Reviews (1)

Jerry Garcia Listened to This!
No one has taken a few moments to write something about this gem? What's wrong whiff you peoples? Well someone has to do it! So, lookee here now, have you ever listened heard Mungo Jerry do "In the Summertime when the weather is hot..."? Or maybe you were into the Grateful Dead and titles like "New Minglewood Blues" and "Viola Lee Blues" ring dat lil bell in yo head? How 'bout "Bring It With You When You Come"? Still drawin' a blank? Where y'all been anyways? "Walk Right In Sit Right Down"? These may be some of the earliest recordings of those tunes. (Not including Mungo Jerry's hit... but THAT is the style: Jug Band music. Yes, with a real jug. This here is gin-u-wine rural music from de southland. These tunes were recorded in the years 1928-29 & 30 by Gus Cannon (banjo) and his group "The Jug Stompers." From down around Mississippi, there. The group included an amazing harmonica player, Noah Lewis whose playing influenced a whole generation of mouf harp players. Instrumentation included (at times) Banjo, Harmonica (de mouf harp), Guitar, and natcherly, the Jug, and even a Kazoo when 'the charts' called for it. Naw... just jokin witch you there. They didn't have no charts - this music was recorded LIVE. No over-dubs, man. And no digital noise reduction neither and you may even hear some surface noise left over from them original recordin's. This here is the real thing, junior! Jug band blues and early home-made rural jams. If you enjoy authentic American Roots Music, get your paws on this little silver disc and visit a time and place that gave birth to a whole genre of fine and funky sounds. Often imitated - but never duplicated! ... Read more

Reviews (1)

shakin all over
There are some great surprises on this compilation. Some of the tracks are classic blues tunes but are not played by the same old artists you hear doing them every time. My favorite cut is a fine renditionof "How Long Before I Change My Clothes" by Alvin Youngblood Hart. There's lots of great archieval stuff on here but some sweet tunes by newer artists as well. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

An economical sampler
This collection offers a reasonably good sampling of McTell's work, covering much of his long career, albeit in a somewhat hodge-podge fashion.This issue may compare well to the "Definitive" collection for some, as "Statesboro Blues" is included (see review train for the "Definitive" issue).This is not a collection for the blues afficionado, however.The liner notes here are minimal, giving no particulars on the individual tracks.McTell was certainly an important and talented enough performer to warrant purchasing his entire recorded works as individual disks, but this may be a good choice for the cost conscious. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

****1/2 - a great collection of Ledbetter's Victor sides
Huddie Ledbetter (whose name is misspelled on the back cover of this CD) was a songster, a folk singer, a blues singer and a gospel singer, and "Take This Hammer" is an excellent compilation of Leadbelly's 1940 Victor recordings, showing his versatility and the power of his huge, resonant baritone.

On half of these 26 tracks, Leadbelly is joined by The Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet (a vocal ensemble); the rest are solo performances. The sound is exceptionally good for 64-year-old recordings, and while "Take This Hammer" is not an exhaustive career overview, it does include many of Huddie Ledbetter's best and best-known songs, including "Pick A Bale Of Cotton", "Alberta", "Yellow Gal", "Alabama Bound", "Rock Island Line", "The Midnight Special", "TB Blues", and the title track. The presence of The Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet on tracks 1-6 and 15-21 lends a new dimension to Leadbelly's songs, adding texture and depth to them without robbing songs like "Can't You Line 'Em" and "Whoa Buck, Back" of any of their power. These sides have inspired artists from Muddy Waters to Aerosmith (!), and they are also some of the most accessible Huddie Ledbetter ever recorded.

