lördag 19 november 2016

American Folk & Blues Festival 1964-65 (2CD)


280:- (24-Bit Limited Remaster Edition. Amerikanska Blues artister åkte runt i europa och uppträdde i olika länder.)

From 1962 until 1971, the American Folk Blues Festival was responsible for bringing dozens of the most celebrated American blues artists to audiences from England to Poland. For many of the musicians, these were the largest audiences they'd ever played to, and the first (and often only) decent money they ever made. The 1962 volume was recorded live in Hamburg, and has no extra tracks, but the material is so vital and robust that this volume, featuring Memphis Slim, John Lee Hooker, T-Bone Walker, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee, never needed it. 


The 1963 disc, recorded live in Bremen, opens with three previously unreleased live Memphis Slim cuts, and follows these with a previously unissued Muddy Waters solo acoustic guitar piece and three more never-issued numbers featuring Muddy backed by Dixon, Otis Spann, and Matt "Guitar" Murphy. The three Sonny Boy Williamson bonus tracks were very late in the day and constitute some of the very last songs left behind by the increasingly ailing harp legend. 

The 1964 volume is a little less enhanced, with two songs by Willie Dixon and one song each by Sonny Boy Williamson, Sleepy John Estes and Hammie Nixon, and Sugar Pie DeSanto. The 1965 volume was always the odd one in this series; as a studio recording rather than a concert document, it lacks the vibrancy of the earlier volumes, but its eight bonus tracks do include some interesting moments by Buddy Guy, Big Mama Thornton, John Lee Hooker, and Big Walter Horton. The sound quality is good, but given the time that's passed, a full set of notes might have been nice.


1964 (DISC 1) 
01. SONNY BOY WILLIAMSON - I'M TRYING TO MAKE LONDON MY HOME 
02. SONNY BOY WILLIAMSON - DISSATISFIED 
03. SUNNYLAND SLIM - EVERYTIME I GET TO DRINKIN' 
04. SAM LIGHTNIN' HOPKINS - IS NOT IT A PITY 
05. SAM LIGHTNIN' HOPKINS - BABY PLEASE NOT GO DO 
06. SLEEPY JOHN ESTES Ando HAMMIE NIXON - I'M A TEARING LITTLE DADDY  
07. JOHN HENRY BARBEE - COTTON PICKIN 'BLUES 
08. HUBERT SUMLIN - NO TITLE BOOGIE 
09. SUGAR PIE DESANTO - SLIP IN MULES 
10. HOWLIN' WOLF - DUST MY BROOM 

1965 (DISC 2) 
01. FRED MCDOWELL - HIGHWAY 61 
02. J.B. LENOIR - SLOW DOWN 
03. BIG WALTER HORTON SHAKEY - CHRISTINE 
04. ROOSEVELT SYKES - COME ON BACK HOME 
05. EDDIE BOYD - FIVE LONG YEARS 
06. EDDIE BOYD - THE BIG QUESTION 
07. LONESOME JIMMY LEE - ROSALIE 
08. JOHN LEE HOOKER - KING OF THE WORLD 
09. JOHN LEE HOOKER - DELLA MAY 
10. BUDDY BUY - FIRST TIME I MET THE BLUES 
11. BIG MAMA THORNTON - HOUND 'DOG 
12. DOCTOR ROSS - MY BLACK NAME IS RINGING