5 comments about Sam Cooke with the Soul Stirrers.

1. WOW! Listening to Sam with the Soul Stirrers really made me appreciate just how great he really was. If you love Sam Cooke (and you should), then you should listen to this. If you love Gospel music, you need this.



2. Probablely the best gospel group of the fifties and sixties. I love this CD.



3. Sam Cooke with the Soul Stirres is one of most inspiring and heartfilling experiences of all times. It really touch my soul,a cd of real downhome gospel music.I'll gladly give it 5 stars being the best.



4. you do not need to be religious or a gospel fan to enjoy this great music. this is not the commercial pop/blues of sam cooke's later solo career, which is still good music. this is his roots, and in my opinion his greatest work by far.



5. You don't get a deserved reputation for singing with passion, fire, and energy as Sam Cooke did without having some proving ground, some mode of training for developing talent that, once discovered, catapulted him to the forefront of the emerging American R&B music scene. No matter what kind of song Sam would sing later, whether "Chain Gang," "You Send Me," or "Cupid," the raw, unbridled strength of his vocals had their beginnings first in church, and then recording and touring with the Soul Stirrers, one of the top gospel groups of the time.
   
   Sam Cooke joined when he was only 19 years old, but he quickly became the co-lead singer, following the group's long-standing format of having two co-lead vocalists. But after a while, Sam's voice so overshadowed the others that the group eventually became known as Sam Cooke and The Soul Stirrers.
   
   This collection of some of the Soul Stirrers' greatest hits with Cooke as a vocalist features some of his best recorded gospel performances. Songs like "Be With me Jesus," "I'm so Glad Trouble Don't Last Always," "That's Heaven To Me," and the classic, timeless "Touch The Hem of His Garment" brim over with the richness and power that was Sam Cooke's voice. Another great talent lost too soon, but also another talent that we were fortunate to have for at least a little while.
   
   If you love Sam Cooke or traditional gospel music, this CD is a must for your collection.

5 comments about The Complete Plantation Recordings.

1. This is where the legend of the one and only, tremendous Muddy Waters starts. Few people have ever impacted any artform as much as Muddy has American music. Though he is accompanied on some songs, Muddy is also solo on many and performs some future classics w/ just an acoustic and his powerful voice. When Muddy heard the playback after "Country Blues" he knew that he had what it took to be a blues professional... possibly the greatest that there ever was. If you've never heard Muddy play acoustic, you are in for a shock; I believe my jaw dropped to the floor when I heard the amazing, full-bodied, vibrant sound that he got out of just a guitar and his voice on songs such as the first cut and "I Be's Troubled" (later recorded as "I Can't Be Satisfied." This is indispensable and essential listening, not just some study in the roots of American music.



2. Most Blues fans have heard a lot of chicago blues. Most fans have a lot of Muddy Waters chicago blues. But not alot of Muddy Waters fans would have heard Muddy sing the delta blues. This CD is very intersting because it shows Muddy playing the first blues he ever heard, The Delta Blues. Much like the sounds of Son House, Robert Johnson and Skip JAmes this cd is all acoustic blues. It is great to be able to hear a very young Muddy sing delta blues because once he went to Chicago he abandoned the delta sound and went electric. Muddy does several Robert Johnson songs on this cd quite well, and there are some interesting interviews with Muddy explaining what life was like in the delta and why he made songs out of his experiences. For those who like the old delta blues this cd is a must have, on no other cd do we hear Muddy singing blues like these.



3. When Muddy Waters made the first recordings here, he was 26 or 27 and had not been playing regularly. He didnt own a guitar and had to borrow Alan Lomax's Martin. You see here your basic Delta and Mississippi blues in full blossom, by a man who was a great player if he could sound like this when he wasn't in practice. People look at Mississippi blues with a distorted mind thinking of it only through the stream of Robert Johnson, when the music and the tradition was much broader.

   
   In the interviews on this recording you can see how lame and ignorant at times the folklorists were, both white and black, Lomax and Work. But you also see a testament to Son House who taught Robert Johnson, Muddy, and a whole layer of bluesmen and who was such a great artist even in his revival 1960s that Muddy would make his band members keep quiet and play close attention when House performed with them at Newport and elsewhere.