Originally released in 1965 on Smithsonia Folkways, these wonderful recordings are an essential part of Huddie William Ledbetter's recorded legacy.
Highly recommended.

excellent recording
I had the "Absolutely the Best" CD and decided to get this one because of the number of tracks.I couldn't believe the the difference in sound quality of this cd compared to others I've heard. I would highly recommend this album to the casual leadbelly listener. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

A Must For Blues Listeners
From the back waters of the Mississippi Delta playing a cigar box fiddle he made himself in 1903 at age ten to Carnegie Hall in 1938, Big Bill Broonzy set the course for all the other Blues greats to follow. Pure magic on the guitar!

Great music, poor package
Big Bill Broonzy provides a great link between traditional (guitar only) Delta Blues and the more piano-driven Chicago blues and Jazz. Thoroughly enjoyable set. The CD package, however, is terrible. Little biographical information is provided. Are the songs listed in chronological order? When were they recorded? The second CD is only 18 songs long, while the label lists 21...and they are out of order!

If you listen to the Blues, definitely get a few Big Bill CDs, but think twice about this particular collection if you want additional detail. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Superb sound quality and sheer entertainment value make this a series by which other musical retrospectives should be measured. Over four discs (available individually as well as in this limited-edition set), the expansive selection of blues-based music from the RCA-Bluebird vaults celebrates artistry that still sounds vital 50 years after it was recorded. Among the highlights are such seminal recordings as "Catfish Blues" by Robert Petway (which Muddy Waters would transform into "Rolling Stone"), "Canned Heat Blues" by Tommy Johnson, "Sweet Little Angel" by Tampa Red (later a signature tune for B.B. King), and "That's All Right" by Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup (which ignited a rock & roll revolution in Elvis Presley's hands). Every cut seems to have been chosen with care, and some of the more obscure rank with the greatest delights: "Memphis" Minnie McCoy's "Selling My Pork Chops" and Washboard Sam's "Soap and Water Blues." As a blues anthology that surveys the roots of rock & roll, the set omits many of the biggest names (who recorded for other labels) and goes lightly on the 12-bar, guitar-driven style that flourished in Chicago after World War II. Yet the variety and vigor of the offerings should strike a responsive chord with casual fan and blues aficionado alike. --Don McLeese ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Some People Are Stupid - REALLY STUPID
This review is a direct response to the person who has given it a solitary star. Well I fit into the category of people who "dont know better"

This is the best sounding remastering I have EVER heard. The only things that I can think of that compare are Old Hat CDs (how they got some of the sounds on the Basement CD I dont know), JSPs Carter Family & Jimmmie Rodgers box sets, or many many items that Bear Family have been responsible for. I would like to hear Ace have a go remastering stuff from the dawn of recordings - but mostly their releases pick up (date-wise) just about where this stuff stops.

As for Document - well, I rate them VERY highly and buy their stuff and enjoy it - BUT THEY DONT SOUND BETTER THAN THESE. It just isnt the case.

I was astonished when I first heard the quality of the remastering on this set. Add to that the incredible sound they have got on the Sonny Boy Williamson's and Leadbelly's "Secret Histort" discs. I havent yet heard the Blind Willie McTell one.

How anyone can say that this isnt the way this stuff is supposed to sound is beyond me. And its all been done without taking away ANYTHING from the integrity of the recordings.

Have a listen and make your own mind up.

The bloke who reviewed this and gave it only 1 star should go back to his medium wave radio.

Fine retrospective for the devoted blues fan
"The Secret History Of Rock And Roll" brings together a hundred original blues classics on four discs.
This series is designed to shine a light on the roots of rock & roll music, and the remastering of these many 70-year-old tracks sounds surprisingly good.

Among the instantly recognizable tunes, many of which were covered in one form or another by rock bands of the '60s and '70s are Big Joe Williams' "Baby, Please Don't Go", "Walk Right In" by Gus Cannon's Jug Stompers, Huddie Ledbetter's "The Midniht Special", "Statesboro Blues" by Blind Willie McTell, "Good Morning School Girl" by Sonny Boy Williamson, "Canned Heat Blues" by Tommy Johnson, and Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup's "That's All Right" and "My Baby Left Me".

