Customer Reviews

Original Source

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

 

 

Amazon's review calls this a budget release, which may be a bit misleading. This is the exact equivalent of any of the JSP blues boxes. The packaging is very cheap, but the music is major-label quality and remastered(just like JSP). This has everything T-Bone recorded from 1951 back. The major downside(if there is one) is that it ends abruptly in 1951 in the middle of his tenure with Imperial. He was with that label from 1950 through 1954, and this collection has the first half(or so) of that output. There is no real reason to end it here when this could have been a 5-CD set including all the Imperial material. His entire Imperial output is available on an excellent 2-CD set, but the first disk, and the first couple of songs on the second disk of that set overlap with the last disk and the end of the third disk of this set. If you don't buy both sets, you will have the blues when you hear what you're missing!!!!!!

Anyone who thinks the 'modern blues sound' was created on Mayall & Clapton's Beano album (1966) or Butterfield & Bloomfield's (1965) for that matter...go check out the real deal...T-Bone Walker 'the inventor of the new blues'...that is the modern electric blues we are accustomed to today. I can't say enough good about this Properbox as it's just stunning (and also cheap). Sound is incredible...remember this stuff predates the above albums by a decade or two! The Penguin Guide to the Blues gives this collection their highest (4 star) rating. I would just recommend you listen to discs backwards as the collection is in chronological order and the fifties stuff will be easier for most to digest and appreciate first...then work your way back. T-Bones guitar tone will make most think this sounds just like modern blues albums...in actuality the reverse is true. P.S. Hendrix didn't invent guitar theatrics either...check out this showman. Do yourself a favor get this boxset.

I agree with the other 2 reviewers as to the importance and quality of all of T-Bone's recordings, especially those he made for Imperial The Complete Imperial Recordings: 1950-1954 and Capitol/B&W Complete Capitol/Black & White Recordings. Walker was the first "blues" musician to use the electric guitar in the mid-thirties (although, I believe Charlie Christian, the great jazz guitarist, started using one first). I do disagree with another reviewer who stated that the sound on the Proper boxes is the same as that on JSP (both made in the UK). Proper tends to use more noise reduction (sometimes too much, in my opinion), whereas JSP takes the more minimalist approach, leaving the upper range mostly intact, while removing only the most annoying noise. Hence, JSP tends to have a more natural sound, but with more tape hiss. Proper, however, does include nice, thick and informative booklets, while JSP gives you about 2 1/2 pages per CD (which I find quite adequate). I own several box sets from both companies, and am happy with all of them so far (knock on wood). Well, back to this T-Bone Box. If you look at some of the pictures, you will see where Elvis, Chuck Berry and others got some of their moves from. Walker was a complete performer, equally adept at playing his guitar as at singing and dancing. Often imitated but never duplicated, T-Bone Walker truly was "The Original Source". For those that want to try a single disc before buying the boxes I would recommend Blues Masters: The Very Best of T-Bone Walker.

Aaron "T-Bone" Walker could be called one of the forefathers of rock-and-roll, and was a pioneer bluesman. He has had his guitar licks and stage moves stolen by many. Chuck Berry (the biggest offender---listen to "Strollin' With Bones"---Chuck lifted the middle guitar solo for his own "Johnny B. Goode" and never gave him credit). Jimi Hendrix. Jeff Beck. Jimmy Page. Eric Clapton. B.B. King. The list is endless. Unfortunately, T-Bone is not nearly the legend as the afore guitar heroes are. That is, he is not a household word. What a shame. He should be.

The first two songs sound completely different from the rest, and were recorded in 1929. These have an extremely traditional blues sound, with just a guitar and piano. Because of circumstances during the Depression, he wasn't able to record again until 1940. But during this time his voice mellowed and he ceased to sound like Robert Johnson (not that there's anything wrong with that, but T-Bone didn't sound like T-Bone on the first two songs). The songs on the first disc are what I consider the best. Many were written or co-written by Walker. This is probably why I like them over the songs on the other three CD's, because he didn't have much of a hand in writing most of the other songs. The songs on the second CD are in my opinion the weakest. Most of them were written by John "Shifty" Henry and are just okay, but one track does not particuarly stand out from another for the majority of them, complete with the same drum beat ("ca-clunk!") ending most of them. After awhile I begin to get tired of hearing songs that sound similar to "Vacation Blues", and that same old drum beat ending. And I don't want to sound like some feminist, but on a superficial level, did Mr. Henry need to find some decent women, or what? As a woman myself, it got a tad bit annoying to hear a few songs dissing ALL women (not just a few, but the whole female race) as no good, every woman in the world is untrustworthy and will take you for your money and sue you for alimony. Men are hardly saints themselves. Okay, rant over. These songs are nowhere near awful, but somewhat of a letdown after the first CD. But luckily, the third CD is quite good. The songs are more varied musically (thank God) and are far more memorable than the ones on the second CD. I especially love "Plain Old Down Home Blues" and that ending where T-Bone and an unidentified Hispanic man have a discussion, one-sided because the man is speaking Spanish and T-Bone just keeps replying "yeah", obviously not understanding a word. It still cracks me up. The fourth and final CD sounds a bit more like the type of blues we all know and love, a bit more modern. I just wish the second CD had less pedestrian and a little more imagination. If I had to rate each CD by themselves, it would be:

CD1 (titled T-Bone Blues): 5 stars (If I could give it ten I would!)

CD2 (titled T-Bone Jumps Again): 3 stars

CD3 (titled T-Bone Shuffle): 5 stars

CD4 (titled Evil-Hearted Woman): 4 1/2 stars

This is a great remastered set for traditional blues fans, especially guitar enthusiasts. It's cheap and includes a 43-page booklet. If you want to know where early rock-and-roll came from, it's here.

It's just too bad that the song samples have been eliminated on Amazon as I write this (they were there when I bought this). What's with THAT, Amazon?!?!?!?