Customer Reviews

1928 Sessions

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Okay, ignore the first nimrod's review. Let me help you out on something-- GO BUY THIS NOW. Mississippi John Hurt was an angel among early recorded country blues singers. His voice is like honey in a jar with the sun shining through it. His guitar playing is drop-dead gorgeous. An absolute master of the alternating thumb-picked bass, his other fingers must have looked like they were dancing as he played these glorious, raggy refrains. By all accounts, Hurt was a gentle and kind person, and this comes through clearly on his 1928 sessions. These are the only recordings Hurt made in the pre-war era, and after he made them he returned to his life of sharecropping and obscurity for the next three and a half decades. Fortunately for us, he was rediscovered (in his hometown of Avalon, Mississippi)by some stalwart blues researchers and went on to enjoy a succesful revival amidst the folk rock explosion of the 1960's (in which all manner of hippies glommed on to these musical greats, apparently only so they could dilute it and foul it up.)At any rate, there are other reissues of these sessions-- a recent one on (I believe) RCA/Bluebird and of course, on the fine, fine Document label (the best source for all researchers and collectors of this music,) but I am only familiar with the Yazoo edition, so I can't judge variations in sound quality from reissue to reissue. In the 1960's, up to his death, Mississippi John Hurt appeared at numerous events, including Newport Folk Festivals and TV appearances and made several albums worth of recordings, most of which are in circulation and are also highly recommended. Don't die without hearing this wonderful collection of songs.

I am a long time fan of Mississippi John Hurt. His music is legend. I bought this CD to add to my blues collection. It has great songs on it. The only drawback, and this depends on the listener I guess, is that there is so much static it is difficult to catch the entire nuance of the music. This probably can't be avoided since the recordings are from his original sessions. I would like to think that one day someone will be able to filter out the static without loosing the music. It is almost like listening to those large thick old records on the turntable. All in all I am glad I purchased it.

Let me help you out- the music and the man-Fantastic! nevermind the movie. All of this material is available on the Avalon blues 1928 complete okeh recordings for 9.98 or so. And it is in excellent sound quality. Best you can ask for to be honest. Forget this overpriced set of the same music.

Hey now, Mississippi John Hurt was a black man from Avalon Mississippi who made exceptionally beautiful music. He died in 1966. John Hurt the actor is a white Englishman who appeared in the Elephant Man movie in 1980. Do the math and perhaps a little more homework next time.

I loved Mississippi John Hurt's performance as tortured soul John (Joseph) Merrick in "The Elephant Man," and was pleasantly surprised when I found out that the music played during the closing credits of that film ("Big Leg Blues") was performed by none other than Hurt himself. It was an appropriate choice for sure. The film, made in England during the Industrial Revolution, takes place in southern America (Avalon, to be precise) during the late 1920s, where Merrick is discovered at a minstrel show.

Anyway, I decided to buy the soundtrack to the film, based off of Big Leg Blues, and the 8 Hurt tracks on the soundtrack got me hooked on the Englishman's relaxed vocals and soothing guitar virtuosity (the soundtrack also includes Hurt's performance, in character, of Merrick's own "Trollycar go!" an endearing, if disjointed, nursery rhyme in the style of the great "patter-songs" common in Mexican Lousiana). 6 of those songs are including on this set. The other 7 songs on here are also top-notch sides.

This would be one of the three Essential Hurt albums. The other two are "The Elephant Man (original motion picture soundtrack)" and "Mississippi John Hurt does Porter, Midler and Lord Randall."