Customer Reviews

Mississippi Blues

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3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I purchased this CD expecting a new CD from Sonny Landreth, but this is a collection of really old tracks, and some of it is pretty boring. A lot of acoustic meandering and very early recordings, no liner notes to explain where it came from or dates. Save your money - this is just a mistake.

This cd exists as prodigal son. it seems that fuel records likes to rerelease old cds under new titles and with new art and sells them as new cds. I have had this happen a couple of times from fuel records and find them decieving for not advertising them as such.watch out for any releases from this lable.

A previous reviewer expressed disappointment in both Fuel Records for releasing this compilation of early Landreth stuff as "new", AND in the material itself. If Fuel were trying to foist this off on the unsuspecting public as new material, then they should rightly be ashamed. Regardless of their intent, all we can do is evaluate the material.

If you consider Sonny to be one of the true slide guitar masters--which I do, certainly--then you would be wise to check this out. Yes, these recordings are fifteen or twenty years old, and more, which means they were done before Sonny "became Sonny": that gigantic, innovative, stunning and inimitable electric slide technique he demonstrates on recordings such as Grant Street is nowhere to be found here. Yet, we do get to hear some very, very nice tunes, largely acoustic, which are the bedrock of his playing. Tossed in are some good early examples of his electric style at the time. For those who love the sound of the National Steel Standard guitar, there are at least four numbers here which display Sonny coaxing beautifully bluesy notes out of that unique instrument. There is a nice mix of vocals and instrumental numbers, and the cuts which do feature a band sound pretty good to me. The aural quality throughout is very good, as well.

For Sonny Landreth completists, this one would be a "must". For other SL fans, or for those who like country-flavored acoustic blues, don't automatically dismiss this as an "inferior" record. I wanted to give it 3.5 stars, but didn't know how to do the half star.

This was originally released as "The Crazy Cajun Sessions" and a few years later as "Prodigal Son". Same albums. The music itself is good, but it is pretty sneaky of Fuel to try and trick the Sonny fans of this world by repackaging the material. (Dean Koontz anyone?) On a side note, the Crazy Cajun series of albums is a terrific way to discover some early works of other musicians, Not just sonny, but Delbert McClinton, Ronnie Milsap, and others recorded at the Crazy Cajun and these early gems are pretty darn good.