless you really love CP and will listen to this lots, I recommend the [shorter] set-it is still the stirring blues of this great, complete.




5. From the reviews I know this is worth the money there is allot of rare stuff on here especially the Willie Brown song "Pallet on the Floor" this is my main reason for wanting to get this box set so bad. This is the only place you can get that Willie Brown song according to Yazoo2002 "Masters of the Delta Blues, Friends of Charlie Patton" he only recorded two songs in his life time "M&O blues" and "Jinx Blues" one of the most awesome Delta blues songs I have heard (Jinx Blues). Oh yeah one more thing I would have given this 5 stars but where in the world is the Ishmon Bracey recording I mean he was one of Charlie Patton's worlds also (lol) wasn't he not to mention one of the best Delta Bluesmen to strum a guitar it just seems incomplete to have Kid Bailey, Son House, Willie Brown, Tommy Johnson, Bertha Lee and no Ishmon Bracey .... The poor guy is probally squirming in his grave right now leaving him out like that yall otta be ashamed of yourselves (Yazoo would have never done a thing like that). Just for that I'm giving this 3.5 stars now (but I'm still gonna save the money to buy this) p.s how in the hell is a Bluesman suppose to afford this boxset....