Document's At Home: Complete 1969 Recorded Works is a fascinating look at Son House in an intimate setting, and serious fans will find it necessary, but many of these performances aren't as strong as similar sets he recorded in the '60s. In other words, it's one for the completist. Thom Owens
Abridged from this albums original booklet notes. When back in 1964 Nick Perls, Dick Waterman and Phil Spiro searched the Mississippi Delta region for clues as to the whereabouts of legendary blues recording artist Son House, they first drew a blank. Finally, in Robinsonville – where Robert Johnson first played blues in a juke joint – they got a lead which eventually took them right back to New York State. In June of that year, they arrived at Son House‘s home in Rochester’s riverfront Corn Hill neighbourhood, almost a thousand miles from Mississippi! Son had lived here since 1943, soon after being recorded for the Library of Congress by Alan Lomax. Son had not performed blues for many years and was completely unaware of the international enthusiasm for the 10 sides he recorded for Paramount in 1930 and those he later made for Lomax. Although a little rusty at first, after practising for some weeks he gradually relearned his old guitar skills and his voice strengthened to the point where he was able to play concerts again. “When he played, his eyes rolled back in his head and he went somewhere else. Whether it was Robinsonville in the ’30’s or wherever, he transported himself back without any trickery and became the essence of Delta. He would then finish the song, blink his eyes, and then re-accustom himself to where he was at the time.” – Dick Waterman, remembering Son House. By the time John Hammond of Columbia Records decided to record him in April 1965, he was singing and playing with such power and conviction that the years seemed to have rolled away, with some of performances rivalling those for the Library of National Congress twenty years before. The informal recordings of Son House and his wife, Evie (who plays tambourine and gives a spoken message) on this album were made by Steve Lobb at their Rochester home, just prior to Son’s second European tour. They remind us of the remarkable return to music of one of the very greatest of all the many Mississippi blues singers. DOCD-5072
Tracklist :
1 Son's Blues 20:37
Arranged By – Son House
Written-By – Charley Patton
2 Yonder Comes My Mother 1:50
– Traditional
Arranged By – Son House
3 Shetland Pony Blues 3:42
Written-By – Son House
4 I'm So Sorry Baby 2:34
Written-By – Son House
5 Plantation Song 0:45
Written-By – Son House
6 Mister Suzie-Q 2:44
Written-By – Son House
7 Evening Train 4:47
– Traditional
Arranged By – Son House
8 Sundown 7:23
Written-By – Son House
9 Preachin' The Blues 7:20
Written-By – Eddie J. House
10 Empire State Express 8:45
– Traditional
Arranged By – Son House
11 Never Mind People Grinnin' In Your Face 3:44
Arranged By – Son House
Tambourine – Evie House
Written-By – James Milton Black
12 Sun Goin' Down 7:09
Written-By – Son House
13 A Spoken Message 7:06
Voice [Speech] – Evie House
Written-By – Son House
14.2.25
SON HOUSE — The Legendary 1969 Rochester Complete Sessions | DOCD-5148 (1992) RM | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless
24.12.24
SON HOUSE — Son House And the Great Delta Blues Singers : Complete Recorded Works (1928-1930) DOCD-5002 (2000) RM | APE (image+.cue), lossless
Complete Recorded Works of Son House & The Great Delta Blues Singers isn't entirely devoted to Son House -- there are cuts by several other musicians, including Willie Brown, Garfield Akers, Rube Lacey and Joe Calicott -- but this disc, which contains a complete 1930 session, is the best place to get his earliest songs ("My Black Mama," "Preachin' the Blues," "Dry Spell Blues"), which remain among his masterworks. Thom Owens
Tracklist :
1 Son House– My Black Mama ~ Part 1 3:11
2 Son House– My Black Mama ~ Part 2 3:19
3 Son House– Preachin' The Blues ~ Part 1 3:06
4 Son House– Preachin' The Blues ~ Part 2 2:54
5 Son House– Dry Spell Blues ~ Part 1 3:11
6 Son House– Dry Spell Blues ~ Part 2 3:15
7 Son House– Walkin' Blues 3:00
Guitar – Willie Brown
8 Willie Brown – M & O Blues 3:11
9 Willie Brown – Future Blues 3:01
10 Kid Bailey– Mississippi Bottom Blues 2:49
Guitar – Unknown Artist
11 Kid Bailey– Rowdy Blues 3:00
Guitar – Unknown Artist
12 Garfield Akers– Cottonfield Blues ~ Part 1 2:52
Guitar – Joe Callicott
13 Garfield Akers– Cottonfield Blues ~ Part 2 3:15
