BLUES & GOSPEL
Various Artists Collections - Slide & Bottleneck
VARIOUS ARTISTS | Yazoo 1026 | Country Blues Bottleneck Guitar Classics 1926-1937 | ● CD $15.98 |
Focusing on Delta blues slide guitarists and guitar duos,
this is a long-time favorite available at last on CD. Barbecue Bob's Atlanta
Moan is not his best, but this is soon remedied with Sylvester Weaver
& Walter Beasley's Bottleneck Blues, a charming frontporch
duet. Ruth Willis' Man Of My Own is another slide pairing with
brilliant structures by Curley Weaver and Fred McMullen. Bukka White's Panama
Limited is a train novelty showcasing his hard-driving solo style to
perfection, followed by Robert Johnson's timeless Milkcow Calf Blues.
The Hawaiian angle is covered by Jim & Bob, whose St. Louis Blues
instrumental is a virtuoso display with tango undertones! My Wash
Woman's Gone is a fast-paced attention getter from Memphis Minnie
& Kansas Joe, and this 14-track program ends with two quintessential
slidin' blues nuggets - King Solomon Hill's high and mournful Whoopie
Blues, and Ramblin' Thomas' So Lonesome. We also hear from
Black Ace, Oscar Woods, Bo Weavil Jackson and more. As with other Yazoo
collections (Guitar Wizards, #1016; Bottleneck Guitar
Masterpieces, #1046; Hawaiian Guitar Hot Shots, #1055), this is
invaluable for guitarists and string nuts, and detailed notes are a plus.
(MB) BARBECUE BOB: Atlanta Moan/ BLACK ACE: Black Ace/ KING SOLOMON HILL: Whoopie Blues/ BO WEAVIL JACKSON: You Can't Keep No Brown/ JIM & BOB, THE GENIAL HAWAIIANS: St. Louis Blues/ ROBERT JOHNSON: Milkcow's Calf Blues-tk2/ KANSAS JOE & MEMPHIS MINNIE: My Wash Womans Gone/ IRENE SCRUGGS: My Back to the Wall/ THE SHREVEPORT HOME WRECKERS: Fence Breakin' Blues/ RAMBLIN' THOMAS: So Lonesome/ WEAVER & BEASLEY: Bottleneck Blues/ BUKKA WHITE: The Panama Limited/ RUTH WILLIS: Man Of My Own/ OSCAR WOODS: Evil Hearted Woman Blues |
VARIOUS ARTISTS | Bullseye Blues 9533 | Slidin'... Some Slide | ● CD $15.98 |
VARIOUS ARTISTS | Wolf 120.103 | The Best Of Slide Guitar | ● CD $15.98 |
15 tracks, 72 mins, recommended An entertaining collection
of mostly electric Chicago style blues featuring slide guitar. I know that
some of these tracks are drawn from other Wolf albums but I don't know if
that applies to everything here. There's energetic upbeat Elmore flavored
sides from Lil' Ed Williams, John Littlejohn, J.B. Hutto and Hound Dog
Taylor. Eddie Taylor didn't often play slide but when he did he came up
with nice Robert Nighthawk style single string slide as he does here on The
Moon Is Rising. Muddy Waters is in good form on a 1973 version of Long
Distance Call recorded in Europe in 1973 and Homesick James is his
usual idiosyncratic self on Sad & Lonesome with Snooky Pryor on
harp. Rock blues fans will enjoy the contributions from Boston based
performers Maynard Sylva and Cub Koda though they aren't my cup of tea.
Also featured are John Primer, Johnny B. Moore, Louis Myers & Houston
Stackhouse. A few tracks were recorded live and have rough sound but on
the whole the disc sounds good. Booklet notes by Brett Bonner are
surprisingly free of Wolf's usual typos. (FS) |
VARIOUS ARTISTS | Columbia 46218 | The Slide Guitar : Bottles, Knives & Steel | ● CD $11.98 |
The sound of the slide guitar is one of the most haunting
and evocative in the blues and this collection features some of the finest
exponents of the style. There are two tracks by the wonderful Sylvester
Weaver & Walter Beasley including their lovely slide guitar duet Bottleneck
Blues. Weaver also does a solo on Guitar Rag which was later
adapted by country steel guitarist Leon Mcauliffe into the most popular
slide guitar tune of all time Steel Guitar Rag. There are two cuts
by the magnificent gospel singer/ guitarist Blind Willie Johnson including
his utterly spine chilling Dark Was The Night. There are also
tracks by Barbecue Bob, Ruth Willis with Blind Willie McTell, Tampa Red
& Georgia Tom, Charlie Patton, Robert Johnson, Casey Bill Weldon (a
previously unissued track), Bukka White and rare slide guitar outings by
Blind Boy Fuller and Leadbelly. from the post war era there is the lovely
1953 recording of gospel singer/ guitarist Sister O.M. terrell and a track
from Son House's 1965 Columbia LP. Detailed and interesing notes by
Richard Spottswood. (FS) BARBECUE BOB: Untitled/ BLIND BOY FULLER: Homesick & Lonesome Blues/ SON HOUSE: Pearline/ BLIND WILLIE JOHNSON: Dark Was The Night/ God Don't Never Change/ ROBERT JOHNSON: Traveling Riverside Blues/ LEADBELLY: Packin' Trunk Blues/ CHARLEY PATTON: High Sheriff Blues/ TAMPA RED: You Can't Get That Stuff No More/ SISTER O.M. TERRELL: Swing Low, Chariot/ SYLVESTER WEAVER: Guitar Rag/ WEAVER & BEASLEY: Bottleneck Blues/ St. Louis Blues/ CASEY BILL WELDON: I Believe I'll Make A Change/ BUKKA WHITE: Bukka's Jitterbug Swing/ Special Stream Line/ RUTH WILLIS & BLIND WILLIE MCTELL: Experience Blues/ BUDDY WOODS: Don't Sell It (Don't Give It Away)/ Muscat Hill Blues |
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