BIG BILL BROONZY - Where The Blues Began
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Artist:
This forty-track double disc is one of the best of the many Big Bill Broonzy-compilations on the market, especially considering the price, and it does a great job summarizing Big Bill's thirty-year career. William Lee Conley Broonzy was a huge source of inspiration to many younger bluesmen, Muddy Waters and Memphis Slim among them, and once you've heard him do "I Can't Be Satisfied", "Worrying You Off My Mind" and "You May Need My Help Someday", you'll know why.Compare this CD to the earliest plantation recordings of Muddy Waters, and suddenly you have the giant of Chicago blues, the great McKinley Morganfield, looking like a Bill Broonzy-imitator. (Muddy actually recorded an entire album of Big Bill's songs, as did Memphis Slim, Broonzy's one-time pianist.)Big Bill Broonzy was one of the first country-blues musicians to pack up and head north to Illinois, where he became a vital link between rural and urban blues. This collection features most of his best songs, such as "Keep Your Hands Off Her", "Serve It To Me Right", "Long Tall Mama", "Good Time Tonight", "All By Myself", "I Feel So Good", "When I Been Drinking" and of course "Key To The Highway". Broonzy's recording career produced literally hundreds of songs. "Where The Blues Began" alternates between Big Bill's solo pieces, and the songs that he recorded with a band in the 20s and 30s, before the folk boom, and it's hard to say which is better. Broonzy was a fine, intricate guitar player, and a powerful and expressive singer, equally at ease on his own or with a band. The sound quality varies, but that is to be expected. Big Bill's recording career started in the late 20s, after all. But more importantly, almost all of his best (and best-known) songs are here. Not the folk songs that the European folk audiences requested in the 50s, sure, but Big Bill's own compositions, the blues songs that made him such an incredibly important figure, and one of the first real nation-wide blues stars. If you're looking for a truly definitive Big Bill-compilation, you won't find it anywhere. But this is probably as close as you can get. A few songs aren't here which should have been, and a few songs are less remarkable than others, but all in all, this is a very fine testament to the talent of one of the true greats of the blues...a great record, showcasing the talent of the great innovator and the great professional that was William Lee Conley Broonzy.
~By Docendo Discimus
Tracks
Vol. 1
1. I Can't Be Satisfied
2. Saturday Night Rub
3. Big Bill Blues
4. Brown Skin Shuffle
5. Too Too Train Blues
6. Long Tall Mama
7. How You Want It Done
8. Mr. Conductor Man
9. Worrying You Off My Mind Pt. 1
10. Bull Cow Blues
11. Friendless Blues
12. Serve It to Me Right
13. Mississippi River Blues
14. C.C. Rider
15. Midnight Special
16. Good Jelly
17. You May Need My Help Someday
18. Keep Your Hands off Her
19. Good Liquor Gonna Carry Me Down
20. I Want My Hands on It
Vol. 2
1. Good Time Tonight
2. W.P.A. Rag
3. It's a Lowdown Dirty Shame
4. Trucking Little Woman
5. Too Many Drivers
6. Just a Dream
7. When I Been Drinking
8. Key to The Highway
9. Wee Wee Hours
10. All By Myself
11. I Feel So Good
12. Where the Blues Began
13. Martha Blues
14. Texas Tornado Blues
15. I Feel Like Crying
16. Partnership Woman
17. Stop Lying Woman
18. Ramblin' Woman
19. I Stay Blue All the Time
20. You've Been Mistreating Me
Details
.. Year: 2000
.. Label: Recall Recs. UK
.. Country: U.S.A.
.. Bitrate: VBR
.. Ripped: EAC 9.0
.. Genre: Blues
.. Home-Page: www.broonzy.com/ (Tribute)
.. Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Bill_Broonzy
.. MySpace: n/a
.. Last.fm: www.lastfm.com.br/music/Big Bill Broonzy
.. BUY ME: Amazon
.. BUY ME: Amazon 2
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