This is not really for the casual blues fan, and it isn't supposed to be listened to in one long sitting...even this fine and influential music is not varied enough for that. But if you are seriously interested in early acoustic blues, and its influence on 50s and 60s rock n' roll, this collection ranks among the best.

Great Music + Bad Transfers = SOUNDS TERRIBLE!!!
I keep hearing how great these sound. No disrespect, but people who say this sounds so great don't know what real 78 transfers are supposed to sound like. And that is exactly who these discs are marketed at, the people who don't know the music all that well and will buy bad transfers. I implore you, save your money and spend it on Document Records discs.
Document's sound quality is a million times better than these transfers! Take my advice, if you want inferior transfers, by all means buy this album. If you want this music to sound the way it is supposed to sound, buy Document and keep real blues music alive!

Excellent Overview of the Blues!
The Secret History of Rock and Roll is 100 pioneering blue classics on four compact discs available either separately or as a set. Disc 1 contains some early roots music and is made up of country jug bands, some gospel, a little bluegrass and some vaudeville. Disc 1 features some rare recordings from Gus Cannon's Jug Stompers, the Hall Johnson Choir and Julius Daniels to name but three of the 25 represented here. Disc 2 features the earliest known recordings of the best known blues songs such as Noah Lewis' jug standard "Viola Lee Blues" later performed by the Grateful Dead and Sleepy John Estes' "The Girl I Love" which is familiar to all Led Zeppelin fans. Disc 3 brings into focus some material performed by the first generation of blue's stars including, Sonny Boy Williamson, Yank Rachell, Pinetop Perkins and Roosevelt Sykes. Disc 4 represents the sound of the blues post World War II with more of an electric, uptempo, beat. Overall, the recordings are excellently remastered and the set represents a really good overview of the historical development of the blues. Mainly for those interested in the history of the blues.

Can you believe the music is over 70 years old?!?!
I can't believe the recordings were remastered from over 70 years ago. The sound quality on this 4 disc set is great. There are so many songs on this that I had no idea weren't originals to the stars that made them famous, like "That's All Right" and "My Baby Left Me" (both familiar as Elvis tunes).

Really clever liner notes too; they're written after each track so you can literally follow along as you're listening to learn about the music. Cool gift idea for my Dad who's impossible to shop for! ... Read more

Reviews (1)

real bahamas, real great
This record reproduces some sixteen Bahamian songs recorded in 1965 by Peter K. Siegel and Jody Stecher and released respectively in 1966.
These songs were performed by extraordinary Bahamian singers and musicians, among whom the Pinder family (Edith, Geneva, and raymond), Frederick McQueen, Sam Green, Bruce Green, Clifton Green, Tweedie Gibson, Shelton Swain, Luoise Spence and Joseph Spence.
These songs included in this record (Don't Take Anybody to be Your Friend, Out on the Rolling Sea, Won't That Be a Happy Time, ...) are extremely beautiful. They bear the traces of African music, and yet anticipate in many ways the future developments of Caribbean music. They are reminiscent of the plantation music and yet they have the brightness of the Caribbean.
The best part of the record, in my view, is represented by Joseph Spence's guitar in Won't That Be a Happy Time (and in Don't Take Everybody to Be Your Friend). I might be wrong but I have the impression that when Mick Jagger wrote his Wandering Spirit had something like this in mind.
This record is a must for all those who love music. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Today, at age 77, this popular North Mississippi singer-guitarist is a master of dirty juke-joint blues. But Burnside was a farm hand when these late ’60s recordings captured him developing his staples "Goin’ Down South," "Jumper On the Line," "Poor Black Mattie," and "Long Haired Doney"--and his playing style--in bare-boned acoustic form. Burnside practically cries over the roiling John Lee Hooker-influenced guitar lines of the heartbroken "Like a Bird Without a Feather," which he’s never again recorded, winning sympathy until he admits that he murdered his lost lover. In "Skinny Woman," covered recently by the North Mississippi Allstars, he offsets the rippling picking style associated with John Hurt by beating his knuckles against his six-string’s body. Burnside’s slide on "Walkin’ Blues" favors the low strings until his solo stabs into the high register with keening, measured authority, matching the sweet and dusty tones of his voice, which then possessed a youthful flexibility that wrung all sorts of nuances from these 14 songs. --Ted Drozdowski ... Read more

