Customer Reviews

Best of Blind Willie Mctell

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I have been also a fan of old blues recordings since the early 1970's. Blind Willie is one of my favorites. If you love twelve-string guitar, he was the master. McTell was from Atlanta, so he never got the credit like those from the Mississippi Delta (Robert Johnson, Charley Patton, Tommy Johnson, Son House etc) and McTell's form of blues was categorized as the "Piedmont Style" and featured some pop and ragtime influences than just hard-core blues. It was also sunny and cheerful at times. I've owned blues compilations with Blind Willie cuts and also owned the Columbia/Legacy version and found the guitar and overall balance to have less presence than this new Yazoo release. These are the finest sounding recordings ever on McTell. The sound is crisp and vibrant and you can hear the 12-string ring like a bell or a train whistle. This Yazoo CD covers the best of the early Victor recordings and also the Columbia ones. The only knock I have is that there are no specific dates when the songs were recorded. The Victors are from 1927 to 1932 and the Columbias are from around 1928 to 1935, but it would have been nice for "record nerds" like me to know exactly when they were recorded, so we could figure out who he was influenced by (current events,crazes, other musicians, movies etc.). Music can be influenced by the style of the times. Anyway, if you love guitar and folk blues excellence, Blind Willie is fantastic, plus he had a way with words. Bob Dylan is a also a fond admirer of McTell and even wrote a great song about him. This CD offers the finest selection of his greatest songs and with the greatest sound ever released. If you are a blues historian or fan, this is a must for your collection!

They are, and I quote: "She looked like a lump of Lord have mercy," and "I drink so much I stagger when I sleep."
As to the rest of the CD, McTell was a bit more urbane than many of his delta blues contemporaries. (And yes, I meant "urbane" not "urban.") His guitar playing has a more jazzy feel to it, and you can tell that the music will be making its way to the big city soon. He's probably my favorite Delta blues guy, and young whipper snappers will be able to hear where Jack White got his schtick.
How's the sound quality on this release? Um, pretty darn excellent, all things considered.

Classic material from the good ol' days of 78 rpm's. "Broke Down Engine", "Statesboro Blues", "Travelin' Blues", "Dark Night Blues", "Mama Taint Long Fo Day", "Low Rider's Blues" are some of the highlights of this musician.

Willie McTell's "best of" compilation, every song rolls with the flow, the Yahoo audio is excellent, Biograph's "Pig 'n Whistle Red" and the OBC "Last Session" sound even better. All three combined create the ultimate Blind Willie McTell collection. Willie McTell, master of the twelve-string, more than adequate singer, my favorite blues artist... also the JSP box set is worth looking into... the very essence of the blues, Blind Willie McTell.