Reviews & Testimonials for The History of Rhythm & Blues
The History of Rhythm & Blues Volume Two 1942 - 1952
This compilation traces
a remarkable and at times incomprehensible path to the hybridisation of
pop and rock that would come to dominate the planet…gives a direction
of travel to fan and critics alike and, as such, comes highly recommended.
Phil
Jackson - Blues From The South
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There’s so little
on this box set that I wouldn’t be overjoyed to play you… an
absolutely essential purchase… as good as any (other sets) and probably
better than all…indispensable music… thoroughly, thoroughly
recommended
Mark
Lamarr - Radio Two God’s Jukebox Featured Record of the Week June
6th 2009
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The History of Rhythm & Blues Volume One 1925 – 1942
It’s rare to come across a record that is so perfect, and so perfectly insane, that it encapsulates everything you need to know about music fandom in one package, but such is this. The description ‘labour of love doesn’t begin to do justice to the effort involved in ferreting out such a finely chosen set of tracks and presenting them so ideally.
It’s a four disc set with an erudite and entertaining accompanying booklet packaged in a foldout paperback-sized case (that includes recording personnel, original catalogue numbers, pictures and the like), and ninety seven (!) tracks, where familiar names such as Cab Calloway and Louis Armstrong sit alongside the more likes of the delightfully named Bumble Bee Slim.
Even
the most fanatical r&b fan will find something, probably many things,
both new and enjoyable here - and everyone else can simply wallow in some
of the greatest music ever recorded. Never mind what appears in the remainder
of 2008, this is the reissue of the year by a country mile. Buy it and
help Volume 2 along.
Jeremy
Searle - RocknReel (July 2008)
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A cross-label 4CD
set, which not only tells the story better than anything before ....song
origins and provides fascinating musical connections across decades….
this 97-song set offers a wealth of insights into the cross-pollination
of blues, jazz, country, gospel, pop and rock.
Johnny
Black, Mojo
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Much to enjoy in this
treasure trove of gems, which creates real atmosphere …. if you crave
pre-war blues in all its undiluted and ugly glory, then this is the real
diet.
Henry
Yates, Classic Rock
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The first three tracks
on the set (by Austin Coleman, Blind Willie Johnson & Jessie May Hill)
are some of the most powerful examples of early Afro-American music that
has ever been recorded and they should be mandatory listening for all.
Paul
Mooney - Blues & Rhythm May 2008
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The most important
and fascinating collection of rhythm and blues music compiled in recent
years…. comprehensive and musically-savvy sleeve notes.
Bluesmans
Blog
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Its difficult to imagine
any set doing a better job of tracing the roots of R&B.
Steve
Leggett, All Music Guide
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Wow, what a wondrous thing this is!! 'The History Of Rhythm And Blues Part 1, 1925 to 1942' is a voyage of discovery, an enchanting and learned compilation stretching over four discs. Call it history, call it roots - it matters not! What's important is that what you hear within these four stunning discs helped to shape and model today's music. And hey, this is only part one - there's obviously more to come - what a work, what a commitment, and what a blast!!
This superb anthology is split into four discreet and seamless sections as follows ; Disc 1 - Country Blues And Spirituals, Jug Bands And Hokum, Disc 2 - Piano Boogie-Woogie, Ragtime And Jazz, Disc 3 - Urban Blues And Gospel and lastly, Disc 4 - After Hours Swing And Jive. The compilers have been careful not to simply make this a 'blues' work; they've been realistic and honest in their work which finds blues, folk, gospel and other urban styles melding into more syncopated forms such as jazz, swing, jive and so on. Thus, you start to get the bigger picture as you work your way through this epically proportioned anthology - you see gaps being filled and ideas and forms being stretched over time. There are famous names and not so famous names, there are songs that you'll recognise and there are songs that you'll hear for the first time - but, all played their part in shaping the big rock and roll explosion of the 50's and all influenced what you listen to today under multi-genre headings, individual styles and nuances and so on.
'The History Of Rhythm And Blues' is as important as it is educational - this is quite possibly the best put together assemblage of 'roots' music - ever. Lovingly compiled by Nick Duckett and Consultant Stewart Tippett and beautifully presented with an enclosed booklet which 'tells the story', this is like an 'everyman's guide to the development and growth of modern, popular music'. Musical purists and scholars will love this work simply for its facts - music lovers from all age groups will find this work fascinating and rewarding and anyone who has the slightest interest in musical history should find this a joy to behold.
Scratchy and naive maybe but that's how it was and that how it has to be. Listen to the lyrics and realise that what these innovators sang about doesn't differ very much from today's outpourings. Pick out nuances, syncopations, riffs and melodies that occur and re-occur through the ages. See where we learned, feel what influenced us and just enjoy the truth of it all!! Marvel at the creativity of these artists and take into consideration what they had available to them back then - be amazed at the content, the gritty believability, the passion and the dedication to a cause. Compare what's on offer here to where we are today - listen and learn, feel and be touched!