Amazon.com

When a 47-year-old stonemason living in the Bahamas met with writer Sam Charters and his tape recorder, he couldn't have known the history he would make. These field recordings have since inspired, shaped, and boggled a generation of acoustic guitarists. You can hear Spence's intricate and polyrhythmic percussive style in players as diverse as Ry Cooder and Leo Kottke. Although only nine tracks long, this CD is seminal folk blues, and includes Spence's improvisational, almost Cubist, reworkings of traditional, mostly spiritual, tunes: "Brown Skin Gal," "Face to Face I Shall Know Him," "Lord Is My Shepherd," "When I Lay My Burden Down," and what might be called his signature tune "Comin' in on a Wing and a Prayer." --Roy Francis Kasten ... Read more

Reviews (2)

An Inspiring and Influential Guitar Picker
I've owned this album for many years on cassette, and would agree with Andrew Westhead's description of the recording. It's not easy to listen to this rough field recording with all the tape hiss, etc., but Joseph Spence's finger-picking and his live personality is so inspiring, it's worth the effort.

I'm a guitar picker who loves to play in dropped-D tunings, and I enjoy playing hymns and pop tunes in this tuning. Joseph Spence has been a major influence in this area, not only for me, but for many others. Note, for example, Ry Cooder's recordings of some of these tunes on "Jazz." That should be tribute enough for any serious guitar player to consider getting this recording.

My five-star rating is not for the quality of the recording, but for the raw energy and inspiring playing of this great guitar picker!

The complete Folkways Recording review
Well, it has to be said firstly, that on hearing this CD I was amazed,even shocked to hear Joseph Spence.It really is like nothing else! I bought the CD to accompany the Guitar Tablature book of the same title,after hearing Ralph McTell play some of Spences work.The recording was made in 1958 and you can tell!It plays alittle like an old 78 record.It perhaps isnt the type of CD you would sit down to and relax whilst listening to it.From begining to end,Spences excentricities permiate each piece,with grunts and groans spontanious laughter and singing part of a song,and then stopping as if forgetting the words! It is however amazing how this grows on you to become very interesting listening-my 4 and 6 year old neice and nephew will testify to that! If you are an acoustic guitarist and wish to hear some outstanding guitar playing,get this CD.It has 9 pieces altogether and each one is gem.You will find them uplifting and make you wish that you were playing them!"Face to face that I shall know Him" and "Bimini girl" are my favourites plus "The Lord is my Shepard" which I can now play to some degree!Spence maximises the potential of the dropped"D" guitar tuning using the bass D to great effect.So,guitarists who want a finger twisting Challenge, or listeners who want an aural challenge I would certainly recomend this CD.Well thats it from me. Now back to my guitar to dream! ... Read more

Reviews (4)

DON'T BE A DUMMY!!!!!!
Don't be a dummy. Any fool knows the brothers Chess, Leonard and what's his name virtually wrote the book when it comes to Chicago Blues. It's a no brainer. Now I ask you, where else do you find a more classic lineup of stars? From Muddy to Wolf, from Little Milton to Buddy Guy, John Lee to JB, (Lenoir that is) And let's not forget Willie Dixon and Bo Diddley and so many more.

And what about the songs from Hi Heel Sneekers to Mona, to Suzie Q to I Just Want To Make Love To You.......to Sweet Little Sixteen to Trouble No More..........Well you know the rest. Afterall the title of the record is Blues-Rock Songbook......That says it all....So don't be a dummy...All right?