   However, you also see his roots beyond this. We get to hear a good string band performance with Muddy Playing with fiddler Son Sims and a mandolin player in a blues fiddle band that was typical of what was going on at the time. Muddy explains his decision to start playing music was inspired by Sims and the string band with Sims and the mandolin player was the band he performed with when he got work. Neither Waters nor the liner notes let you know that Waters also played mandolin, and that when Muddy was a teenager in the 1930s, his favorite blues group was the fiddle band The Mississippi Sheiks. Years later, Muddy would explain he walked all day just to hear the Sheiks.

   Despite all this history, this is some good blues music to listen to,. More relaxed,and less intense, and of course less masterful than the Chess masterpieces Muddy began putting out in Chicago in the 1940s, but this is still a CD I put on my player with it set to keep replaying it because I want to hear it.




4. If your idea of what a Muddy Waters tune should sound like is the cut-and-shuffle of "Hoochie Coochie Man" or the hard-hitting "I've Got My Mojo Working", the music on this album may come as a surprise to you. This is strictly acoustic stuff, split between solo performances and recordings with the Son Simms Four string band, and the style (if not the voice) recalls Waters' self-professed mentor, the legendary Eddie "Son" House.

   Stil, if you're interested in country blues, this is an important and interesting document, showcasing the great Muddy Waters before he truly found a style of his own. The 1941 recording of "I Be's Troubled" (later redubbed "I Can't Be Satisfied") shows signs of things to come, but most of what is on here owes a huge debt to Son House first and William "Big Bill" Broonzy second. Waters' heavy-handed slide guitar attack is strongly reminiscent of House, whom Waters mentions several times during the four interview snippets spread across the record.

   According to legend, listening to himself on acetate for the first time made Muddy Waters believe in himself and his abilities as a recording artist ("I didn't know I sang like that!"), and he eventually made it north to Chicago where his re-working of "I Be's Troubled" became a major local hit in 1948).

   Among the highlights on this album are the House-esque "Country Blues", "I Be's Troubled", and "Rosalie", which is a virtual blueprint for Waters' later approach. Also listen to "You're Gonna Miss Me When I'm Gone" and the Charley Patton-like "You Got To Take Sick And Die Some Of These Days".

   Again, this is NOT the kind of hard-rocking blues and deep grooves that made Muddy Waters the king of Chicago blues in the 50s (well, alongside Howlin' Wolf), but if you are interested in the developement of one of the most important post-war blues musicians, it is well worth picking up. And the music is good, too!




5. THis is the beginning of a colossal history: the history of McKinley Morganfield, aka Muddy Waters, born April 4,1915,in Rolling Fork (Sharkey Co),MS.Born on Kroger Plantation,he went to Clarksdale,MS,in 1918,after his mother's death,and lived with his grandmother.He taught playing harp at 9, and guitar around 1932.Nine years later,he waxed his first tunes,and the legend could begin.One of the greatest musicians of the century was born.
   Of course, this cd is essential.Even if there are some imperfections,even if the violin of Henry Sims on four tracks isn't very good.Muddy Waters' music is already here,with strong influences from Son House,Charley Patton,Willie Brown,Robert Johnson and even Blind Lemon Jefferson."Country blues" and "I be's troubled" are masterful solo pieces,recorded at Stovall's Plantation,August 1941."I be bound to write to you" will later be named "I can't be satisfied",and it features great slide playing."You got to take sick and die..." shows Muddy imitating (with great skill) the outstanding Blind Willie Johnson;you know,the guy who recorded "dark was the night,cold was the ground",one of the most extraordinary pieces in the history of american black music."Why don't you live..." is the same ."mean red spider" features a pianist that sounds like Sunnyland Slim."I'm gonna cut your head" is more in Big Maceo's mood,because of James Clark's piano playing;so are "atomic bomb blues" ,"tomorrow will be too late","Jitterbug blues","hard day blues","burryin' ground blues","come to me baby" and "you can't make the grade".It seems funny and strange to find Muddy playing the role of Tampa Red.However,there are great tunes,with great piano support;Muddy loved this kind of piano players,and some years later he will play with the immense Otis Spann (1930-1970),a "son" of Big Maceo.Finally,the terrific,outstanding,amazing,superb "rollin' and tumblin'",recorded in two parts,with Little Walter,harp,and Babyface Leroy Foster,dms and vcl.This tune became one of Muddy's anthems,and was first recorded by an obscure but very talented guy at the end of the twenties,Hambone Willie Newbern;this man recorded a few tracks,and died killed by cops who stroke him to death.You can find the "complete recorded works" of Willie Newbern on Document Records.Muddy's version of "rollin' and tumblin'" is one of the most ferocious things I ever heard;the very young Little Walter (Marion Jacobs,1930-1968),plays harp like mad here.A little bit more than five minutes of the greatest blues playing.If you're addicted to Muddy Waters' music,you have to discover this little known side of his music.