'The History Of Rhythm
And Blues Part 1, 1925 to 1942' is a massive compilation; educational
and fulfilling, it's as rewarding as it is fascinating - a piece of musical
history that'll sit well in anyone's collection - glory in it's depth,
revel in its creation and just enjoy all ninety-seven tracks for exactly
what they are - an important musical history lesson, moments in musical
time that shaped what we listen to today. 'The History Of Rhythm And Blues
Part 1, 1925 to 1942' is a genuine beauty!!
Peter
J Brown aka toxic pete (www.toxicpete.co.uk)
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This may well be as invaluable an aid to the historian or researcher of blues music as the dictionary is to the crossword puzzler…this is a fascinating study. ‘Noggin’ - Blues Matters (May 2008)
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One of the finest
box-sets released in recent years. One of the things that distinguishes
this box set from the majority of others is the attention to detail and
the quality of both the presentation and information provided. From opener
Austin Coleman’s My Soul Is A Witness to the final notes of T-Bone
Walker’s Mean Old World, the set is a veritable treasure chest…
heard straight through, the listener can really appreciate the development
of the music. Anyone who’s heard Volume One will be counting down
the days (to the release of Volume Two) and it seems likely that taken
together, the three sets will become the standard work on the genre.
Jeremy Searle - Short Takes - Rocknreel (July
2008)
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Another stonker! This
is a tasty compilation that covers plenty of bases.
Paul
Raymond - Men Only (May 2008)
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This set is everything
and more that the reviews above say. It is obviously a labour of love
and is intelligently programmed. The sound quality is as good as one could
hope for and it's far more than "a beginners guide.
Redbeard
- Amazon (2008)
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excellent and extensive
detailed sleeve notes…an excellent beginners guide whilst also including
some more obscure gems for afficionados. I look forward to Volume Two.
Simon
Wright
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As a Doctor Who fan, my greatest wish would be to travel back to pre-war America and see and hear some of the late, great blues stars of their generation. But let’s face it, the Tardis is unlikely to materialise, pick me up and give me a ride there. So I’ll have to settle for the next-best thing – an incredible four-CD journey that will at least let me listen to my heroes in all their glory and imagine I’m there with them as they croon, moan, hum and holler. And you won’t get any closer to the real thing than with this superb £14.99 four-CD box set – arguably the most important and fascinating collection of rhythm and blues music compiled in recent years.
Attractively packed, the set features no less than 97 tracks culled from one of American music’s most important eras, between 1925-1942, plus an incredibly informed 32-page booklet featuring comprehensive and musically-savvy sleeve notes. From the first, and frankly disturbing, field recording track from 1934 (My Soul Is A Witness by Austin Coleman) to the later urban sophistication of the last number (Mean Old World, by T-Bone Walker) this a collection that by turns fascinates, entertains, amuses and delights any self-respecting rhythm and blues fan with a sense of history.
The beauty of the boxset is that it resists the temptation to play safe. So many blues compilations are heavy on favourites such as John Lee Hooker, Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, BB King, and so on. Robert Johnson’s in there for just one song, Preachin’ Blues, but even greats like Son House just don’t make it here. Instead, we are treated to some complete unknowns and peripheral players who, nevertheless, played a key role in the history of the genre.
Take Arthur ‘Big Boy’ Crudup, for example. Who? Exactly. A man who didn’t even learn to play guitar until he was 30, an artist of indifferent ability and largely forgotten by the music world. Yet Crudup penned a string of hits, including That’s Alright Mama, and Mean Ol’ Frisco that other artists feasted on – including a young hip-swingin’ hopeful called Elvis Presley, no less. Without That’s Alright, the world may have had to wait a little longer for the King’s arrival. And didn’t a certain Eric Clapton cover Mean Ol’ Frisco a little later on? Crudup’s original 1942 version of this number is featured here, and it’s pretty good listening.
And how about Hambone Willie Newbern? He wrote the immortal Roll And Tumble Blues, giving us a riff that will be forever recalled and copied by scores of later artists, including Clapton, again. Good Morning Schoolgirl also became a timeless classic, and we hear the original 1937 version by John Lee ‘Sonny Boy’ Williamson. And then there’s Don’t You Lie To Me, which everyone seems to think was written by a certain Chuck Berry, who made it famous, as well as The Rolling Stones and the Flaming Groovies. But it was the fabulous Tampa Red who was the original writer, and the definitive 1940 version is right here on CD 3. Tampa, gets star billing in the boxset, highlighting his perceived importance in the history of R&B, and the listener can only marvel at the control and dexterity of his single-string bottleneck riffs on numbers such as It’s Tight Like That (1928).