Guitar – Joe Callicott
14 Garfield Akers– Dough Roller Blues 3:11
15 Garfield Akers– Jumpin' And Shoutin' Blues 3:09
16 Joe Callicott– Fare Thee Well Blues 3:11
17 Joe Callicott– Traveling Mama Blues 3:15
18 Jim Thompkins– Bedside Blues 3:07
19 Blind Joe (Willie) Reynolds– Outside Woman Blues 2:56
20 Blind Joe (Willie) Reynolds– Nehi Blues 3:15
21 Blind Joe (Willie) Reynolds– Married Man Blues 3:18
22 Blind Joe (Willie) Reynolds– Third Street Woman Blues 2:41
23 Rube Lacy– Mississippi Jailhouse Groan 3:22
24 Rube Lacy– Ham Hound Crave 2:53
Vocals [2nd Vocals] – Ralph Lembo
13.5.21
CHARLEY PATTON – Complete Recordings 1929-1934 (2002) RM | 5CD BOX-SET | FLAC (image+.cue), lossless
At the end of just the first disc on this five-CD set, the listener may
feel like he/she was in the audio equivalent of a visual "white-out," so
powerful are the sounds on that disc. From the opening bars of"Pony
Blues," Charley Patton becomes a gigantic musical presence, who gets
even bigger as his work goes on; with a guttural, stentorian voice that
paves the way for everyone from Louis Armstrong to early Bob Dylan --
but especially for Howlin' Wolf -- he cuts through the poor condition
surviving Paramount pressings like a call from the Great Beyond, almost
unnaturally powerful and expressive in its smallest gesture. What's
more, Patton must have broken more than his share of strings, because
his playing also comes through on these sides better than almost any
artist that ever recorded for Paramount, even on ruined masters like
"Pea Vine Blues." This is all a lot more than a trip through history for
the scholar, and some sides are just too close to some classics of the
future to ignore -- "Down In The Dirt Road Blues," which could be where
Willie Dixon got the idea for "Down In The Bottom," and the notion that
Howlin' Wolf was the man to record it; similarly, "Some Summer Day,"
from the other end of Patton's career, could easily have been the demo
for "Sittin' On Top Of The World" -- actually, the geneology of both
songs is a lot more complicated than that, but each of these could
easily have been a key part of the evolutionary chain for one or the
other. And there is a raw, primordial power to Patton's music that not
only grabs the listener but leaves them wanting more; that's why this
box makes perfect sense, even for the casual blues listener -- the man
never recorded a second-rate side or one that didn't offer at least a
few of the attributes that made his best work so powerful. On a
cautionary note, however, the producers have actually been a bit
misleading by presenting this set as 92 sides by Charley Patton -- there
are actually 63 sides by Patton, and the rest, appended to each disc,
are recordings by other artists and are believed to have featured
Patton, playing and singing or just playing, and people who were
featured on Patton's sides; the latter two groups include Son House,
Louise Johnson, Henry "Son" Sims, and Willie Brown, with the Big Delta
Four filling out the last disc. And these sides offer some fascinating
sounds, including killer tracks by Son House in his prime, and oddities
like Brown's "Future Blues," which lifts part of its content from Jimmie
Rodgers' repertory. The audio is remarkably consistent and, in fact,
the whole set is so rewarding, that it raises an interesting notion --
might JSP or another enterprising label consider doing a series of
Paramount Records boxes, assembling the surviving sides, blues, gospel,
or whatever, in chronological order, as Bear Family did with Sun Records
a few years back? Bruce Eder
Baritone Vocals – Will Mosely (faixas: 5-3 to 5-10)
Bass Vocals – Archie Smith (faixas: 5-3 to 5-10)
Lead Vocals – Wheeler Ford (faixas: 5-3 to 5-10)
Tenor Vocals – Ivory Lou Allen (faixas: 5-3 to 5-10)
Vocals – Bertha Lee (faixas: 5-19 to 5-22)
Vocals, Fiddle – Henry Sims (faixas: 3-13 to 3-16)
Vocals, Guitar – Walter Hawkins (faixas: 1-15 to 1-18), Charley Patton (faixas: 1-1 to 1-3, 1-7 to 1-11, 1-13, 1-14, 2-1 to 2-16, 3-1 to 3-12, 4-1, 4-2, 5-1, 5-2, 5-11 to 5-20), Elder J J Hadley (faixas: 1-4, 1-5), Son House (faixas: 4-5 to 4-11), The Masked Marvel (faixas: 1-6, 1-12), Willie Brown (faixas: 4-3, 4-4)
Vocals, Piano – Edith North Johnson (faixas: 2-17 to 2-20), Louise Johnson (faixas: 4-12 to 4-16)
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Given Margaret Whiting's limitations as a stylist, you certainly wouldn't expect an album of Jerome Kern-penned Broadway standards t...
