Nice to see this thread pop up now and then I am way behind with my planned pre-war blues (2018 Blues Images) and hard country (Roy Acuff Bear Family, George Jones Starday and Mercury Bear Family) purchases, but I hope to be able to do something about that later this year.
I just picked up the Skip James Yazoo from 2005 and a UK import of his 1960s "Today!" Also this Smoky Babe release https://www.amazon.ca/Back-Country-Blues-Smoky-Babe/dp/B00KYJHTNI
Two requests for recommendations: Does anybody know of a decent-sounding Delmore Brothers compilation that covers their earlier Bluebird sides? I have the JSP box. I love the content, but it sounds muffled. Don't know if it's noise reduction or just bad transfers. Can't beat the cheapo JSP price though. I have all the Skillet Lickers chronological discs on Document. Alas, the sound quality is poor on those. I also have the one-disc County compilation ("Old Time Fiddle Tunes & Songs"), which sounds superb. Has any more of their stuff appeared in the digital realm in decent quality?
I have these two sets. Both sound good overall and both are pretty comprehensive. The price is right too...
From my web site: Cajun Music mp3 Hadacol it Something Recommended: We are very fortunate today to have so much music from the 1920s and 1930s available on CD, much more than was available even when this Web site began in 2002. Ever since the 1970s I was aware of recorded Cajun and Creole music from the 1920s and 30s through an outstanding series of lps (long-playing records) on the market by the Arhoolie Records label. I will always be grateful to producer Chris Strachwitz for making that music available! It's as if it's in my DNA now! Some of these remarkable lps are still available from the Arhoolie Web site, with these titles: Louisiana Cajun Music Volume 1, First Recordings (OT108); Louisiana Cajun Music Volume 2, The Early 30s(OT109); Louisiana Cajun Music Volume 3, The String Bands of the 1930s (OT110); Louisiana Cajun Music Volume 4, The 30s to the 50s (OT111); Louisiana Cajun Music Volume 5, 1928-1938 (OT114); Amade Ardoin, His Original Recordings 1928-1934 Volume 6 (OT124); Leo Soileau, Louisiana Cajun Music Volume 7 (OT125). From 2004-2008, the JSP label put out three 4-CD sets that cover a good portion of the 1920s and 30s recordings. Look for Cajun Early Recordings (JSP7726), Cajun Country 2(JSP7749), and Cajun Music Rare and Authentic (JSP77115). Also look for recordings by Dennis McGee and Leo Soileau, who have individual compilations available on the Yazoo label. Unforgettable! Recently, in 2011, Tompkins Square released an essential compilation of Amede Ardoin recordings with much improved sound mastering by Chris King! It's just great to have all 34 of these great recordings available in a single 2-CD set! Look for Mama, I'll Be Long Gone: The Complete Recordings of Amede Ardoin 1929-1934! This music by the great black Creole singer and accordionist Amede Ardoin, first with fiddler Dennis McGee and then solo, includes some of the most important and influential, not to mention beautiful, tunes and lyrics in all of Cajun and Creole history. Many of his songs became standards or well known songs in the Cajun and Creole canon, sometimes with different names, as shown here. Recommended: Tompkins Square has released 13 of Angelas LeJeune's titles, along with the entire recorded output of Bixy Guidry and Percy Babineaux, on a 2013 CD entitled Let Me Play This for You. Nice job!
Looks like that Skillet Lickers set also has additional material from sessions/sides that weren't recorded under the Skillet Lickers name (Gid solo and various duo configurations). That stuff wasn't on the Document CDs. I'm gonna roll the dice. Can't complain about the price. Thanks!
Brilliant thread. I’ve burnt a hole in my wallet working through some of the records above. Anyone have an opinion on the Rough Guide pre war blues reissues? They’re from World Music Network and on the surface they would appear to be a great deal. I’m in the UK and a lot of the Yazoo stuff is either out of print here or going for crazy money. The Rough Guides are cheap and far ranging from a usually respectable label. I bought the Blind Blake which has a separate cd of Ragtime Blues. My issue is there is zero info about source material, just that it was compiled by a chap called Neil Record...to my ears the songs sound suspiciously clean, maybe a little too flat and digitised. But I could be imaging it. I also have their Unsung Heroes of Country Blues comps which are fantastic value and in the vein of the Memphis Masters comp on Yazoo. Again sound is very clean but maybe a bit 2D. Anyone with a pair of decent ears got an opinion on this? Is it still (after all these years) best to go with Yazoo?
