Arhoolie Records 40th Anniversary Collection: The Journey Of Chris Strachwitz 1960-2000 [Box set, Extra tracks]

Various Artists - Blues | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 26, 2000)
• Original Release Date: September 26, 2000
• Number of Discs: 5
• Format: Box set, Extra tracks
• Note on Boxed Sets: During shipping, discs in boxed sets occasionally become dislodged without damage. Please examine and play these discs. If you are not completely satisfied, we'll refund or replace your purchase.
• Label: Arhoolie Records
• ASIN: B00004WJJT
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #166,340 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #39 in Music > Latin Music > Regional Mexican > Conjunto

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. San Francisco Bay Blues - Jesse Fuller

2. Mercury Blues - K.C. Douglas

3. Shake Shake Mama - Mance Lipscomb

4. Cairo Blues - Lil' Son Jackson

See all 25 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Cindy - John Jackson

2. Little Red Rooster - Big Mama Thornton

3. La Betaille - Isom Fontenot

4. Calcasieu Waltz - Nathan Abshire

See all 21 tracks on this disc

Disc: 3

1. Church Point Breakdown - Austin Pitre

2. Gstanzeln Aus Dem Freistriztal - Original Herberstein Trio

3. Gibson Creek Shuffle - The Charles Ford Band

4. Ups And Downs - L.C. Robinson

See all 22 tracks on this disc

Disc: 4

1. Gritenme Piedras Del Campo - Flaco Jimenez

2. Co-Fe - John Delafose

3. Single Girl - Rose Maddox

4. Bee De La Manche - Canray Fontenot

See all 23 tracks on this disc

Disc: 5

1. Mother - Paramount Gospel Singers

2. Gumagarugu - Chatuye

3. Kandan-E Amaturi III - Aziz Herawi

4. A Ti, Colombia - Ivan Cuesta

See all 16 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Superbly packaged and lovingly annotated, the five-disc Arhoolie Records 40th Anniversary Collection distills four decades of musical passion into six hours of highlights. The passion is that of Arhoolie founder Chris Strachwitz, a German immigrant and former California schoolteacher whose label reflects a devotion to American roots music at its most vital and varied. Southern bluesmen Mance Lipscomb and Fred McDowell, Louisiana zydeco kingpin Clifton Chenier, and Tex-Mex conjunto accordionist Flaco Jimenez are just a few of the regional mainstays to achieve national renown through Arhoolie, and all of them are represented here.

The spirited diversity of the 105 selections (including 13 available on CD for the first time) finds the label extending its reach from string-band country (Hackberry Ramblers) to hard-driving jazz (Jerry Hahn Quintet) to New Orleans brass bands to more recent forays into "sacred steel," featuring gospel music with pedal-steel guitar. Where so many folk preservations might as well be embalming musical relics, Arhoolie champions "vernacular music": music that retains a strong, integral connection to its community and gets people clapping, stomping, and dancing. Throughout the set, the immediacy of the performances transcends trendiness or timeliness, showing how America sounds beyond the plasticity of popular culture. --Don McLeese

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars American Music 101, September 28, 2000

By 

Samuel V. Berger "soul stirrer" (oakland, ca USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Arhoolie Records 40th Anniversary Collection: The Journey Of Chris Strachwitz 1960-2000 (Audio CD)

If you're looking for a place to go to get a comprehensive lesson in the finest in American roots music spanning blues, cajun/zydeco, gospel, bluegrass, tex/mex/conjunto, barrelhouse rock'n'roll, etc, look no further than this amazing collection. Intended as a "scrapbook" of label owner Chris Strachwitz's 40 year journey traveling across the hinterlands collecting and annotating the mostly obscure(though not all) raw sounds that he has had the pleasure of offering to us, the listening public, through Arhoolie. I like to think of it as a nice side companion to the Harry Smith collections. Including an amazing thick photo/essay book that makes this worth the price alone, this is as important release to serious music lovers as the recent Louis Armstrong box. WORTH EVERY PENNY!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Treasury of Obscurities, October 17, 2001

By 

Kurt Harding "bon vivant" (Boerne TX) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Arhoolie Records 40th Anniversary Collection: The Journey Of Chris Strachwitz 1960-2000 (Audio CD)

I wasn't sure how I was going to like this box set when I bought it because I had never heard of most of the artists. When I first obtained it, I listened through once then put it on the shelf. On a recent road trip, I decided to put all 5 CDs in my CD changer to listen to in sequence and lemme tell you, am I ever glad to have done so.
The Journey of Chris Strachwitz is a musical journey through parts of America most of us never see or hear. There is Cajun, Zydeco, country, Tejano, blues, gospel and more. There is not the polished, overproduced kind of music one often hears on the radio, but rather the raw authenticity of music being played straight from the heart. Most of these musicians have made very little money in the business and are forced to do other work in order to make ends meet. Its a shame because just the small sampling here shows me that most of these artists have more talent than an army of top-40 schlocksters like Backstreet Boys and Madonna.
I am not equally enthusiastic about every song, but I was introduced to many performers from whom I want to hear more. Its hard to choose favorites, but I was impressed with Mance Lipscomb, the Reverend Louis Overstreet, Lydia Mendoza, Valerio Longoria, Omar Sharriff, Chatuye, The Campbell Brothers, and Aubrey Ghent in addition to more familiar performers like Clifton Chenier, Charlie Musselwhite, and any of the Jimenez clan. The worst song on the album is more pleasurable listening than most of the vapid pap served up on commercial radio.
With the CDs comes an informative booklet, filled with photos and stories of the performers and the sometimes serendipitous ways that Strachwitz hooked up with them.
If your musical taste runs the gamut, you should like this fairly priced box set. Chris Strachwitz did American music a tremendous turn when he set out to capture the sound of the folk before it was lost to us forever. I give this treasury of obscurities my heartiest recommendation. You won't be sorry you bought this!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great set and great value for money, January 26, 2002

By 

J. Julian "thebigj" (London UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Arhoolie Records 40th Anniversary Collection: The Journey Of Chris Strachwitz 1960-2000 (Audio CD)

This is a truly wondrful set that works on every level.

Beautifully presented with a very informative book and five high quality CD's.

The sound quality is superb as are all the production values.

The mixture of world music, old-time music and American regional sounds, as repesented in the output of Arhoolie Records, works extremely well here.

I found my self playing all 5 CD's one after the other without strain and enjoying them all.

Once having heard many of the artists for te first time the search wil then commence for solo albums if they exist, and they probably do in most cases.

If this were a "Bear Family" set there would certainly be another $... on the askng price.

If you are already a fan of this type of musci or are looking to explore it furter this really is THE set to buy as a starting point.

All the tracks are strong and there is no "padding" at all.

Combine this with a quite outstanding book giving full details on the artists and the history of Arhoolie and this is a set that will be cherished for years to come and played with great regularity.

Highly recommended.