...the thing we do instead of the things we're supposed to do... Posts on Mondays & Thursdays
Thorw away post: my joints are sore and I'm phlegmy and I haven't recovered from the visit from Mother Mummy. So you get some more blues masters, a perfectly apt title for something that includes Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Robert Johnson, and Elmore James.
I sent this one to my 11-year-old niece in a box of CDs for her to check out. Gotta turn the youth onto the goods, right?
Learning things about the blues is fun. For instance, I post this mainly to take the opportunity to note that it's taken more than 30 years to wrap my brain around the fact that "harp" is synonymous with "harmonica". It was on acquiring this that I realized there are at least three different "Sonny Boy Williamsons", all working wihin the milieu. There is only one Howlin' Wolf, and while "I'll Be Around" isn't "Back Door Man" or "Tail Dragger", it's still a pretty great song.
Finally, this is generally my least-favorite volume of "Blues Masters" that I've acquired. Only time and expense will tell if this remains the case, but I guess the presence of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band and the Fabulous Thunderbirds knock this down a few points.
Or I'm just jealous I'll never blow the harp the way these wailers do.
Look, you really shouldn't need a reason to download this, populated, as it is, with some sick Chicago Blues, early rock & roll, and a couple of random blues rarities, none of which are younger than 35 years old.
But if you do need a reason, do it because it has Blind Willie Jefferson's "Dark Was The Night - Cold Was The Ground", a song so exemplary that Jack White regards it as the finest example of slide guitar to be recorded, and one of a handful of musical pieces to make it onto the Voyager Golden Record, wedged between pieces by Kesarbai Kerkar and Beethoven. Fine company, to be sure.
Some random anecdotes about some of the artists on this here comp:
The entire "Blues Masters" series, released by Rhino across 18 volumes from 1992 to 1998, is worth snagging piecemeal whenever you see it. Like so many Rhino releases from this era, they make up a great starting point to check out a genre or era or label. And these, when you do see them, rarely go for over $5.
It took from May to August 2000 to go from 100 to 200 posts. Then I hit 300 posts two days before Christmas 2000. And now I'm here, anot...