Thank you on the JSP confirmation . . . I would assume that means the music does not sound as good as it gets but JSP offers the cheapest completeness. I do not find those "Rough Guides" sound very good imho
I would say, in my opinion, that the JSP sets for the Skillet Lickers and the Riley Puckett sound better (to my ears) than any other cd release(s) that I have heard of the same material. But that's just me.
Good to hear the JSPs sound good. Not all of their releases sound so good. Their Louis Armstrong Hot Fives and Sevens release is supposed to be a high quality one.
It's been said on this board many times before, but in JSP's early days, when they hired the late John R.T. Davies to do the masterings and didn't yet "borrow" and manipulated masterings that had been paid for by labels like Bear Family, their CD-sets sounded really good. Later sets, especially the ones without mastering credits, do not sound good to my ears, except sets that were mastered by Chris King for example.
Sorry if I missed something about this upthread but it's 14 pages long! Or let me know the post number. Recommend me some Bo Carter?
Why not use the search option? Just search for "Bo Carter" and tick "this thread only". My recommendation would be the Yazoo Bo Carter compilation Twist It Babe, 1931-1940. There's also the Yazoo Bo Carter compilation Banana in Your Fruit Basket: Red Hot Blues, 1931-1936.
Yazoo also released Greatest Hits 1930-1940 (Yazoo 1014), although this was vinyl and cassette only, despite the CD booklet for Banana in Your Fruit Basket saying it was available on CD.
I've been listening to old Charlie McCoy CD 1928-1932 (Document, 1992), lots of Bo Carter--aka Bo Chatman--participation: Charlie McCoy (2) - Complete 1928-1932 Recordings In Chronological Order If factory-pressed, I'd recommend it, at least as a reference: haven't compared it to other reissues. These artists have complex discographies... Apart from his solo works, Bo also made many records with the Mississippi Sheiks for OKeh, Paramount, and Bluebird. Regarding Charlie without Bo, it was thoughtful of Blues Images to include 1932 tracks Boogie Woogie and Country Guy Blues on Vol. 13, as they're missing from the Document CD. Does anyone know of a reissue for these other tracks from 1932...? Bottle It Up / That Will Be Your End Blues - "Papa" Charlie McCoy (Vocalion 1726) 78 Quarterly estimated "less than five" copies in existence, with none reported (it seems one appeared at auction, circa the early '90s).
Here's the 2019 Blues Calendar (also posted in the Blues Calendar thread): Blues Images 2019 Free CD label, booklet and title tracks, remastered by the AMAZING American Epic Sound Restoration Team! the BEST sounding songs we've ever had — Blind Blake and Charley Patton have NEVER sounded so good! Tracklisting: (1) Winding Ball Mama • Papa George Lightfoot (2) Piney Woods Money Mama • Blind Lemon Jefferson (3) Love Sick Blues • Jim Jackson (4) Ma Rainey • Memphis Minnie (5) Too Tight Blues No. 2 • Blind Blake (6) Jumping On The Hill – Test [Unreleased] • The Beale Street Sheiks (7) Black Biting Bee Blues • Leola B. Wilson with Blind Blake (8) Coon Can Blues • Dad Nelson (9) Ash Tray Blues • Papa Charlie Jackson (10) Oh Death • Charley Patton (11) My Grey Pony • Joe Williams (12) Christians Fight On, Your Time Ain’t Long • Sam Butler Bonus tracks (artwork doesn't exist for these songs) (13) Heaven Is My View • Sam Butler (14) Snake Hipping Daddy • Papa George Lightfoot (15) Low Down Mojo Blues • Blind Lemon Jefferson (16) Walking Blues • Raymond Barrow (17) Troubled ’Bout My Mother • Charley Patton (18) Don’t Speak To Me • Lottie Kimbrough (19) Got The Blues About Rome • Otto Virgial (20) Seven Year Itch • Otto Virgial (21) Indian Squaw Blues • Freezone (22) I’m A Roamin’ Gambler • William Harris (23) I Was Born In The Country— Raised In Town • William Harris
I just found out about this release, and promptly ordered it: FIDDLE NOIR - African American Fiddlers On Early Phonograph Records 1925-1949 I've really enjoyed all the other releases on Old Hat.
If you like that you might also like Terry Zwigoff's very first film Louie Bluie about Howard Armstrong:
