Customer Reviews

Giants of the Blues

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am, for a better word, 'SHOCKED' at the reviews of this CD and how poor they are. I would have to assume that these reviews are from beginner blues music listeners that really have no clue what they are talking about. It is true that tracks 1-5 and 7 are Sonny Terry and Brownie at their best, but it is however the Blowin' the Fuses concert from the Los Angles Troubadour in 1962. These six tracks are enough to get the CD alone, but songs 6, and 8 to 19 are pieces of US Americana history that are priceless!!!
It is true that the condition of these tracks are fair at best, but it sounds better then the Leadbelly Library of Congress early recordings and how can you say that those recordings are not great. The group of Sonny Terry, Woody Guthrie (who is the bad singer that one of these reviews eludes too. HA, can you imagine that!), Alec Seward, and Cisco Houston sing together in a 'Great Depression' era. These recordings represent a multicultural poor class singing ol' songs to help them forget their extremely troubled lives. The reason why the recording is so bad is because it is most likely the group sitting around one microphone (if not a recording Victrola). I guess one needs to understand the times of a poor, wondering, mixed race class nation to hear the importance in the almost hypnotic/spiritual song "Pick A Bale of Cotton" to appreciate that it is a miracle that something like this was recorded for us to hear in this era. With recordings like these something like production is secondary to the real meaning of the compilation. This is a must have for anyone who really listens to music and contemplates music's true importance in this world. Historically, musically, and spiritually these 'Archive Extras' are pure magic.

The tracks after eight which everyone seems to knock this CD for as far as poor performance and sound quality were recorded in 1952 and released on LP sometime in the 1960s on the budget Archive Of Folk Music label as a Sonny Terry album. Supposedly the tracks were recorded in someone's living room (Sonny's apartment in Harlem) on a borrowed wire recorder, which was a form of home recording used briefly in the 1940s using wire instead of a reel to reel tape;hence the loose presentation and poor sound quality. The musicians present were Sonny Terry, Alec "Guitar Slim" Seward and Woody Guthrie. They were obviously putting together a themed presentation which was supposed to be chain gang songs possibly due to the popularity of Josh White's similiarly themed album which was so popular some years earlier on Columbia. Sonny and Alec play stongly and were in fine voice. Unfortunately Woody is beginning to feel the effects of the Huntington's Chorea which led him to be hospitalized shortly thereafter and which eventually led to his death as well as a possible few drinks. He is wild and erratic and is the poor vocalist alluded to by another reviewer.The other musicians obviously loved and respected Woody and were willing to participate in this session though he was on his musical decline.An imporant document for fans of Woody Guthrie showing the once mighty performer in one of his last recorded performances. It is tedious listening but fascinating nonetheless.

I have to agree with Joe's review above: the later tracks on this CD were not recorded in a studio somewhere. That's just how early blues recordings sound, folks. This is an excellent collection and a slice of history.

This is clearly a forgotten corner of the Amazon.com catalogue; in the last year nobody has enlightened us on this subject. I may be in a position to do so myself, and with some apologies for my earlier disparaging comments. Based on the track listing of a CD featuring Sonny Terry, with Woodie Guthrie and Cisco Houston, and based on an imaginative assumption of Houston's singing under presumably extremely primitive conditions, it seems that he may be the singer I maligned. Sincere apologies, then, but still no upgrade on the rating on account of the minimal sleeve notes, non-existent performer credits/recording details, and truly excrable sound. [The CD reviewed has the same title and track listing, but different cover. Legacy International CD 368]

First of all, I quite agree with "James". The tracks featuring Sonny and Brownie (I can't tell if the balance of the disc even involves them) are as lovely as you would expect, and quite decently reproduced. The remaining tracks are dreadfully recorded and poorly selected (the over-riding criterion seeming to be reference to chain gangs). Listening sequentially leads one to incredulous laughter shortly followed by anger and boredom. That said, I would be very interested to know who the mystery voice is (not that he can sing), and the provenance of the recorded songs - genuine country blues, if a little monothematic. And so we come to the final gripe with this CD - the sleevenotes are worthless in the extreme. Is this really a Smithsonian recording??? If so, please let's have some more info.

The CD starts out great. Tracks 1-7 are Brownie & Sonny at their finest. Then, beginning with Track 8, it devloves into an incomprehensible, badly produced collection of recordings that sound like they were taped in someone's living room. I suppose it might be worth the price for 7 great songs, but otherwise I would recommend you look elsewhere.