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Blind Blake - Georgia Bound Audio CD

A fair review of the Blind Blake "Georgia Bound" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Blind Blake reviews here, or go back to the Blind Blake tabs.

Blind Blake Band: Blind Blake
Title: Georgia Bound
Rating:
Release Date: 1999-11-09
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: West Coast Blues [Take 2] 2: Goodbye Mama Moan 3: Notoriety Woman Blues 4: Georgia Bound 5: Come on Boys, Let's Do That Messin' Around 6: Walkin' Across the Country 7: Southern Rag 8: Rumblin' and Ramblin' 9: Fightin' the Jug 10: Too Tight Blues [No. 2] 11: Chump Man Blues 12: Guitar Chimes 13: Rope Stretching Blues, Pt. 1 14: No Dough Blues 15: Diddie Wa Diddie 16: That Lovin' I Crave 17: Skeedle Loo Doo Blues, Pt. 2 18: Leavin' Gal Blues 19: Police Dog Blues 20: Seaboard Stomp 21: Depression's Gone from Me Blues 22: Slippery Rag 23: One Time Blues

His guitar playing dazzles as it surprises as it delights
His real name is believed to be Arthur Blake, but there is some question about this; he was born in the 1890s, but when in 1890s, we don't know; and he is believed to have died beneath the wheels of a tramcar in the 1930s in New York, or is it Atlanta? - no-one really knows. Blind Blake remains an illusive figure in 1920s black music. The only thing we can say with any confidence about Blind Blake was that he was one of the foremost guitarists of his day.

Listening to these scratchy 78 rpm recordings, the man's artistry never ceases to amaze. Blake could not play a boring note if he tried: no matter how fast he played or how scratchy the recording is, each note comes out as clear as a bell. He was more of a jazz guitarist in the way he approached his work, with his singing accompanying the guitar rather than the other way around. However, he has a perfectly good voice and sings in a style very similar to Bessie Smith. My favourite tracks here, and there are many of them, were all recorded on the same day: 17 August 1929, in Richmond, Indiana: Too Tight Blues No 2, Chump Man Blues, Georgia Bound, and the last two, made famous by wonderful cover versions by Ry Cooder, Diddy Wa Diddie and Police Dog Blues. These songs, highlighted by dazzling guitar breaks, capture Blake in the full flight of his genius. Every note of his playing dazzles as it surprises as it delights.

Blake was probably not the most attractive man in the world. He got into drunken fights over cards and he beat his women: all alluded to in his songs, -Notoriety Woman Blues and Fighting The Jug - but the dazzling prowess of his guitar playing makes him one of the outstanding recording artists of the 1920s, to be put beside Jelly Roll Morton, Bessie Smith, and Louis Armstrong.


Let's shake, rattle and� moan!
Included here are rags for one's hips and singing, to go along to joyfully. Blind Blake's sound stands akin to Lonnie Johnson and to some extent Blind Willie McTell's style. These include Too Tight Blues, Southern Rag and Skeedle Loo Doo. Better than Lonnie Johnson however, Blake can effortlessly and sparingly manage to create a slow, meditative mood not unlike Charley Patton's, in songs like "Poor Me". At these moments Blake shapes some heart rending blues indeed. No wonder then, that in "Georgia Bound" is the seed to the Robert Johnson masterpiece "From Four Till Late. " "Goodbye Mama Moan" is a sparse tune, Blake might have tuned alone, while a loved one was packing her stuff and leaving. Included is also a variation of "Sitting on Top of the World" under "Depression's Gone From Me Blues. " If you like some early shaking rags and good slow songs, walk this way!.


You can see a complete list of all Blind Blake discography, or go back to the Blind Blake tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.

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