5 comments about Great Ladies of Jazz.

1. Great Ladies of Jazz is a very solid CD that features some really great songs performed by some of the very best female jazz singers ever. The quality of the sound is fantastic; and the artwork is very well done as well.
   
   "It Don't Mean A Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)" is a live track of the great Ella Fitzgerald, the First Lady Of Song; and Ella swings this out like the pro she always was! The piano arrangement is stunning and Ella really throws herself into this number. If you listen it's immediately apparent that Ella enjoyed a great rapport with her audience, too--she usually did! Ella was the best of them! Ella returns for "Our Love Is Here To Stay;" I love that horn treatment and the overall musical arrangement works wonders for "Our Love Is Here To Stay." I love it! Ella's voice is in excellent form; it's rich, warm and extremely vibrant. Great!
   
   Listen also for the great Billie Holiday to perform a sublime rendition of "Come Rain Or Come Shine." Billie sounds more mature on this recording; but make no mistake about it--her voice is still in excellent form. Billie's uncanny sense of timing and her excellent diction bolster her ability to sing this ballad with panache, heart and all her soul. In addition, Billie's treatment of "God Bless The Child" strikes me as being especially pretty and moving; Billie Holiday was always one of my very favorite female vocalists and just one listen to this will tell you why! "Ain't Misbehavin'" by Dinah Washington features Dinah squarely front and center--and that's where she belongs! The big band arrangement enhances "Ain't Misbehavin';" this Fats Waller tune shines brightly when the great Dinah Washington delivers it flawlessly.
   
   Sarah Vaughan sings "'S Wonderful" with her usual style and grace; and the horn stands out in the music that accompanies her fine singing! "'S Wonderful" by Sarah Vaughan is easily a major highlight of this album. Listen for Sarah a second time around as she performs "Let's Call The Whole Thing Off" with yet another big band arrangement. Sarah's voice is clear as a bell and her voice is very rich and full.
   
   "Brother, Can You Spare A Dime?" gets a fine jazzy interpretation from Abbey Lincoln; Abbey's voice sounds better than ever and this Depression era ballad is greatly enhanced by Abbey's interpretation. The CD even ends strong with Shirley Horn delivering "I Got It Bad And That Ain't Good" flawlessly; the piano arrangement is very elegant as well.
   Shirley does this one up right!
   
   Fans of the great female vocalists on this album are bound to want this CD in their collections. This CD oozes good taste and class and it's bound to be available for sale for quite some while to come.



2. This is a great cd. I heard it inside a little music place one day and asked the old lady who was singing the song I was hearing. She got me out this cd and I got it for like 8 dollars. Every song on here is so great. I am only 21 and I love it. It makes me miss old good music like this. So unless you only like a certin kind of music I say get this it has amazing songs and is very relaxing. You may be able to find it at a lower price at your local record store so you may want to check there first.



3. This is the quintessential collection of the best female voices in jazz. This collection has the songs that made these women famous and/or the songs for which they are most remembered. Every song on the cd is a gem!!! The highlights are Ella's live recording of "It Don't Mean a Thing(If It Ain't Got That Swing)" and Nina Simone's "I Loves You, Porgy." All twelve songs run the gamut of emotions from true bliss to deepest sorrow. These women knew how to sing and these selections are some of the greatest in the american songbook. I highly recommend this cd.



4. There is nothing smoother than the voices of these great ladies. Put it in the car and you won't stress about rush hour any more.



5. I bought this CD a few years ago on a whim, never having listened to jazz before. I fell in love with Ella Fitzgerald's voice, she's outstanding. This CD features some great female voices, incredible musicianship and for price, you cannot go wrong!

5 comments about Blues Masters: The Very Best of Lightnin' Hopkins.

1. Just wanted to say that Item was every thing I expected of it and your attention and response to order was outstanding. will most probably be ordering from you again.



2. The songs on this CD were recorded between 1946 and 1961. They cover a wide range of his songs. The instrumentation is spare, with--normally--only Hopkins or playing or only a couple other backing players (sometimes we don't even know who the other musicians were). This is unelectrified blues, hearkening back to an earlier era in the history of the blues.
   
