Customer Reviews

Fat Possum: Not Same Old Blues Crap (Sampler)

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4 star:		(2)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

I bought this CD from Amazon because it was shockingly inexpensive and I wanted to pad out an order. I wasn't expecting great things; I hoped merely that I hadn't wasted the meager amount of money I'd spend. Boy, was I happy when I finally played this. This is great!

The blues. A genre which can communicate untold pain, depthless heartache and a universe of suffering. Or it can encompass songs like "Crack Whore Blues", which is exactly what you would expect it to be from the title. The tracks on here are vibrant and alive. This is wonderfully thrilling, foot-tapping stuff that can be serious on the few occasions that it wants to be.

Since this is a sampler compilation containing disparate artists, it's difficult to sum up this album in a few paragraphs. We go all the way from rompy throwaway musical jokes right into genuinely soulful lyrics. But the one constant is quality. What many of the performers lack in technical ability, they more than make up for in enthusiasm. This is a release from a tiny record label with no terribly big names, which goes a long way towards explaining the emotion.

The liner notes are absolutely hideous -- green text written on a purple background. It makes my eyes water just thinking about it. There's also a funny gag on the back, which I shall not spoil here.

As a sampler, the idea is to throw as much onto the disc as possible and hope that the customer likes at least one or two selections enough to purchase a full album. They've convinced me; I have some shopping to do. Anyone with even a passing interest in the blues should pick up this one. You can do it without breaking the bank, and, unless you're familiar with the artists already, you'll be hearing the blues like you haven't quite heard them before.

Fat Possum - pace the first guest reviewer - isn't the band, it's the label, which houses perhaps the most important bluesmen to have emerged in the art in an extremely long time. Mostly from north Mississippi, all of whom have at least the attitude and the drive of that region's weave between hypnotic and heartpunch soul dance blues. If you've happened upon any of these artists's discs and been tempted but leery to try them, pick up this cheap sampler, listen closely, and be prepared to learn all over again that the blues didn't begin and end with a certain long tall Texan who couldn't make up his mind whether he wanted to be Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Winter, Albert King, or all the above when he grew up. Nor does it belong exclusively (if at all) to a trio of hotshot young shredders using the blues as a launching pad for continuing wild, techincally brilliant, musically wanting guitar pyrotechnics. At long last there are some who remember what the blues is REALLY all about, and they mostly take the form of these aging gentlemen (some of whom hadn't recorded until they'd hit their 60s, at least) to show how it can be done. Make that, how it should be done - raw, rippling, deep, and exuberantly soulful. This is the best bargain in music in years.

I'm a fan of Mr. Burnside, so getting this was easy, and enjoying it easier even. This is not revolutionary music by any means, but it is refreshingly wild and iconoclastic. Get it, it is fun

I got this completly on impulse. The title and cover art was too much to pass up. If you like your blues raw and real, buy this CD. There are a couple of uninspired tracks but the good ones carry it overall. R.L. Burnside is as real as it gets!

Fat Possum Records, probably one of the most incredible record labels out there. It's one of the very rare and few companies that actually cares about music and it's roots.

Due to reviewing rules, I was unable to publish a very long track by track review I did of the other Fat Possum disc Not the Same Old Blues Crap, Vol. 3. Please purchase both these CD's, Vol. 3 is even better than this outstanding CD. It includes Black Keys and some more current sharper blues music.

The disc is a compilation of recordings that are sold on full artist discs. It's a sampler. It's not just appetizers, it's a full course meal of hard core, real live blues. Fat Possum makes sure that you'll hear a variety of styles that tend to recorded more in the raw than in some pristine studio.

1. I'm Insane T-Model Ford - raw club blues, simple beat, the kind of blues you would stumble on in a bar in the south. Raw, very raw. Maybe not the absolute best first track for this disc

2. Meet Me in the City - Kimbrough, Junior - The Black Keys did a fantastic tribute to this blues genius Chulahoma. Rythmic blues, with a very nice hook in it. You can almost smell the smoke and alcohol in this one. Guitar, bass and drums.

3. Come Right In - Twenty Miles Young band that does have a distinct garage band sound. Has some of the very early Rolling Stones blues sound.

4. Snake Drive - Burnside, R.L. Southern blues, hard driving bass and drum line. Probably one of the more accessible tracks of the CD. I'm reminded of this great blues guitarist, I Want To Groove With You. There's some really great guitar playing.

5. Crack ##### Blues - Almost punk band from England. Leans very heavy toward rock music, with a thrashing blues riff.

6. Lonesome Road - Kimbrough, Junior As above, Junior Kimbrough is a classic down home blues artist. This is what the blues roots are all about.

7. Have Mercy Baby - Marks, Rose - More southern blues, classic, the kind that makes you want to stomp your feet, clap your hands. It has that revival feel to it.

8. Come on In - Burnside, R.L. - Some gorgeous guitar playing, recorded in a club. You can hear the yelling in the background. It doesn't get more live than this track. One man, one guitar, one voice - simply beautiful

9. Been Here and Gone - Elmo Williams - 50's rock and roll blues. Harmonica, guitar, bass, and drums. Story telling blues with that rock beat.

10. Little Eddie Blues - Robert Cage - Do Do Do Do, it's catchy, no lyrics, just Robert Cage do do doing a tune with a guitar and another person hitting a wooden beat box.

11. Your Memories - Hasil Adkins - Balad blues, slow, deliberate. Very much like the soundtrack from A Love Song for Bobby Long.

For the price, you will never buy a better blues album. Even if you don't like two or three tracks, remix it and delete them. There's some music in here that you've probably never heard before. It's all about trying new things.

And support Fat Possum records. It's an amazing label that spans a huge variety of music.

Not everything on here is great, but if you're at all open-minded about the blues, you need to listen to this record.

It's raw, it's unfiltered, it's unproduced, it's authentic, it's brilliant in spots.

It's cheap, buy it now.

WARNING: Listening to this CD will warp your perception of blues music. Anyone within earshot will conclude that you are, indeed, insane. Playing the CD with the windows open will kill your lawn. Do not handle this CD without protective gloves. Sanitize your CD player after each play.

Fat Possum has released three compilations of their stable of artists. This is the first in the series and most potent. This is rough, raw, in your face blues peformed mostly by old men who have lived hard lives. You will either love it or hate it. I love it.

You have been warned.

Great album! Very interesting musicians and a good introduction for what is happening in Mississippi Blues at this moment

Fat Possum..also lent to me by a friend, I was very impressed with this band's raw blues and comical lyrics. Very nice, very tight guitar riffs, the band produces an excellent blues color. I'm not an extreme blues collector, but if i was, this album would definately be in my collection.

As a long time blues fan and blues musician I have heard lots of blues, but rarely have I heard a steaming pile of unlistenable rubbish like this collection.As if the back cover art of some old fool wearing a nazi hat, smoking a plastic cigar and wearing a dog collar wasn't warning enough- the front cover art of someone wearing a gas mask should have been. Perhaps he got a whiff of the contents of this cd. Even at [price] it is grossly over-priced.