Black Rat Swing [Import]

Jo-Ann Kelly | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 3, 2003)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Import
• Label: Castle
• ASIN: B00006GO6N
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #62,167 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #69 in Music > Imports > Blues

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Where Is My Good Man At

2. This Is Your Last Chance Now

3. Ain't Seen No Whiskey

4. Back Water Blues

5. Keep Your Hands Out of My Pocket [Live]

6. No Chance With You [Live]

7. I Can't Quit You Baby

8. Levee Camp Holler

9. Tell Me Papa (How You Want It Done)

10. Talkin' Low

See all 23 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Feel Like Breaking Up Somebody's Home

2. Love Blind

3. Help Me Through the Night

4. Travellin' Mood

5. Baby, What You Want Me to Do [Live]

6. It's Too Late for That Now [Live]

7. What You Gonna Do [Live]

8. You Don't Love Me Baby [Live]

9. You Got to Move [Live]

10. Two Nineteen Blues

See all 22 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Get it!, October 25, 2006

By 

Fran - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Black Rat Swing (Audio CD)

I thought I'd heard them all, thought I'd them all, vinyls and cds by this great artist, but was I surprised!
Though plenty of reissues, some great things I didn't know about, as the live recordings.
This is a compilation of highest standard. And Jo-Ann Kelly's still unbeaten as the premier white
blues-singer... male or female.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars British Blues Invasion, June 13, 2010

By 

K. Rowley (Melbourne Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Black Rat Swing (Audio CD)

The British blues singer/guitarist Jo-Anne Kelly (1944-90) was a little-known treasure. She was a member of the same generation of musicians as the Rolling Stones, but she was more interested in reviving prewar country blues than in popularizing postwar electric blues. Jo-Anne sat in with the Yardbirds in early in their early Clapton days, had a long association with The Groundhogs, and in the 1970s did a stint in the blues-rock band Tramp. But mostly she played acoustic guitar and performed in folk music clubs. She was a regular support act for American blues musicians of an older generation touring England, such as Fred McDowell and Big Joe Williams.
Jo-Anne didn't record much, and her records were hard to find in the shops - certainly in my country(Australia). Those that that I did lay my hands on revealed a powerful voice and a driving, rhythmic guitar style. Her heroine was Memphis Minnie.
Now she is gone but, courtesy of Castle Records, we can get hold of more of her recordings than ever. "Black Rat Swing" is a superb 2-CD anthology spanning her whole career. On most of the tracks she performs solo, or is backed by piano and/or harmonica. Others show her at ease with electric blues, Chicago-style. The same company have issues three CDs of "Rare and Unissued" recordings, two of Jo-Anne solo and one from her sessions with Tramp. These are occasionally marred by recording glitches, and include alternative takes or arrangements of songs on "Black Rat Swing." But there is no real drop-off in the quality of her performance from the issued recordings to these outtakes. I strongly recommend all these records.
There are several other Jo-Anne Kelly CDs now available, which I haven't heard. Unfortunately these don't include my all-time favourite among her vinyl-issued recordings, the album she cut during a visit to the USA in the early 1970s, accompanied by Stefan Grossmann and Woody Mann on acoustic guitar and Alan Siedler on piano, and issued on the Yellow Bee label.