   A handful of examples of his work on this CD:
   
   "Baby please don't go." The cut features simple and spare guitar work by Hopkins. The liner notes comment that (page 12): "They say he only knew three chords on the guitar. I say that made him greater. . . .I saw how he turned technical limitations to aesthetic advantage." He repeats the title line several times to set a tone and atmosphere and implores her not to go to New Orleans. Hopkins plays alone, with no backing instruments.
   
   "Mighty Crazy", too, features no backing musicians. He surely displays a "lived in" voice. He begins the song, as with "Baby please don't go" with a repeat of the title four times.
   
   Finally, "Mojo Hand," one of his better known works. This cut features a nice rhythm section backing him (musicians' names not known). This has some of the best recording quality on the CD. He shows animated singing and spare but effective guitar work.
   
   The liner notes summarize Hopkins' place in the blues world (pages 11-12): "Lightnin' Sam Hopkins was one of the towering geniuses of American music. At a time when big-city blues was electrifying the world, Lightnin' brought us back to the basics. He infused his country sensibility and singular personality into every song he sang." This represents a nice introduction to the work of one of the finest blues players.



3. The blues do not get any bluer than this. This was my first foray into Texas/folk blues, and it will most certainly not be my last, as the music on this CD are some of the most representative blues music I have ever heard. One of my favorite songs is a song sung by both Hopkins and Sonny Terry, Conversation Blues. If you do not like this song, the blues are simply not for you! But every song on here is exceptional, something I had not expected as I picked this up more out of curiosity than anything else. Now, it is one of my favorites to listen to, right up there with Buddy Guy, John Lee Hooker, and Muddy Waters. The album covers Hopkins career for a 20 year period, from 1941 to 1961, and is ideal for anyone who is starting out their Hopkins' collection(as I was).
   
   Sam "Lightning" Hopkins learned the blues, at least in part, from Blind Lemon Jefferson, and for a time even became his guide. Let the music on this CD be your guide to Texas/folk blues. Surely there can be no better guide for an introduction into this genre.
   
   A definite 5 star pick, especially for all that Rhino has managed to pack on here for the inexpensive price. A must have.
   
   One thing to note however: If you believe from the outset that you will come to love Hopkins' music, Rhino's release of "Mojo Hand" is recommended; it is a 2-CD set of Hopkins career. Either way, you will not go wrong.



4. Bought this CD as a gift and he really loves it. He grew up listening to Lightnin' Hopkins, so it really brought back some good memories for him.



5. A classic from a little known, at least by me, talent. Lightnin Hopkins is easily one of the best blues artists I ever heard. This is down home, back in the day, drafty shack wif dee leaky roof Blues.

3 comments about Blues Masters, Vol. 8: Mississippi Delta Blues.

1. Not five straight stars, though...partly because the authentic Mississippi Delta stuff is interspersed with much more urban sounds from B.B. King and Albert King. And (very) electric Chicago-sides by Howlin' Wolf, Elmore James, and Robert Nighthawk do much to blur the distinctiveness of this package.
   
   But there's nothing wrong with the music itself. Delta legends Charley Patton, Robert Johnson and Son House are here, doing "Rattlesnake Blues", the eerie "Crossroads Blues" and the harsh "Preachin' The Blues" respectively. Muddy Waters' late-40s single "I Feel Like Going Home" is one of his finest early songs. And the awesome (and sadly underrated) Tommy Johnson is represented by two of his best and most impressive songs, "Big Road Blues" and "Cool Drink Of Water Blues" (the basis for Howlin' Wolf's "I Asked For Water").
   
   The fidelity on the oldest recordings, particularly by House and Patton, is below par, obviously, but that's the case with every reissue of this material, not just this one.
   The annotation is very good, as always with this series, and there are a few relatively obscure songs here which should please blues lovers (although seasoned blues listeners probably have most of this material already): "On The Wall", an energetic piano blues by Charley Patton-associate Louise Johnson, the acoustic "Catfish Blues" by Robert Petway, Rube Lacey's moody "Mississippi Jail House Groan", and Willie Brown's sandpapery rendition of the raw, Son House-like "Future Blues".
   
