Revisited [Original recording remastered]

Son House | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 22, 2002)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Varese Sarabande
• ASIN: B00006LWRQ
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #186,131 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Introduction

2. Monologue

3. Levee Camp Moan

4. Monologue

5. Death Letter

6. Monologue

7. Empire State Express

8. Monologue

9. Grinnin' in Your Face

10. Monologue

See all 16 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Pony Blues

2. Motherless Children

3. Preachin' the Blues

4. This Little Light of Mine

5. Son's Blues

6. I Shall Not Be Moved

7. Levee Camp Moan

8. Empire State Express

9. Pearline

10. Yonder Comes My Mother

See all 11 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Listening, Blues at its best, March 3, 2004

By 

Tony Thomas (SUNNY ISLES BEACH, FL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Revisited (Audio CD)

Even if he hadn't influenced anyone, even if historically he was a 19 year old kid from Shirley, Long Island, even if this recording at just been waxed last night, this is good, essential blues listening, you won't want to stop listening, you wont stop seeing the scenes of the blues that the songs make, you won't stop swaying at the power and swing of his guitar playing and singing. On here, my song is Preachin the Blues. I know you will have yours.

Son House taught Robert Johnson the slide blues. Son House taught Muddy Waters. When Son House started performing at Blues festivals again in the mid 1960s, some of Muddy's younger band members would start to go off for a smoke or whatever when the old man came on stage. Muddy wouldn't let them. Muddy Waters would tell all his band members to be quiet and pay attention when the man played because even compared with Muddy, this was the real deal.

Rediscovered in Rochester, New York, relearning to play the guitar, (how this country abuses the masters that come from its people, particularly its Black people), put back on the stage by the folk revival's blues section, House made recordings that reproduced his old masterpies, with a wrier sense of meaning than before.

People outside of the blues life focus on the guitar playing or the rhythm of the singing, but where the power comes from is the feeling and the words that are put together, the life and the meaning of the blues. Son House in his youth and his old age, on this and his other sides, always gave it.

So Like Muddy Waters, I would like you to know that
Son House is the real deal.
Listen and learn

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "I'm just an old ordinary blues player ..." -- Son House, March 25, 2003

By 

Mario Rups "Biblioholicus" (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Revisited (Audio CD)

An ordinary blues player?? No less an authority than Muddy Waters proclaimed Eddie "Son" House "the greatest of all blues guitarists", and if you don't take his word for it, you certainly wouldn't take mine. I can, however, guarantee that you at least won't find a *better* blues guitarist, or a blues man in general: he was an absolute master of the slide guitar. Son House was already well into his sixties at the time of these recordings -- one at Oberlin, the other at the Gaslight Cafe in New York, both in 1965; note: some songs are repeated -- and his fingers are perhaps not quite as nimble as they once were, but one hardly notices that: the fire burns as brilliantly as it ever did, and his singing is mesmerizing. Along with such luminaries as Charlie Patton and Willie Brown, with whom he played back in the 1930s, House was one of the pioneers of the Delta blues. In the _Revisited_ recordings, you can hear some of his best work -- his "Preachin' Blues", say, based on the old James McCoy version, or his "Empire State Express". The introductory monologues, some of them quite humorous and all of them fascinating, give historical context to the songs and alone serve to commend this double album. Because of the repetition of songs, perhaps this is not the recording to buy as the *only* Son House album you own: you'd want the _Complete Library of Congress Sessions_, say, or the _Original Delta Blues_; but it is definitely worth the listen.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A fine purchase for fans, January 6, 2004

By 

Docendo Discimus (Vita scholae) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Revisited (Audio CD)

This is not the place to start if you're new to Eddie "Son" House, but if you're already a fan, this double CD, which brings together live recordings from two different concerts, is a very nice addition.

These two concerts were taped in 1965, and both were originally released as bootlegs (this is their first official release, and the sound has been improved considerably, at least on disc 1 from Oberlin, Ohio).
On disc 1, House's lenghty monologues have been preserved, and the ageing Son House is in unusually good form, funny and completely coherent, his deep voice easy to understand.
House performs a powerful version of "Death Letter" (explaining the origin of the song's title), and two versions of "Levee Camp Moan", and he talks about the many years he worked as a porter in Rochester, New York. He also tosses off an unusually agressive "Empire Street Express", and an a capella "Grinnin' In Your Face" which really displays the power of House's huge baritone voice, even in his old age and after decades of alcohol abuse.
The ten-minute "Son's Blues", which comes towards the end of the set, is too long and indulgent, and House doesn't sound quite as sober anymore. But the classic "John The Revelator" is nice, and the many charming monologues makes this Oberlin College concert a very interesting item for collectors.

The sound on disc 2 is pretty bad, with lots of static, but House is clearly audible, and the track list is very interesting. It includes excellent, potent performances of "Pony Blues", "Preachin' Blues", and a tough, percussive "Empire State Express", mixing blues with spiritual songs like Blind Willie Johnson's "Motherless Children", a ragged "I Shall Not Be Moved", and "Yonder Comes My Mother (When The Roll Is Called Up Yonder)".
The sound unfortunately goes from bad to worse during the intro to "Pearline", and a couple of these performances are sub-par, but all in all this is an interesting document for fans of Son House, and worth a listen in spite of its flaws.
3 3/4 stars.