Customer Reviews

Hard Times Killin Floor

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

 

 

This is it! In my opinion, this is the definitive collection of Skip James' early recordings. Yazoo has always had the best sound, mostly because of the label's judicious use of noise reduction (in the old days, that meant NO noise reduction!). Now they've apparently used the latest tools to remove most of the intermittent noise, while leaving the music and some high-end background noise intact. Whatever process was used, sound engineer Richard Nevins has created the best sounding versions of these songs that I've ever heard. On the old Yazoo compilation, songs like "Special Rider Blues" and "Illinois Blues" were almost completely buried in noise. Somehow, Nevins has resurrected them. In particular, the guitar parts are much clearer. There is still quite a bit of noise and distortion - these records are notoriously rare and in poor condition - but this is probably the best they'll ever sound. This CD has all of the Skip James 1930 Paramount recordings that are known to exist. It also includes four cuts by Son House from the same year. These recordings are also extremely rare in and in very poor condition. Once again, Nevins has made them sound better than ever. As for the music, it is some of the most haunting ever recorded in the blues genre.

Being relatively new to the Country Blues genre, I have to say I really enjoyed this CD. It was my first exposure to Skip James and I now understand what they mean by the "haunting" quality of his voice. My favorites have to be "Cypress Grove" and "Hard Times Killin Floor". Some of his guitar playing just has me shaking my head in awe. On the downside, some of the songs were so scratchy that it was difficult to make out the guitar parts and the plunky parlor-type piano on some other other songs kind of grate on my ears a bit. But the only really disappointing aspect of this album were the gospel songs. They were shifted into a non-bluesy congregational-sing (how's that for technical language?) type style. I am looking for gospel songs with the same blues feel like Rev. Gary Davis does. But over all its an amazing album.

Skip James was one of the finest - and most refined - masters of the Delta blues tradition. The performances on this CD are nothing less than superb. He plays the guitar with grace and nuance, and his rather rustic, eccentric piano style makes up with charm for whatever it may lack in technical virtuosity. Skip James is an important figure in any sophisticated blues collection.

Skip James/Hard Time Killin' Floor: Hearing this CD you will get the feeling that you've heard these songs somewhere before, you probably have; Cream, Jimi Hendrix, and others have done (or drawn inspiration from) songs that are found here. Yazoo made this CD as an improvement on the one they released back in 1994. There is an improvement in the sound quality but if you already have the earlier version ("The Complete early recordings of Skip James-1930") I would stick with what you have. If you have neither CD: This new version is the one to buy.

Im not an expert on blues, but I know when I like what I hear. great artist, and great album.