   The newer material includes slide guitar master Robert Nighthawk's gritty "I'm Gonna Murder My Baby", and great songs by Elmore James, Howlin' Wolf, and Sonny Boy Williamson II. And the inclusion of the underrated and underrecorded Floyd Jones' "Dark Road" (another reworking of Johnson's "Big Road Blues") is an additional treat.
   
   A great collection of music. Not the definitive word on Delta blues, obviously, and some of these songs, excellent as they are, have no business being on a compilation of "Mississippi Delta Blues". But still...great music.



2. Still one of the best intro CDs to the blues. I'm knocked out by Tommy Johnson; he's the first two selections here. Charley Patton, but hey - what about that pivotal Willie Brown doing "Future Blues"? The liner notes are not circumspect in describing Louise Johnson's "performance" on "On the Wall". Another treat is two by Elmore James - 'specially "Something Inside Me" which floats along like Jimi Hendrix.
   I never tire of this compilation.



3. Any Mississippi Delta Blues fan would have an awful time picking just 15 representative entries. This album does a great job, falling just short by including too much new material - by new, I mean after 1940. Still, you can't argue with Robert Johnson's "Crossroad Blues" or even Robert Nighthawk's superlative "Going Down to Eli's." This captures the individuality, roughness, and anti-spritiuality of Delta Blues really well and a couple of non-obvious inclusions like Robert Petway's Catfish Blues make it a good catch. Of the Blues Master Series, this is one of my favorites.

5 comments about The Black Swan.

1. I bought this for a friend whose tape of Rosemary Lane had worn out after twenty years or more. He likes it - a lot. So do I. It's solace for a soul lost in the myopic woods of contemporary schlock. Or something like that. I love the art work on the cover too (by Bert's son?).



2. I discovered Bert Jansch shortly before this album was released, and I saw him perform live in Philadelphia during the tour that accompanied it.
   I did not buy the album then because I usually do not buy the newer albums of musicians who I like based on their decades-old work. They often disappoint me. On contemporary albums, the once-great artist often sounds lazier than they did in their classic years, and modern, digital production often washes out the magic that once emanated from the artist, giving the listener a depressing sense that both the great artist and the music industry have faded and gotten stale over the years.
   But I finally bought The Black Swan on a whim the other day. I thought it would be nice to add it to my collection, and I figured it would have at least a few good songs.
   I definitely enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. It's vintage Jansch and it also sounds new. Like many albums by 60-something musicians, it's a record of an old legend aided by contemporary musicians who are also fans. What's interesting here, though, is how similar those newer artists (Noah Georgeson, Beth Orton, and Devendra Banhart) are to Jansch himself. They all have been influenced by Bert's unique brand of acoustic folk music, a style that is primitive without being simple, mellow without being sweet, and intricate without being difficult. Their contributions don't feel like anachronisms at all. They're the same type of musicians he played with in the '60s and '70s.
   Noah Georgeson's production adds some subtle but noticable reverb that is absent from older recordings of Jansch, and its presence here helps to shake things up a little bit and distinguish this album from others in his catalogue. His guitar and vocals have rarely sounded so smooth and clean and they also have never before sounded so deep and ethereal.
   Many of the good qualities Bert always had have not changed, perhaps because he was never quite of his time, even in the '60s. His lyrics are vague and full of surreal imagery, but he always seemed like he was emulating the simple yet weird folk songs of ancient times rather than psychedelic poetry. While some musicians made folk psychedelic, Bert was content to let folk be weird in the same ways that it always was.
   Like many of Bert's albums, The Black Swan is balanced between original songs and "traditional, arranged Jansch" songs, solo performances and group performances, songs with vocals and instrumentals(The only major stylistic surprise here is "Texas Cowboy Blues," which almost rocks). Things are a little different in the world of Jansch, but it's still the same unmistakable world of Jansch, and the sameness a listener will hear on The Black Swan is only the good kind.
   I don't love The Black Swan quite as much as I love many of his early classics, but it is certainly of equal quality. It can never approach the early classics in its contagious, quietly fresh originality, but it's a testament to Bert's perennial greatness that his style continues to be interesting even when the years have diluted its originality.
   I'm not sure if The Black Swan is the album I'd recommend if you've never heard or are just beginning to listen to Bert Jansch just because familiarity with his previous work makes it so much more rewarding. But if you're already a fan of Jansch at all, this one should definitely satisfy you.



