Customer Reviews

Vietnam Blues: Complete L & R

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Most hardcore blues fans know of J.B.Lenoir, but if you're unfamiliar with him then this CD will be a revelation. He is a unique stylist, master guitar player, and profound lyricist. His singing is powerful, idiosyncratic and full of conviction.

The cuts on this disc have been remastered beautifully, are full of depth and clarity. They represent the broad range of Lenoir's music, from biting social and political songs, through rocking dance numbers, to pieces in a more gospel or spiritual vein. Many of the songs foreground Lenoir's signature "African hunch" polyrhythm, a style as unique to J.B. as the "Bo Diddley beat" is to, well, Bo Diddley.

If you can only get one Lenoir CD, get this one. You'll love it and it'll compel you to get everything available.

Among the most expressive and creative blues ever, this music also puts J.B. Lenoir into the category of folk singer/songwriter with its solidly unique guitar and deep lyrics. Well played, well sung, extremely original and deeply personal, this captivating CD of two previous LP's features Lenoir solo and accompanied by Chess veteran Fred Below on drums and Willie Dixon on some backing vocals. The combo of acoustic guitar and drums is funky, and the use of what sound like finger cymbals is inspired. Partly rocking, and partly soulful and profound, this CD of the prematurely departed Lenoir is a tremendous legacy from an overlooked and underrated master of the blues craft. This kind of music brings together the purist and the radical, and would fit along side of Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Robert Johnson or Ted Hawkins, and shares much in common with a similarly underrated master of blues today, Jimmy Johnson. You gotta hear it.

I've just bought this CD for the 4th time - along with Jack Dupree's "Blues From The Gutter", it's the one I give away when I really want to give, and turn someone on to the blues.

It contains JBs last 2 albums before his untimely death in 1967, and represents the full flowering of his groundbreaking African Hunch style. JB was a popular Chicago electric blues musician who gradually evolved a new acoustic sound - syncretising a lot of what had come before, from gritty Delta guitar to barrelhouse-piano style syncopation, and more than a touch of gospel - but sounding fresh and modern; he was moving forwards not back. Sadly this style seems to have died with him; the world has not caught up yet.

All tracks have JB on acoustic guitar and vocals (those words hardly doing justice to what he does with them); many with Freddie Below on drums (inventor of Rock & Roll no matter what anyone else says); and a few with Willie Dixon's atmospheric growling on backup vocal (Willie also produced).

There's nothing else quite like this, though JB's 50's and early 60's Chicago recordings gave some hints of what was to come (a couple of his 50's hits are reworked here). The guitar work is simple yet complex, highly syncopated; the voice a flexible instrument, and the songs are just extraordinary - power and subtlety, tears and laughter, protest and acceptance, folk tales and modern living.

I can't really explain it in words, just listen to some of the samples, bearing in mind the the whole experience is so much more so - at least hear "Alabama", "Mojo Boogie", "Move This Rope", "I Feel So Good", "Good Advice", "Vietnam", "Down In Mississippi", "Voodoo Music", and especially "Born Dead" and "Feelin' Good" ... heck, just get the album! What a trip it is - hearing this for the first time is like hearing Robert Johnson for the first time...

While most people have learned about J.B. from the recent PBS special, this collection is a good way to familiarize yourself with his great work. He and Josh White were probably the original "message men" when it came to th eblus and this collection shows why.

J.B. Lenoir's lyrical subject matter varied greatly, and his guitar playing was filled with percussion, which makes his solo efforts sound like more than one person on the record. Here we get the typical man vs. woman blues in "Mama Talk To Your Daughter," and some religious tunes in "God's Word" and "The Whae Has Swallowed Me." What is really interesting is th epoliticla tunes, relating to the condition of Blacks in the 1960s, such as "Alabama Blues," the brutal "Born Dead" (about the fate of children being born in poverty in Mississippi), the antiwar "Vietnam Blues" (all once has to do is change "Vietnam" to "Iraq" to bring this up to date) and "Shot on James Meredith" (about the wounding of the civil rights icon in 1966).

While not quite the poet that Bob Dylan or Bob Marley was, Lenoir basically told it like it was using simple and direct lyrics and a voice that sounded like a rougher version of Curtis Mayfield. In either case, lovers of message music and some really good blues in general would do well to snap up this, which is an essential collection of the (up to now) forgotten poet of the blues.

I was familiar with JB through the double-album "Chess Blues Masters Series" with its great cuts like "Natural Man," "Don't Touch My Head," "Eisenhower Blues," "Korea Blues," "I'm In Korea," and "Voodoo Boogie," to name a few. I loved his voice and the topical subjects set within a blues context, a combination rather unusual for Chess and the contemporary blues gendre of the period. Then I just bought this cd and WOW: I'm just BLOWN AWAY!!! It's classic JB, but stripped down: just guitar, drums and bass, yet THAT VOICE with such GREAT lyrics!!! It's a timeless MASTERPIECE by one of the great bluesmen! Just beg, borrow or steal, but GET THIS!!! ( P.S. One of the great aspects of this cd is JB's development of a style he termed "African Hunch" which is a fantastic meld of syncopated African rythms within the blues idiom: TRUE GENIUS!!! )

His shrill tenor voice leaps out at the listener as J. B. Lenoir sings of his pain, happiness, and ultimate travails as an American in the sixties. This is not simply "blues" music, in that it covers a whole spectrum of contemporary issues. "Vietnam Blues" personalizes the horrors of war. His pseudo-African rhythms create layers upon layers of rich, almost palpable soul. Lenoir's highly moving, emotional, and thought-provoking lyrics wring sweat from the audience as well as tears. Highly recommended as a piece of American history.

Originally released as two seperate LP's (Alabama Blues & Down in Mississippi) back in the sixties, J.B. Lenoir's set of accoustic bluessongs (some of them accompagnied by Willie Dixon on drums; a most unusual combination) remain a personal favorite of mine after 20 years of listening. I like his guitarplaying, his singing, the lyrics, the mood of the songs. Simply great music.

This CD is priceless. It is a ticket into another world. The amazing talent & raw heartfelt emotion of J.B. pours out of these songs and takes the listener on a journey. It is political, it's religious, it's sexual, it's unjust defeat, it's resurrection and it's definitely groovin. This is a glimpse into the heart and soul of a black man who lived and died during civil rights movement in the south. This CD gives the listener more than just great music, it serves up human feelings, the composition of life, and that's what the blues is all about.

I watched the first part of Martin Scorcese's "The Blues" last night on PBS. It had live footage of J.B.. The first thing I did when left the house in the a.m. was go to traffic court. The second was go to work and order the complete recordings of J.B. Lenoir. I cannot beleive how overlooked this man IS. I am familiar with many First Gen. Blues life stories, and J.B.'s was amazing. He touched everyone he played for and with to the soul. This man wailed with such ease on that old hollowbody, that you can almost overlook his unreal vocal range. This dude was genuine and unique, and his persona while playing was so deep that most of us can understand but never feel the feeling that was deep inside, but it left me smiling. I can see why John Mayall sang the songs "Im gonna fight for you J.B." and "The Death of J.B. Lenoir". I am truly inspired by this man. You have to see the live footage.

JBs simple yet effective style mesmorises the blues fan from start to finish. The subject material JB uses is diverse (Vietnam to being born black in the South) and the observations he makes are politically astute, sometimes humorous and sometimes sad. I highly rate this CD and would recommend it to anyone! Be prepared for a full on emotional and aural experience.