For me, the first CD covering Country Blues And Spirituals, Jug Bands and Hokum, is a revelation. Stand-out tracks include Papa Charlie Jackson’s Shake That Thing, Curley Weaver’s No No Blues and Barbecue Bob’s scintillating 12-string guitar on Ease It To Me Blues. The incomparably laid-back and multi-talented Blind Lemon Jefferson is also there with the classic Match Box Blues and the listener can only sit back and wonder at the fingerplay of Blind Blake on the irresistible Diddie Wah Diddie.
Disc 2 concentrates
on Piano Boogie Woogie, Ragtime and Jazz – not particularly my scene,
I thought. But I was surprised to find some absolute gems here, in particular
Lil Johnson’s hilarious Press My Button (full of wonderful double
entendres), Louis Armstrong’s Knockin’ A Jug and Cab Calloway’s
melodramatic funster, Minnie The Moocher – guaranteed to lift anyone’s
spirits.
Next we move on to Urban Blues And Gospel on Disc Three, with Leroy Carr
drawling his way through Barrelhouse Woman and Bill Bill Broonzy demonstrating
why he was such a great singer on the same theme, this time with Barrelhouse
When It Rains and Rockin’ Chair Blues. Tampa Red pops up again with
the catchy Don’t You Lie To Me and the superb Big Maceo shows his
piano and vocal skills to great effect on Worried Life Blues. This collection
isn’t just about guitars – there are some great pianists, big
bands, little bands, kazoo players, jug-blowers and washboard raspers,
all doing their thing in the name of entertainment. You have to hear ex-pro
boxer Champion Jack Dupree’s thumping piano style to believe it with
Junker Blues (it's so punchy it sounds like he's playing in boxing gloves)
and Sister Rosetta Tharpe (one of my favourites) wielding a mean electric
Gibson guitar on This Train.
Gospel, of course, plays a big part in blues history. No streetwise busker would dream of playing all-secular songs when the audience demanded some gospel numbers and these were also perennial best-sellers on recorded music, even when times were hard. Hence the contributions of the wildly popular Ms Tharpe, Elder Otis Jones (Holy Mountain) and the spectacularly titled Somebody Stole Gabriel’s Horn by the Three Keys.
Disc Four brings
us to After Hours Swing, Boogie and Jive, allowing such luminaries as
Count Basie and The Lionel Hampton Orchestra to take centre stage as music
moved into a more sophisticated era of big band sound, even though the
music remained mainly up-tempo. Albert Ammons And His Rhythm Kings showed
here where music was heading with a cool rendition of Boogie Woogie Stomp,
but there was still room for a more simple style on Floyd’s Guitar
Blues, by the astonishingly named Andy Kirk And His Clouds Of Joy. The
song that deserves to knock everyone flat is the magnificent Bessie Smith’s
(pictured left) rendering of Backwater Blues, delivered in that powerful,
sexy, laid-back voice that’s instantly recognisable and backed by
the superb pianist James P Johnson, whose rolling boogie woogie style
is a delight but cleverly makes room for the vocals to shine through.
With so many treasures to trawl through, this massively impressive four-disc
compilation deserves a place in any collection and a long, long listen.
Cow Cow Davenport, Sleepy John Estes, Scrapper Blackwell, Kokomo Arnold,
Speckled Red, the Harlem Hamfats, Jazz Gillum, Muggsy Spanier and Bumble
Bee Slim may not be household names, and most of them still died penniless,
even when they were moderately successful. Even Tampa Red, who once boasted
a gold-plated National guitar and became know as “the man with the
golden guitar”, passed away destitute. As Lonnie Johnson says in
Mr Johnson's Blues: “I want all you people to listen to my song.
Remember me after all the days I'm gone”. With this incomparable
collection, we can at least do try to do that and applaud their priceless
contributions to modern day music.
Alan Candy The Bluesman’s blog
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Disc one has some
memorable songs by some of the most important blues singers. Disc two
has some jazz contributions not usually found in blues compilations. The
third disc has some artists that tend to be overlooked in sets like this.
Disc four has some swinging, jumping and joyful music with well-known
standards and artists…the sound quality is very good and I enjoyed
listening to all four discs. Compilations that attempt to give a history
of blues can be important in introducing newcomers to the joys and delights
of the music. Paul Oliver s collaboration with CBS in 1970 (gulp was it
that long ago?) in producing the double LP The Story Of The Blues was
instrumental in helping many people to become enthused and to find out
more about blues. Perhaps this set will do the same for people in the
21st century that previous compilations did for me, and so many others
several decades ago.
Paul
Mooney - Blues & Rhythm (May
2008)