Less than two months into the new year, and the first absolutely essential purchase of the year drops on to the doormat. The Viper Label is becoming renowned for reasonably-priced recordings of blues, murder ballads and even US ramblin' hobo songs, but with these three beautiful volumes, they have surpassed themselves.
Any blues aficionado will have the majority of the songs on these CDs, but The Viper Label have managed to throw a few oddities into the mix, with a couple of tracks and artists that I hadn't heard of before, and will certainly be checking out in more detail.
These tracks all date from the 1920's up to 1940, and as a result some of the recordings do come with a significant amount of pop, crackle and hiss. However, these are good quality recordings which have been cleaned up as far as possible without losing any sound quality, which is why some surface noise remains. That said, people shouldn't complain about this, in fact they should be grateful that these recordings even still exist, having been mastered from the one or two surviving shellac copies in some cases.
These recordings are so important as they give the listener an insight into a world that no longer exists except for in these tracks and maybe some long lost grainy film footage. Volume One features some excellent numbers, including Blind Willie Johnson's 'If I Had My Way, I'd Tear This Building Down', which was recorded in December 1927 and released on August 30th 1928. This fiery track is played with a real savagery that matches Blind Willie's gruff voice perfectly (this man could teach Tom Waits a thing or two!). The song basically relates the biblical story of Samson and Delilah, however as legend has it, Blind Willie was arrested for playing this song on the street, as unfortunately he'd set up to play outside a local bank (during the depression) and a police officer thought that his rendering of this song was seditious believing it was designed to cause people to tear the bank down!
As with a large number of early blues singers, Blind Willie came to a sad end, dying from pneumonia or malarial fever in 1945 at the age of 48, caused by sleeping on a wet mattress and newspapers in the remains of his house after it was totally destroyed by a fire earlier that same year.
At the opposite end of the scale, Vol. One also features Mississippi John Hurt's 'Stack O'Lee Blues' which dates from 1928 and has to be the most gentle, laid back version of the song which became 'Stagger Lee'. Mississippi John's nimble guitar playing and easy voice is a delight and shows the vast diversity of the blues (although Mississippi John regarded himself foremost as a folk singer).
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Volume Two features such classics as Charley Jordan's version of Charley Patton's 'A Spoonful Blues', an excellent track from a guitarist who started out as a bootlegger, until a shooting incident left him crippled, and is often overlooked when it comes to naming the blues greats. In addition to this you also have the wonderful 'My Black Mama' by Son House, one of the verses of which was virtually stolen in its' entirety by John Lee Hooker for the song 'Burnin' Hell'.
House's version dates from 1930 and just evidences his power as a guitarist and singer. House was one of the original blues artists from the 1930s who was able to resume touring during the 1960's US blues boom, although, upon his 'rediscovery' he'd hadn't picked up a guitar in years and had to be retaught most of his original work by Al “Blind Owl” Wilson from Canned Heat.
Volume Three has more obscure outfits and singers, such as the Convicts of Ballwood Prison, Atlanta, who manage to crack out a stonkingly good version of 'Rock Island Line' which even gives Leadbelly's version a run for it's money. Also featured are bands like the Mississippi Sheiks, who virtually invented country blues with 'Lonely One In This Town' released in 1930.
Unfortunately the Sheiks did not prove to be popular, and had disbanded and returned to farming by the late 1930's.
Overall, these three volumes are an excellent introduction to the early years of the blues, and will appeal to those who are developing an interest in the genre. In addition to this, there are some more obscure tracks that are close to unavailable elsewhere. As blues compilations go, this set spans Gospel blues, country blues and even ragtime, and with each volume being downloadable at just £6.99 a pop, these are a bargain. If you have any interest in the blues whatsoever, then don't miss out. This is perfection on a disc (or three).
Available from The Viper Label shop online
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