Customer Reviews

Best There Ever Was: Legendary Early Blues

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I've been getting into this stuff for the last year or so and this is, far and away, the best "sampler" cd that I have found. In fact, it's much more satisfying to listen to these songs in this sequence than it is to listen to them on a compilation of pre-war 78's by a single artist.

Sure, Robert Johnson is great, but listening to all of his songs back to back to back can be a bit repetitive musically. After all, no one was making albums back then. Only singles, which often were variations on a theme which weren't intended to be played one directly after another. (I realize that Robert Johnson doesn't appear on this cd, but I am simply making a point.) Johnson's King of the Delta Blues Singers is a great album, but, I would argue, this is a better one. And that's really saying something.

Not every song chosen is the most commonly acknowledged "best" song by that particular artist, but that is actually to this disc's advantage. For example, "Cypress Grove" by Skip James is absolutely great, even if it's not as widely praised a "Devil Got My Woman." This strategy helps to prove the merits of an artist like Skip. He is not a one hit wonder. (Insofar as anything by Skip James has ever really been considered a "hit."

One last note: In the R. Crumb documentary, track number 13, "Last Kind Work Blues" by Geeshie Wiley, is the 78 rpm record which Crumb plays in his home as he assumes a near-fetal position.

This is actually my second time purchasing this. I wore out the first copy. This is, simply put, the most concentrated "cream of the crop" of pre-war guitar blues ever put out and the best sounding as well. Garfield Aker's Dough Roller is a masterpiece of the first order and there are few things on the set that don't compete neck to neck with this one. A real value and a wonder to hear!

Quirky song choices keep this collection fresh over a lifetime of listens. Each of these artists is represented by a lone selection, 20 artists, so it's a broad sampling from the era. The remastering is nothing short of a sonic miracle, on par with recent retreatments of Louis Armstrongs Hot 5s and 7s, on JSP. This collection and Robert Johnson's King of the Delta Blues Singers should be one and two in any semi-legit blues collection.

If this is your first step into 20's and 30's blues you have hit the jack pot. incredible and important. this is a wise investment thank you Yazoo for such a great collection

Great Artists & Great Examples of each.

Skip James was a new discovery for me here.

These folks should have made a better living than they did...

Sound familiar?