Heroes of the Blues: The Very Best of Son House

Son House | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 9, 2003)
• Original Release Date: 2006
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Shout Factory
• ASIN: B0000C3I7I
• Also Available in: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #75,627 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

• This release in the Heroes of the Blues series is the only true cross-licensed best-of package for Son House • A complete career retrospective, covering all periods of his career and various record labels • Transcribed directly from Paramount 78's and completely restored and re-mastered • Original cover art by R. Crumb

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you only get one Son House, get this., October 2, 2003

By 

Kort "Art, Music, Book & Movie Enthusiast" (Boca Raton, FL, United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Heroes of the Blues: The Very Best of Son House (Audio CD)

Not much else needs to be said about one of the Delta Blues founding fathers. His emmotional voice, poignant lyrics and "action-packed" guitar playing style sets him up in the lofty realm as one of Blues' all-time greats. His influence on other great artists is well documented. This CD has a set of remastered material that covers his entire career. So if you get only one, make sure this is it. Most Delta Blues fans will track down all his work though, making this album a bit unnecessary, though the remastering on this disc sounds good to my ears.
Gotta love the R. Crumb art too!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good overview, but not the best possible track selection, December 9, 2003

By 

Docendo Discimus (Vita scholae) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Heroes of the Blues: The Very Best of Son House (Audio CD)

Like the "Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues" volume dedicated to Son House, this CD includes songs from House's entire career. That's a big plus, and this is great music, but I would still recommend the "Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues" album, which has a stronger track list.

This CD includes several of Son House's most legendary songs, including the superb early-40s Library of Congress version of "Walking Blues", the a capella spiritual "John The Revelator", and the awesome "Death Letter". But it misses out on key tracks like "Levee Camp Moan", "Preachin' Blues", and the slide guitar-fest "Pearline", and even though no Son House-collection can merit less than four stars, this is not one of the best.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Doin' The Devil's Work, May 23, 2008

By 

Alfred Johnson (boston, ma) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Heroes of the Blues: The Very Best of Son House (Audio CD)

I recently reviewed Mississippi John Hurt's The Last Sessions in this space. Hurt was `discovered' in the early 1960's by young, mainly white, folk singers looking to find the roots of American music. Well, Hurt was not the only old black country blues player `discovered' during that period. There is a now famous still picture (as well as well as video performance clip, I wonder if it is on YouTube?) of Hurt along with the legendary Skip James and the musician under review Son House jamming at the Newport Folk Festival in 1963. That was a historic (and probably one of the last possible) moments to hear these legends of country blues in one spot together.

And why was House on that stage with Hurt and James? Well, the short answer is that old flailing National steel guitar. However, the real answer is that like Hurt he represented a piece of American music that was fast fading away, at least in its original form -the country blues. Can anyone beat the poignancy of Death Letter Blues or bitterness of Levee Moan? Or when House gets preachy on John the Revelator and other old time religious songs of shout and response. The tension between being a preacher man and doing the `devil's work (playing the blues) is more clearly felt in House's work than in Hurt's.

House's repertoire is not as extensive as Hurt's and there is a little sameness of some of the lyrics but when he is hot watch out. There is another famous film clip of him alone flailing away at the guitar almost trance-like, sweating buckets doing Death Letter sitting down in a chair on stage under the hot lights. That is the scene you want to evoke when you listen to these selections. And do listen.