3. Back at it with a great guest vocalist. Some new and old tunes show he still has the stuff



4. Bert has been my favorite performer for over 35 years now, so this latest album is a pleasant surprise--well, not a 'surprise,' I suppose, but truly a happy event. It is clearly his best at least since "Avocet" in the late 70s, and a near match for his best early work, including "Bert Jansch," "Bert and John," "Jack Orion," and "Rosemary Lane." I would place it above the also excellent "Birthday Blues," "Moonshine," "L. A. Turnaround," "A Rare Conundrum" and the more recent "When the Circus Comes to Town" and "Crimson Moon." Go beyond these (with the exception of the now-many compilations) and, unless you are a faithful fan, you may be taking your chances.
   
   "The Black Swan" reminds me a little, strangely, of all these albums. The ensemble play is tasteful and sparse, a la "Avocet" and "Moonshine." There is a traditional feel we heard in "Jack Orion" and "Rosemary Lane." The use of well known outside musicians recalls "L. A. Turnaround," "Moonshine," and "Crimson Moon." Bert's personality is more out front here, as it was in "Bert Jansch" and "When the Circus Comes to Town." The guitar accompaniments are tasteful and occasionally dazzling, as in "Rosemary Lane" and all of his Pentangle work. There are some good blues sequences too, as back in the old days with "Birthday Blues" and the staggering 'Nobody's Bar' of "Rosemary Lane." He delivers some good new compositions as well, though I still prefer the material on "Bert Jansch," "Birthday Blues," "L. A. Turnaround" and "Rosemary Lane."
   
   Jansch's voice was never much of a drawing point, though it was always unaffected and endearing in its own hoarse way. Here, it has reached a fairly extreme level of gruffness (though he has yet to compete with John Martyn or Tom Waits in that category!), but one still cannot help but feel it positively accents the material. Age, and aging, has never been considered a liability in the folk community (and God bless them for that...).
   
   With off again on again health problems, we may be witnessing Bert Jansch's end game. If so, this release could not be considered as less than a crowning touch.



5. Sometimes you buy a cd on instinct- this was not my instinct. Bert has a voice like a sinus infection but he undeniably has a way with folky melody. The best songs on this cd are the duets with Beth Orton (but that's my opinion) If you like Bonnie Prince billy then no harm you will find you here.
   Echoes of Nick drake with the cello espec on the black swan (ends in beautiful synch cello-guitar).
   My gut feeling is ' not bad- intrigued, may well investigate more'

2 comments about The Original Guitar Wizard.

1. This is the perfect box set. The liner notes are great, the packaging is fine, and the music contained on these discs is simply stunning. Lonnie's work with Texas Alexander doesn't sound like anything else committed to record. "Section Gang Blues" and "Levee Camp Moan" are startling in their intensity. His guitar duets with Eddie Lang will never lose their novelty, because they are music on the level of the Classical music of Europe. "Away Down in The Alley Blues" and "Hot Fingers" are mind-boggling. Lonnie's Blues lyrics are original and greatly detailed. He is the master of romantic balladry. He is a pioneer in Rhythm & Blues. He knows how to use double-entendre, and he certainly seems to have a true distrust of women!



2. B.B King, Albert King, Clapton, Vaughn, Green and Taylor were all guitar playing heroes of our youth. Naturally, they were really great pickers, no doubt about that! But the way I see it, this man, Lonnie Johnson, was the first and the greatest guitar hero ever! For five decades he entertained and pleased people with his mellow, emotionally charged voice and his unrivalled guitar playing. From country blues to jazz - he was equally at ease with a vast variety of music. His playing was always technically impressive (sometimes nearly insurmountable), touchingly melodic and with an inexhaustible well of ideas. Some of his solo instrumentals are not really possible to redo, and his duos with Eddie Lang surely belong to the highest class of American music. If I were to take only one single item with me to a deserted island (hopefully the area would have electricity), this CD box would be the one!

5 comments about Dream Cafe.

1. Despite a limited number of instruments and arrangements, this CD is a beauty of musical artistry, due to Greg Brown's talent of songwriter/singer.
   Great songs and thrills of emotion.



2. Many of us think this is Greg Brown's best album. Reasonable minds can differ, of course, but they have to get around the extraordinary imagery of the title cut, the plaintive story sketched in "Laughing River" and the deceptively simple melody line of "Spring Wind."
   
   Yesterday I had a vision, under the tree where we first talked
   Of an old couple burning their love letters
   So their children won't be shocked.
   
