Screamin' and Hollerin' the Blues: The Worlds of Charley Patton [Box set]

Charley Patton | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 23, 2001)
• Number of Discs: 7
• Format: Box set
• Note on Boxed Sets: During shipping, discs in boxed sets occasionally become dislodged without damage. Please examine and play these discs. If you are not completely satisfied, we'll refund or replace your purchase.
• Label: Revenant Records
• ASIN: B00005QD75
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #231,569 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #48 in Music > Indie Music > Blues > Delta Blues

Track Listings

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Screamin' and Hollerin' the Blues: The Worlds of Charley Patton is the musical equivalent of a limited-edition, fine-press book, and it's easily one of the most beautiful collections of recorded music ever assembled. Exquisitely designed, this 78-album-inspired, seven-CD package contains a wealth of information and music, featuring not only the Delta blues pioneer's complete recorded works, but the music of peripheral players (including Son House, Howlin' Wolf, and Henry "Son" Sims), a disc of fascinating audio interviews with Patton associates, and hours of reading material on the enigmatic songster.

It's hard not to romanticize the music contained within this set as you open its retro-looking slipcase, but Patton (1887-1934) doesn't let you down. Under the haze of 78 rpm record hiss, his 50-odd preserved recordings spellbind with great guitar playing and moving lyrics about love, loss, and catastrophes. Who cares if his life lacked the mystique of Robert Johnson, or his low, growling voice wasn't the creepy falsetto of Skip James? Patton's repertoire was unparalleled; his guitar playing--punctuated by striking syncopated, percussive beats--is always in tune and precise; and his slide playing is full subtle whines and flourishes. These remastered tracks sound better than ever, but there's still plenty of hiss (for some tunes, just one abused and poorly pressed record has survived). Copious, scholarly (and, at times, a little arcane) liner notes debate and survey Patton's mysterious life and tunes; the complete lyrics to his songs are included, too--no small feat. But it's the music--utterly raw, striking, and influential blues--that steals the show here.

Revenant Records has outdone itself--this is a poignant dream project that label cofounder/guitar great John Fahey didn't live long enough to see completed--and it's well worth every penny. Only a handful of musical artists deserve this lavish a treatment; as evidenced here, Patton--the first great Delta blues musician on record--is certainly one of them. --Jason Verlinde

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 39 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Best. Album. EVER. November 8, 2003

By Homer

Format:Audio CD

This is the musical equivalent of a family Bible. You will pass it down from children to grandchildren. It cannot be likened to any other boxed set I have ever seen - not even the lavish and fantastic Bear Family country and rockabilly sets from Germany. The Folkways reissue of the Anthology of American Folk Music comes close in look and feel, but it's still 100 miles behind.

There are three points that I would make to a potential purchaser that may not be totally obvious:

1. These recordings sound really, really good for those on the old Paramount label - where the recordings were done poorly, no metal parts exist, and all extant CDs are dubbed from 78 RPM shellac pressings, some of which are in pretty bad shape (at one point the only existing copy of Willie Brown's "Future Blues" was broken in half!). I have not heard JSP's Patton boxed set, which would seem to be a great substitute at $25 for somebody who does not want to pay $150. However, I do have JSP's "Legends of the Country Blues," which has the 1930 Son House Paramount recordings that are on disc 4 of this set. This sounds much better. The JSP sounds more No-Noised to me, while this sounds more alive on the high end. I say that as someone who has bought a lot of the JSP sets, and who would have no hesitation recommending their work generally.

2. This is not 7 CDs of just Charley Patton. This is a really good introduction to pre-Robert Johnson Delta blues. You get all the Paramount recordings of Son House, Willie Brown and Louise Johnson, two of whom were seminal figures, and the last of whom was just fun. (Somebody ought to make a movie about the roadtrip Patton, House, Brown and Johnson took to Wisconsin to record these tracks.... They could get Charles Dutton to play the guy from the Delta Big Four who drove them.) You get a CD of some pretty essential stuff by various artists, including Tommy Johnson. You get the Delta Big Four, Son Sims and some others. You get a CD of interviews.

3. It's bittersweet to say, but this set may get overtaken by future discoveries. It's criminally ironic that a full-body, first-generation photo of Charley Patton finally surfaced a year after this box came out. Also, it's known that there are other Patton recordings for which 78s have yet to be found; they may turn up if they haven't already.