A great starting kit for the curious
This double-disc duplicates some of the track lists from "Chess Blues Classics 1947-1956" and "Chess Blues Classics 1957-1967", cutting some songs and adding others, particularly four songs by rock n' roll pioneer (and non-bluesman) Chuck Berry.

These CDs are of no interest whatsoever to the more experienced blues or R&B fan (no rarities), and the presence of a handful of early rock n' roll cuts amid all these blues classics is a little odd. But if you're a newcomer to the blues, or Chess Records in general, this album is a very fine place to start, since it gathers some excellent selections by Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Elmore James, Sonny Boy Williamson II and others.

Jimmy Rogers' classic "Walking By Myself" is here, complete with a howling harp solo by Big Walter Horton, and other highlights (of which there are too many to mention all of them) include Eddie Boyd's slow, soulful "Twenty-Four Hours", Muddy Waters' "Hoochie Coochie Man", "Mother Earth" by Memphis Slim, and two of Howlin' Wolf's best songs (and two of the best electric blues tunes ever), "The Red Rooster", and the thundering steam engine "Killing Floor".

4 1/2 stars. A great place to start appreciating the huge Chess legacy.

Absolutely essential for any CD collection
Anyone who knows the blues, knows rock, and knows R&B, needs this album! The liner notes say these two CDs could easily have been four, and I wholeheartedly agree! The tunes drift, casually, from blues, to rock, to R&B, and somewhere in the middle of all his music the listener finally "gets" how rock 'n' roll came to be. The sound quality is great. (Except for my track 4 on CD 1 of Sugar Mama, by John Lee Hooker, which was scratched, sadly.) Still, the music flows, deep, dark, and you can see the allure this music held for Clapton, Led Zeppelin, Savoy Brown and the many others who used this music as a jumping off spot for what emerged as middle-class rock in the '70s. Especially noteworthy on these two CDs are the phenomenal contributions made by Willie Dixon (the great bass-playing songwriter!), Muddy Waters and Chuck Berry. That's not to negate the other contributions, by any means. Not a weak track is among the 36 on this 2-CD collection! But listening to Muddy, John Lee, Chuck Berry and others, I am just blown away how MUCH of the music of the '60s and '70s is indebted to these musical giants, many of whom are sadly forgotten. There are a lot of blues-rock compilations out there, but this one stands far and above the others in terms of overall sonic quality, and in the selection of absolutely essential tunes. One of the sadly overlooked GREAT CDs of the '90s! Worth more than five stars...

....and people get snooty over "classic" rock!
Most fans of classic rock forget how very, very close it is and came from the blues and R & B. This is a great place to find that out if you don't really know. Chess records places songs from their collection on this 2 disk set that are used for the basis for rock tunes to come. It even lists which bands covered or used these songs in the booklet.

Forgetting that, this is a great bunch of music with some TRUE classics on it. Great introduction to some classic blues as well. ... Read more

Amazon.com

From the opening lines of "Mamie" on dynamic duo John Cephas and Phil Wiggins's Homemade, the listener is transported far away from whatever living room or car he or she might be sitting in. "Early one morning," that first line goes, and one gets the sense that it is early morning, on a back porch somewhere. Cephas, on guitar, and Wiggins, on harmonica, play in the Piedmont blues style, but there are bits of Delta, gospel, and even country on this recording, as the pair try on a variety of material for size, including original songs and traditional numbers such as "Trouble in Mind." There's a very laidback feel here, a sense of deliberate avoidance of pyrotechnics and fancy tricks (though the piano solo on closer "Pigmeat" is quite impressive) in favor of letting the music speak for itself. As an added bonus, the liner notes include commentary by Cephas on each song on the CD. --Genevieve Williams ... Read more

Reviews (3)

HOMEDMADE
cephas and wiggins has produced a classic cd of great acousric blues. from jelly roll to worried life blues this cd is back to the basic of guitar/harmonica on the front porch. it is good to see that acoustic blues are alive and well. cephas and wiggins also played at the white house for the president

Great blues performers on CD, even better live
This is true feel good blues. A mix of traditional songs and originals which sit easily together. Wiggins' harmonica and Cephas' guitar & voice are a wonderful combination.