   Songs of love and disappointment, hope and loss, as well as the messy business of life. Never self-pitying, brutally honest, with melodies that can sear the lyrics into your mind.
   
   I came down with a sickness; I thought you were the cure
   But passion seems to promise more
   Than friendship can endure.
   
   Greg Brown doesn't have any bad albums. But some are a little better than the rest. And this is simply the cream of the crop. My very highest recommendation.



3. Ah, I love this guy! Brown's voice can go from back-of-the-bar room gravely to plaintative soprano... The music goes from folky to country to bluesy and is always great. The imagery in his songs are fantastic too -- some creepy rural themes, like the soundtrack to an Andrew Wyeth painting (ie. "Sleeper".) The song "Dream Cafe" makes me feel like I'm in an open air restaurant in Arizona... Which is odd because I've never been to Arizona... Case in point, this guy can do imagery...



4. Insightful and inspirational. Quit reading this and buy it!



5. If you are familiar with Greg Brown, you probably are familiar with this release. If you don't have it, get it and treat yourself to an experience that take you on a journey of loves lost and loves to come. For those who are curious about Greg's work, this is an excellent place to start. There is not a bad cut here, and in particular, "Dream Cafe", "Spring Wind" and "Laughing River" are a trio of songs that somehow work some sort of magic into allowing me to see into life a bit deeper for a period of time. Two other releases that go along well with this are "Further In" and "The Poet Game."

4 comments about Backwater Blues.

1. I would recommend this to any lover of the blues, great guitar, vocals and harmonica, totally cool!



2. A fine companion to the classic "Sonny & Brownie At Sugar Hill", this is a great buy for those who treasure Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee's brand of no-nonsense porch-style get-down blues.
   
   The duo performs old warhorses like "One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer", "Key To The Highway", and "Careless Love", and they change "Sittin' On Top Of The World" to "Climbin' On Top Of The Hill, which doesn't make it anymore interesting, but even though the material is not always particularly original, the performances are sincere and spirited, and this CD includes great renditions of two of the duo's very best songs, "Walk On" and the classic "I'm A Stranger Here".
   
   The clarity of the recording and the singing is pure as the driven snow, with no distortion or compression, and while "Backwater Blues" doesn't quite match "Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee At Sugar Hill" or the great, raw "Live At The Penelope Café" album for pure grit, it has more than enough highlights to make it worth your while. Fans of the duo should not pass this one by.



3. This Backwater Blues CD is excellent. Not a bad song on it. These two were truly masters of this style of Blues. My favorite song on this CD is Louise, but I feel this is truly one of the best examples of their work.



4. Friends, you cannot find old-school blues better than Backwater Blues. Sonny & Brownie's strained partnership has produced many excellent recordings, of which I believe this is the best. This album is the way the blues were meant to be played: just the simple, old-style tunes; just two men, two microphones, a guitar, and a harmonica. No fancy electronics, no prettyboy singers, just ol' Backwater Blues. If that's the way you like your blues, then get this album, sit back on a hot summer day, and play it all the way through!

5 comments about Complete Recorded Works (1928-1929).

1. I BOUGHT THIS FOR MY BROTHER WHO IS A BLUES FAN AND HE REQUESTED THIS ONE AND MANY MORE AND SOOO ENJOYS THE OLE' BLUES...A SOFT BUT GREAT SOUND



2. Tommy Johnson was a fine blues artist from long ago. The cuts on this CD were recorded in 1928 and 1929. While the recordings give us a sense of his artistry, to be honest, I had a hard time making out the words. Still, a very nice work, showing us the skills of an early major talent. The liner notes say that after Charlie Patton and Robert Johnson are taken into account, so, too, should be Johnson. Of him, the notes say: "But there is no doubt that the music of Tommy Johnson epitomised the Mississippi blues at its most expressive and poetic."
   
   A few cuts, to illustrate:
   
   "Cool drink of water blues": Charlie McCoy is on a second guitar. This is nicely sung; Johnson shows off an attractive blues voice. This is, of course, acoustic. The guitar work by Johnson and McCoy is simple but effective.
   
   "Big Road Blues": This is characterized by a lively tempo. Effective guitar work (again, both Johnson and McCoy are playing). Again, Johnson shows us a very nice blues voice.
   
   "Canned Heat Blues": Wish I could have made better sense of the words. This song is poignant, in that he had a serious problem with alcohol--and that's what the song is about. This song features Tommy Johnson and his guitar--no one else. It's poignantly sung. Some nice falsetto singing.
   