You KNOW you want to buy it. Don't you? Read more ›

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars This Has To Be Seen (and Heard) To Be Believed December 27, 2001

By Demoley

Format:Audio CD

"Screamin' and Hollerin' the Blues: The Worlds of Charley Patton" is without a doubt the most impressive box set I have ever seen. The astronomical cost is justifiable once you see the craftsmanhip, love and pride that has been put into this overwhelming set.
The attention to detail is so phenomenal that this will be the box set by which all others are judged (and believe me, they will come up short). Presented in reproduction of the original 78 rpms (the exterior covers, album sleeves and cardboard reproduction of the vinyl on which the CDs are mounted) helps to bring back the feel of a time long gone.
There are biographies, advertising poster reproductions, album label reproductions and the sound quality is perhaps the best I've heard for this sort of transfer. This set even has the music and reminiscences of Patton's contemporaries.
If I could find one thing wrong with it that would be that I am now disappointed with all my other "Complete Works of..." and other box sets. All other recording labels should look at this and hang their heads in shame.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Yep, it's a keeper! January 6, 2002

By DrDanny

Format:Audio CD

I rarely rate anything 100%, since it implies perfection and leaves nothing for subsequent efforts to improve upon. In this case, it's completely warranted. I was given this collection as a gift, so the seemingly excessive price isn't really a factor in my review, but I'm pretty sure it's worth it.
The packaging is insanely lavish and detailed. My childhood home was littered with 78 rpm records that my mother brought from her job at a music shop. When I first took this collection out of its slipcase, I was instantly transported back to that time: all that's missing is the wonderful smell of well-aged paper!

As others have mentioned here, the fidelity is spot on. That's not to say they're noise free, far from it. In fact, the Patton material on the Yazoo collections is technically cleaner sounding in some cases, but by comparison lacks the detail and immediacy you get here. I've always maintained that part of the fun of listening to restorations from this era is the mental time trip you take, and the scratchy sound helps IMO. If it had been cleaned up any more, it wouldn't sound authentic, and might very well be missing musical information as well. Here, you get the real deal, and it doesn't take long before you don't even notice the noise.

But all this would be for nothing if the music wasn't so great and deserving this treatment. Besides the Patton material, there's stuff from Son House that makes my jaw drop, 8 gospel tracks by the Delta Big Four that make me want to find religion, and lots more.

Finally, to anyone who had anything to do with this release's production: if you don't win a Grammy, TANFJ (there ain't no justice). You deserve it!

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Screamin' and Hollerin' About How Good This Is! December 16, 2001

By Tribe

Format:Audio CD

Revenant has outdone itself with this very classy (and very expensive) boxed set. It must be seen to be believed ( it'sconstructed like one of those old dusty albums with built-in sleeves for storing 78s that you may have seen in your grandparents' attic), and just crammed with text and music and tidbits. Revenent has done very handsome and original packaging for its past CDs (see the Dock Boggs and the American Primitive compilations, for example), but it just doesn't prepare you for the visual and tactile conucopia that awaits you with this packaging.

The set comes with a copy of John Fahey's long out of print thesis on Patton, critical essays on Patton, his music, and his milieu, a collection of the latst lyric transriptions (some of the fun when listening to Patton is wondering what the hell he is saying...and sometimes the lyrics don't help!), and collection of label-stickers from every Patton 78 release. The seven CDs are attached to round black cardboard which slip into the sleeves...turning the whole set into one giant leap back into the thirties!

And it's not just the packaging.

These cuts, virtually all of which are available on compilations issued by Yazoo and Catfish, have been exquisitly re-mastered. This collection makes those previous compilations obsolete when it comes to sound. Patton's powerful singing is in your face regardless of the quality of the recording (and most of his recordings were issued on Paramount, which were bad sounding even when they were issued in the late twenties), but here his singing and playing is in full glory.

As if all this weren't enough, "Screamin' and Hollerin' the Blues" also includes performances by Son House and Willie Brown, for example, which were originally recorded during Patton's early recording sessions.... This as well as perfomers who presumably influenced Patton and cuts from performers who were in turn directly influenced by Patton himself.

If you love Charley Patton's art, and you have the money to blow, get this set. Read more ›