Enjoy!

my kind of music
these men are excellent artist an entertainers there music is hard to beat anywhere you go. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Great bargain, great fun
This release pairs the earliest recordings by Sleepy John Estes with an almost-complete set of classic tracks by Cannon's Jug Stompers, one of the great rural jug bands of the 1920's.Noah Lewis, high-powered harmonica blower, recorded with Estes, Cannon and his own jug band, supplying the conceptual bridge between the two discs.Lewis's work as a bandleader is included on Disc 1, making this a solid "5-star" set all the way around.

This is a more comprehensive set than either of Yazoo's CJS discs, including their old "Complete Works" CD which features only 23 tracks... As for the sound quality, the digital remastering by John R.T. Davies is excellent, making these old records sound their best without either going overboard or shirking on noise-reduction.Best of all, the music is great fun! ... Read more

Amazon.com

Country blues just doesn't get much better, or any sweeter, than Hurt's performance here. When this concert recording was issued as a two-record set 35 years ago, it bore the misleading title The Best of Mississippi John Hurt. Misleading because it featured the rediscovered 70-something artist reviving material he'd originally recorded more than 35 years earlier. But age did nothing to diminish the sly sensuality of Hurt's songs or the gentle virtuosity of his guitar. The selection includes traditional spirituals, such as "I Shall Not Be Moved" and "Nearer My God to Thee"; signature standards, such as "Candy Man" and "My Creole Belle"; and surprises, such as the instrumental "Spanish Fandango" and the evergreen "You Are My Sunshine." Hurt's return from obscurity ranks with the more rewarding upshots of the 1960s folk revival, and his legacy (since his death in 1966) has continued to influence contemporary folk and blues musicians. In addition to the original recordings from a 1965 concert at Oberlin College, this reissue contains three previously unreleased tracks recorded at the same year's Newport Folk Festival workshop.--Don McLeese ... Read more

Amazon.com

This collection in the ever-expanding Blues Masters series is the second to feature slide guitar work, and it picks up quite a few essential tunes that were missed on the first go-round. Among others, this includes Muddy Waters performing a low-key version of "I Can't Be Satisfied," Elmore James going nice and slow on "The Sky Is Crying," Blind Willie Johnson's fire-and-brimstone voice (which at times overwhelms his guitar playing) on "I Know His Blood Can Make Me Whole," and Son House's excellent "Death Letter." And there are plenty of other artists represented here as well; Hound Dog Taylor with "Take Five," Earl Hooker with "Wah Wah Blues," Johnny Winter with "Dallas," and even Chuck Berry makes an appearance with "Blues for Hawaiians." There's probably nothing here that the die-hard blues fan hasn't heard before, but it's an excellent cross-section of the blues in general and slide guitar in particular, a technique that's almost unrivalled in terms of its sheer expressive power. --Genevieve Williams ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Excellent Piedmont Blues
According to the liner, John Cephas claims Rev. Gary Davis and Sister Rosetta Tharpe as major influences - you can scarcely make a claim better than that. Phil Wiggins learned with a street singer Flora Molton who is unknown to me. The result of the pairing of Cephas and Wiggins is a sound similar to Terry and McGhee - obviously in the instrumentation but also in the aesthetic sense of their blues.

This CD sounds like early work by a great duo - early work in the sense that it is well executed with feeling but lacks the depth of the blues that is in their major influence. Yet the sound is so good that I have no doubt that later albums will grow in subtlety.

It is difficult to choose a favorite track - The Richmond Blues which reminds me of Willie McTell is excellent, the harmonica in West Carey Street Blues is fine, Black Rat Swing is a catchy number. This is a duo with which anyone interested in traditional blues should be familiar. ... Read more