   All in all, a nice introduction to the work of an early blues artist.



3. Tommy Johnson was one of the most unique and influential delta blues men in the history of American music. He has inspired such artists as Howlin' Wolf, Houston Stackhouse, and Robert Nighthawk.
   The Complete recorded works of Tommy Johnson is essential to all lovers of blues and American roots music.
   Sadly Johnson only recorded 17 classic sided and they are all present on this collection. The sound qualitiy is also superior to previous releases of these tracks. If you only have a few Tommy Johnson tracks on various compilations, it is worth the price to have them all in chronological order as they are presented on this disc. You get to hear what a dynamic artist Johnson was and how he took the influence of Delta greats Charlie Patton and Ishmon Bracey, and even the falseto vocal stlylings of Jimmy Rodgers, and turned them into something totally unique and timeless.
   A must have.
   -Devon Wendell



4. I have been a blues fan for forty years, and have listened to just about everybody, from Ma Rainey to Susan Tedeschi, with Muddy Waters and Lightning Hopkins on the way. Nobody is better than Tommy Johnson. Nobody at all. Johnson's great reputation is based on a pitifully small collection of recordings, over half of which were put out on the dreaded Paramount label (Paramount is the despair of blues fans -- on the plus side, without the label we might never have had recordings from Charley Patton, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Blake, early Skip James and early Son House, to name only a few: on the other hand, we are constantly tantalized and frustrated by what we might have had if the company's recording standards had been of even average quality for the time {i.e., late 1920s-mid 1930s} instead of awful beyond description). In any case, the eight Victor sides Tommy Johnson made in 1928, and in particular Big Road Blues, Maggie Campbell Blues, Cool Drink of Water Blues and Canned Heat Blues are at the absolute acme of blues recordings. In terms of emotional power, intensity and sheer brilliance, I have never heard anybody in the blues genre I have thought to be Johnson's equal. I believe that you have to go to some of the great American jazz masters such as Louis Armstrong or Charlie Parker to find adequate comparisons.
   
   This Document Records compilation is an absolute necessity for any serious collector of the blues, and particularly of early blues. There were many great bluesmen named Johnson: Robert, Blind Willie and Lonnie to name the best known. However, if you can only take one "Johnson" record down that Big Road, Tommy's is the one to take.



5. Before Robert Johnson came along, and long before Son House started spreading the rumour that he (Johnson) had sold his soul to the devil in exchange for his abilities on the guitar, a man fifteen years Robert Johnson's senior ever so often implied that his immense talent came as the result of a midnight deal with Old Scracth.

   Thomas Johnson was born in 1896 down in the Mississippi Delta, and though his name is not as well known as those of Charlie Patton, Son House, and Robert Johnson (no relation), he was one of the most important prewar bluesmen, and certainly one of the most talented.
   He was also an uncontrolled alcoholic, and the fact that he lived to see sixty is something of a miracle. His "Canned Heat Blues" is certainly autobiographical, and his contemporaries have told about Johnson straining shoe polish through a slice of white bread in order to extract the alcohol.

   But his music is something to behold. Johnson sounds totally immersed in it, his voice possessing an eerie quality enhanched by his occational falsetto moans, and this disc includes the original versions of "Maggie Campbell Blues", "Big Road Blues", and "Cool Drink Of Water Blues" (later recorded by Howlin' Wolf as "I Asked For Water (she gave me gasoline)").

   Johnson plays alone on a few songs, but on most of these seventeen sides (which comprise his entire recorded legacy) he is backed by one or more additional musicians, most often a second guitarist. The first eight sides, Tommy Johnson's Victor sides from 1928, boast amazing sound quality...much (much!) better than Charlie Patton's or Son House's contemporary recordings, they're clean and crisp with just a little static, and every phrase and every instrument is clearly heard. Johnson was a talented and quite original guitar player, and it is a delight to be able to hear him so well.

   The Paramount sides, on the other hand, are...well, Paramount sides. Much inferior in sound quality to the Victor sides, they are nevertheless well worth a listen, particularly "Alcohol And Jake Blues" and the battered "Lonesome House Blues".
   On the best of these songs, Johnson's voice is positively frightening, and his "Cool Drink Of Water" is the sound of pure despair. This is some of the starkest, most powerful music you'll ever hear.