Shake Your Money Maker: The Best Of The Fire Sessions

Elmore James | Format: MP3 Download

Product Details

• Original Release Date: April 3, 2007
• Label: RCA/Legacy
• Copyright: (P) 2001 Buddha Records
• Total Length: 46:40
• Genres:
• ASIN: B0013AWWNE
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #32,731 Paid in MP3 Albums (See Top 100 Paid in MP3 Albums)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Five stars - with reservations, December 2, 2003

By 

Docendo Discimus (Vita scholae) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shake Your Moneymaker: The Best of the Fire Sessions (Audio CD)

Why the reservations?
Well, this collection only focuses on Elmore James' recordings for Bobby Robinson in the early 60s. He did remake many of his early hits for Robinson's Fire, Fury and Enjoy labels, and often in even better versions, but a few early-50s classics are missing, so "Shake Your Moneymaker" doesn't really work as a definitive Elmore James-compilation.

But let's forget about what's not here for a moment, and look at what is:
"Shake Your Moneymaker: The Best Of The Fire Sessions" gathers sixteen songs from the "King Of The Slide Guitar" box set, perfectly showcasing Elmore James' incredibly intense, slide guitar-driven electric blues. James was equally at home playing a smouldering slow blues like "The Sky Is Crying", and laying down raw, rollicking numbers like "Look On Yonder Wall" and his magnificent, fiery take on Robert Johnson's "I Believe I'll Dust My Broom". He always sang like he meant it, and he possessed a huge, emotional wail of a voice, imbuing everything from slow numbers and mid-tempo grinds to up-tempo ravers with passion and power.

The track selection is not 100% perfect, but it's very good, and several of these songs rank among the very best of electric Chicago blues, right up there with the greatest of Muddy Waters' and Howlin' Wolf's songs: "Shake Your Moneymaker", "Sunnyland", "Dust My Broom", "The Sky Is Crying", "Standing At The Crossroads", and a great rendition of Robert Nighthawk's "Anna Lee". ("It Hurts Me Too" is missing, though, which is a crime.)

"The Sky Is Crying: The History Of Elmore James" from Rhino Records remains the ultimate Elmore James-collection, featuring 21 songs and spanning his entire career, but this is a very good overview of his superb Fire, Fury and Enjoy recordings. Just remember that if you opt for this one, you need "The Best Of Elmore James - The Early Years" from Ace Records as well. That terrific 28-track compilation is the best place to go for all of James' gritty early-50s classics for the Meteor, Modern and Flair labels.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mississippi Has Got Just the Prettier Women, November 2, 2001

By 

"leeleedee" (Lexington, Kentucky

Cincinnati) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shake Your Moneymaker: The Best of the Fire Sessions (Audio CD)

Elmore James I could listen to every day; there's something very reassuring about him. This is his best stuff, recorded for Bobby Robinson around 1960. Blues don't get no better than "Shake Your Moneymaker" and "Look On Yonder Wall" and "Stranger Blues." For years I've owned various LPs, some of which sound as though they were mastered from records in Denmark...and it's great to have this collection, with excellent sound. My favorite Elmore James moment, though, isn't on this compilation, but you can find it on the Collectables LP "The Complete Fire and Enjoy Sessions, Part 4," something called "Back in Mississippi." Elmore discourses on where to find the best-looking women: "I'm gonna tell you one damn thing, Jack, Mississippi has got just the prettier women than there is any goddamn where in the United States...and brother, I've been around."

5.0 out of 5 stars Blues Classic, October 16, 2011

By 

Dean Smith - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Shake Your Moneymaker: The Best of the Fire Sessions (Audio CD)

This is truly a blues classic. If you are a serious blues enthusiast you need to add this to your collection.