BLIND BLAKE — Complete Recorded Works In Chronological Order ★ Volume 3 : 1928-1929 | DOCD-5026 (1991) RM | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

The third volume in the series opens with a pair of mid-1928 tracks featuring Blind Blake in the role of sideman, lending his brilliant guitar leads in support of Elzadie Robinson on "Elzadie's Policy Blues" and "Pay Day Daddy Blues." Blake's next session, from later that same year, returns him to the fore, yielding the mesmerizing "Notoriety Woman," one of the most menacingly violent tracks he ever cut; the same date also produced the comparatively lighthearted "Sweet Papa Low Down," a seeming attempt to cash in on the Charleston dance craze. The real jewel of the set, however, is a 1929 session teaming him with pianist Charlie Spand; "Hastings St." is a lively, swinging guitar and piano duet, while "Police Dog Blues" is among Blake's most vividly lyrical efforts, further galvanized by his haunting instrumental work. Jason Ankeny

Abridged from this album’s original booklet notes. Blind Blake, one of the top blues guitarists and singers of the 1920s, is a mystery figure whose birth and death dates are not definitively known. He recorded 84 selections in six years (1926-1932), and all have been reissued on four Document albums (DOCD-5024, DOCD-5025, DOCD-5026, DOCD-5027). By 1928 Blind Blake had gathered a faithful following, his appeal probably being due to the scope of his material, his popularity rivaling that of Blind Lemon Jefferson. The third volume in the series opens featuring Blake in the role of sideman, lending his brilliant guitar leads in support of Elzadie Robinson on Elzadie’s Policy Blues and Pay Day Daddy Blues. Returning to recording under his own name, a session, or sessions, held during September 1928 seemed to find Blake obsessed by women and the problems they were causing him, at times sounding lachrymal and despondent Search Warrant, Back Door, desperate Walkin’ Across The Country and positively violent as in Notoriety Woman, “To keep her quiet I knocked her teeth out her mouth, that notoriety woman is known all over the south”. The final number recorded that month, Sweet Papa Low Down, with its cornet, piano and xylophone accompaniment, evoke the kind of bouncy tune popular with practitioners of the Charleston dance craze. It was to be a further nine months before Blake recorded again, this time in company with pianist Alex Robinson. The five titles cut were of a far less suicidal nature than previous and on one number in particular, Doin’ A Stretch, his approach owed much to the style of Leroy Carr. There then followed a session in August 1929 which teamed him with Detroit pianist Charlie Spand that was to produce some of Blind Blake’s most vital and memorable recordings of his career. Hastings St., a swinging, boogie based piano and guitar duet, is primarily a showcase for the talents of Spand with the vocal banter between the pair celebrating the good times to be found in Detroit’s Black Bottom, “Out on Hastings Street doing the boogie, umm, umm, very woogie” in much the same manner as John Lee Hooker did in “Boogie Chillun” twenty years later. One of the best known mythical themes in black folklore is that of Diddie Wa Diddie, a kind of heaven on earth, a utopia of no work, no worries and all the food one could wish for. Blind Blake, while playing some mesmerising guitar, pokes fun at the idea, claiming that as far as he’s concerned it’s a “great big mystery”, his Diddie Wa Diddie is one for sexual gratification. The following year he cynically accepted the meaning (see Document DOCD-5027). The theme was taken up by in the 5Os by popular R&B singer, Bo Diddley. The unmistakable resonance of the steel-bodied National guitar introduces Police Dog Blues, one of Blake’s most lyrical songs and is notable for his use of the harmonics during the instrumental breaks, where he makes the guitar sound “most like a piano” (to borrow Leadbelly’s description of the technique). The haunting melody of Georgia Bound is common to the blues having been used by Charlie Patton (“Tom Rushen” – Document DOCD- 5009), Big Bill Broonzy (“Shelby County Blues” – document DOCD-5051) and Robert Johnson (“From Four Till Late”), to name but some, the sentiments of the song bearing an air of weary resignation suggesting that Blind Blake had more than just a passing acquaintance with the State. Despite the onset of the Depression, Blake went on recording, albeit sporadically, until 1932, lasting longer than many others as demonstrated in the final Document album of his work, Volume 4 (DOCD-5027). DOCD-5026
Tracklist :
1    Elzadie Robinson–    Elzadie's Policy Blues 3:12
Clarinet – Johnny Dodds
Guitar, Whistle – Blind Blake
Vocals – Elzadie Robinson
Xylophone – Jimmy Bertrand
2    Elzadie Robinson–    Pay Day Daddy Blues 3:07
Clarinet – Johnny Dodds
Guitar – Blind Blake
Vocals – Elzadie Robinson
Xylophone – Jimmy Bertrand
3    Blind Blake–    Walkin' Across The Country 3:06
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Blake
4    Blind Blake–    Search Warrant Blues 2:59
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Blake
5    Blind Blake–    Ramblin' Mama Blues 2:48
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Blake
6    Blind Blake–    New Style Of Loving 2:37
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Blake
7    Blind Blake–    Back Door Slam Blues 2:45
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Blake
8    Blind Blake–    Notoriety Woman Blues 2:45
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Blake
9    Blind Blake–    Cold Hearted Mama Blues 2:50
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Blake
10    Blind Blake–    Low Down Loving Gal 3:09
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Blake
11    Blind Blake–    Sweet Papa Low Down 3:13
Cornet, Piano – Unknown Artist
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Blake
Xylophone – Jimmy Bertrand
12    Blind Blake–    Poker Woman Blues 2:40
Piano [possibly] – Alex Robinson
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Blake
13    Blind Blake–    Doing A Stretch 2:36
Piano [possibly] – Alex Robinson
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Blake
14    Blind Blake–    Fightin' The Jug 2:53
Piano [possibly] – Alex Robinson
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Blake
15    Blind Blake–    Hookworm Blues 2:54
Piano [possibly] – Alex Robinson
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Blake
16    Blind Blake–    Slippery Rag 2:44
Guitar, Speech [probably] – Blind Blake
Piano [possibly] – Alex Robinson
17    Blind Blake–    Hastings St. 3:12
Guitar, Speech – Blind Blake
Piano – Charlie Spand
18    Blind Blake–    Diddie Wa Diddie 2:56
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Blake
19    Blind Blake–    Too Tight Blues, No. 2 2:54
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Blake
20    Blind Blake–    Chump Man Blues 2:49
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Blake
21    Blind Blake–    Ice Man Blues 3:09
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Blake
22    Blind Blake–    Police Dog Blues 2:50
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Blake
23    The Hokum Boys –    I Was Afraid Of That -- Part 2 3:14
Piano [possibly] – Aletha Dickerson
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Blake
24    Blind Blake–    Georgia Bound 3:20
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Blake
25    Blind Blake–    Keep It Home
Vocals, Guitar – Blind Blake