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Son House & the Great Delta Blues Singers

Son House - Son House & the Great Delta Blues Singers Audio CD

A fair review of the Son House "Son House & the Great Delta Blues Singers" 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 Son House reviews here, or go back to the Son House tabs.

Band: Son House
Title: Son House & the Great Delta Blues Singers
Rating:

Release Date: 1994-05-27
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: My Black Mama, Pt. 1 - Son House 2: My Black Mama, Pt. 2 - Son House 3: Preachin' the Blues, Pt. 1 - Son House 4: Preachin' the Blues, Pt. 2 - Son House 5: Dry Spell Blues, Pt. 1 - Son House 6: Dry Spell Blues, Pt. 2 - Son House 7: Walkin' Blues [#] - Son House 8: M and O Blues - Willie Brown 9: Future Blues - Willie Brown 10: Mississippi Bottom Blues - Kid Bailey 11: Rowdy Blues - Kid Bailey 12: Cottonfield Blues, Pt. 1 - Garfield Akers, Joe Calicott 13: Cottonfield Blues, Pt. 2 - Garfield Akers, Joe Calicott 14: Dough Roller Blues - Garfield Akers 15: Jumpin' and Shoutin' Blues - Garfield Akers 16: Fare Thee Well Blues - Joe Calicott 17: Traveling Mama Blues - Joe Calicott 18: Bedside Blues - Jim Thompkins 19: Outside Woman Blues - Blind Joe Reynolds, Blind Joe Reynolds 20: Nehi Blues - Blind Joe Reynolds, Blind Joe Reynolds 21: Married Man Blues - Blind Willie Reynolds 22: Third Street Woman Blues - Blind Willie Reynolds 23: Mississippi Jailhouse Blues - Son House 24: Ham Hound Crave - Reverend Rubin Lacy

The legend of legends

The three tracks that were particularly good to me were "My Black Mama," with its fantastic rhythm and slide ringing throughout. Great vintage delta blues!
Being a Son House fan, I have to comment that all of his recordings found on this were superb, albeit marred by the inevitable crackles from deteriorated circa 1930 vinyl.
This song was the forerunner to what later became House's signature piece, "Death Letter. "
"Preachin' the Blues" is incredible, with House expertly weaving his guitar in and out, with that unmistakable field holler bass voice.
"Walking Blues" is wonderful and features a second guitarist, almost certainly none other than Willie Brown.
Both Willie Brown tracks are good, but "Future Blues" is especially good, standing right up next to those from House himself.
The other bluesmen found on this CD were very good, but I bought this for Son and Willie most of all, and their songs are truly worth it for a blues fan.
This is also - I believe - the CD to get if you want the complete Grafton, Wisconsin Paramount Records sessions.
For an even bigger treat (19 tracks!) for a Son House fan, get "The Complete Library of Congress Sessions, 1941-1942," found here:
http://www. amazon. com/gp/product/B000001BLT/ref=ox_ya_os_product.

Son House and the Great Delta Blues Singers
I discovered the Delta Blues over the last few years and can't get enough of it. This is more of a question than a review. Of the 30 or so CDs I've purchased I ocasionally get one where the recording is scratchy and the sound quality is less than good. This CD is one of those. I've read the reviews and no one talks about this. The other Son House recordings I have purchased have good quality sound. The question is three fold. First, why is the quality of the sound not mentioned in any of the reviews? Second, how can I know before purchasing future recordings that the sound quality will be good? Last, the cover of the CD I received is not the cover shown. This CD has the above title but also says 1928 ~ 1930 is black and white, and has Son sitting in a chair in front of a microphone. Why the different cover? Looking for help from Long Beach, Mississippi.
Jeff.

Son House was the grandaddy of 'em all!
Son House laid down tracks that have echoed down to this day, and he may have been the first true wellspring of what became rock. If you're interested in the blues roots of rock, you've come to the right place. I've been a listener and collector of what's now called classic rock for more than 40 years, and I have never found an earlier or truer original source than Son House. With all the fuss being bestowed on Robert Johnson these days, here's a clue: Son House taught RJ how to play! Listen to this album and hear the foreshadowings of ALL the great music to come. . . Truly great guitar pickin', and a voice as rough, plain and honest as Mississippi dirt clods. . . You may not want to put this album on Infinite Repeat, but you will not walk away unimpressed or unmoved. IMHO, Son House truly deserves the title of Great Grandaddy of Rock!.

Great Stuff, Some Repeats
And as is usually the case with pre-war blues artists, Son's early stuff is better than the 60's revival stuff. Son House is essential to any blues collection. That said, the company put songs on here by other artists that already appear on Mississippi Masters--which I also highly reccomend, especially for Geechie Wiley's "Last Kind Words. " This CD would be 5-star and beyond if it weren't for those repeated songs. .

Awesome
There are cuts by several other musicians, including Rube Lacy, Joe Calicott, and House's onetime playing partner Willie Brown, but this disc, which contains Son House's complete 1930 session, is the best place to get his earliest songs. "Son House & The Great Delta Blues Singers" isn't entirely devoted to Son House.
The sound quality is not excactly stellar, mainly due to the inferior quality of Columbia Records' original masters and horrible quality pressings, yet the power and intensity of Son House's huge voice and slashing slide guitar playing cuts through the pops and hisses like. . . well, a cutting thing.
Also, this CD is one of the very few which features both the previously unreleased test acetate of "Walking Blues" (the basis for Robert Johnson's song, not the other way around), and the second parts of House's three two-part singles. Listen to "My Black Mama part II", and you'll recognize it as the original version of "Death Letter Blues", complete with House's magnificent, wailing slide guitar riff.

House's seven songs are the highlights of this collection, but there is a lot of other stuff here which is certainly of interest to fans of classic Delta blues. The gruff-voiced Willie Brown's two cuts are almost as powerful as Son House's, particularly the great "Future Blues" (listen to Brown snapping the bass strings).
And fine waxings by Kid Bailey and Joe Reynolds in particular makes this a great collection of Delta blues as recorded by Paramount Records in 1929-30.

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