*****
"...Grabbed Up My Suitcase...Took Out Down The Road... "
This is one of those fab CD compilations put out by Columbia on their Roots N' Blues: Contemporary Blues Masters label imprint way back in the summer of 1992. But come the following 30-years, it kind of slinkyed-away unnoticed when I think it should have been quietly worshiped ever since.
Born in Clarksdale, Mississippi as Eddie James House, Jr. in March 1902 (hence the name, 'Son' House) - the innovative Blues Man passed in October 1988. SH is remembered as much for his voice as his sound - the National Steel Guitar with Bottleneck Slide – hard rhythmic picking – strings that must have felt like plucking shipyard lines - the kind of effortlessly cool Mississippi Delta dude with a playing technique and vibe that people like Johnny Winter, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Joe Bonamassa would have knelt down on one knee to praise.
By the time the October 1965 Columbia debut album "Father Of Folk Blues" came out - produced by the legendary visionary John Hammond (the Stereo Version of which is on CD1) - the Sixties Roots Blues boom had begun. Son House had not played since 1957 and only restarted in 1964 - not aware of "rediscovery" LPs like Hammond was championing. But Hammond knew there was more mileage in this Blues giant. When you listen to the Acapella "John The Revelator" on Side 1 – just Son House singing and clapping hands – it is clear that the years had made his gargles-gravel-for-breakfast voice a thing of Blues expressionist beauty. His growl-singing style came on like a slightly more mellow Howlin' Wolf - but with just as much emotive power when he sang lyrics about poor me standing here with the whistle of the train in my ears – my woman on board waving goodbye – it was and still is fantastic stuff. The Remastered quality of those bare and stripped sessions has also not gone unnoticed amidst VINYL aficionados either – reissues of the LP and its environs on 180-gram audiophile LPs abound. But back to 1992...
UK released June 1992 - "Father Of The Delta Blues: The Complete 1965 Sessions" by SON HOUSE on Columbia/Legacy Roots N' Blues Lawrence Cohn 2CD Compilation with David Mitson and Mark Wilder Digital Restoration and Remasters that plays out as follows:
CD1 "Father Of Folk Blues" (44:59 minutes):
1. Death Letter [Side 1]
2. Pearline
3. Louise McGhee
4. John The Revelator
5. Empire State Express
6. Preachin' Blues [Side 2]
7. Grinnin' In Your Face
8. Sundown
9. Levee Camp Moan
Tracks 1 to 9 are the debut album "Father Of Folk Blues" by The Legendary SON HOUSE – released October 1965 in the USA on Columbia CL 2417 (Mono) and Columbia CS 9217 (Stereo) – the STEREO MIX ONLY is here on this CD
NOTES:
All Tracks recorded 12 to 14 April 1965 in New York City
Produced JOHN HAMMOND and FRANK DRIGGS
SON HOUSE on Steel-Bodied National Guitar and Vocals
AL WILSON (later with Canned
Heat) plays Guitar on Track 5 and Harmonica on Track 9; see also Tracks 2 and 9 on CD2
CD2 (52:43 minutes):
1. Death Letter – Previously Unissued Alternate Take (Take 2 with False Start, 5:53 minutes)
2. Levee Camp Moan – Previously Unissued Alternate Take (Remake Take 1, 4:52 minutes)
3. Grinnin' In Your Face – Previously Unissued Alternate Take (Take 1, 3:14 minutes)
4. John The Revelator – Previously Unissued Alternate Take (Take 2, 2:17 minutes)
5. Preachin' Blues – Previously Unissued Alternate Take (Take 3, 5:29 minutes)
6. President Kennedy – Previously Unissued (Take 1, 3:44 minutes)
7. A Down The Staff – Previously Unissued (Take 2, 3:42 minutes)
8. Motherless Children – Previously Unissued (Take 2, 4:30 minutes)
9. Yonder Comes My Mother – Previously Unissued (Take 1, 3:40 minutes, Al Wilson of Canned Heat on Second Guitar)
10. Shake It And Break It – Previously Unissued (Takes 2 and 3 False Starts, Take 4, 2:43 minutes)
11. Pony Blues – Previously Unissued (Remake Take 1, 5:24 minutes)
12. Downhearted Blues – Previously Unissued (Take 1, 7:08 minutes)
All songs by Son House - plays Steel-Bodied National Guitar on all except Tracks 3 and 4 which is Voice only; Al Wilson later of Canned Heat on Harmonica on Track 2 and Second Guitar on Track 9
The fat double jewel-case is now a thing of the past and that look 16-page booklet the same. The final pages of it are actually given over to other CD releases in the Roots N' Blues: Contemporary Blues Masters series like Bessie Smith and and Memphis Minnie – and not to Son House. However, you do get two pages of Session Credits – an article on the man taken from 'Saturday Review' by Lawrence Cohen dated 28 September 1968 (Cohen collated this reissue) – that is in turn followed by an essay called 'Remembering' from Cohen as he readied this reissue in 1992. It's a sort of before and after comparison. There are five black and white photos of Son House followed by the Reissue Credits. But the big news is the Audio – Digital restoration and Engineering by DAVID MITSON at Sony in L.A. with MARK WILDER at Sony Studios in New York. The clarity is kind of shocking at times – just him and that huge-sounding National Steel – it's a sweetheart listen – if not a little samey at times as you wade through CD2.
You would have to say that the shorter nine-track album has the edge here – concise – clear – his singing and playing the stuff of Mississippi legend. Not that there isn't magic in the Unreleased. Four Alternate Takes on CD2 are followed by eight Previously Unissued songs – each with spoken Track Announcements and their Master Number from the engineer Frank Driggs (I have provided the Take numbers in the list above which is not provided in the booklet – playing times too because the booklet ones are inaccurate).
All of it is like peeking into a hidden recording history unseen for eons. There is dialogue at the beginning of "Death Letter" – the engineer giving us Take 2 with a False Start. And Son House tells us he wants to get religion and become a Baptist Preacher (or maybe a Deacon) so he won’t have to work – a fantastic Take 3 of "Preachin' Blues" with some very cool playing.
Although the intention is noble (hurt for the assassination of a US President who held a candle for people of colour and their societal miseries), the lyrics pressing and the melody prettier than most – you can hear why they left "President Kennedy" in the can – it just feels out of place. Son House does well to keep his guitar playing in synch with the singing through "Motherless Children" – his playing thrilling in its creaking and pinging accuracy. Even better is Al Wilson providing muscle to "Yonder Comes My Mother" by way of a second guitar accompaniment (you kind of wish they explored more of this). "Shake It And Break It" is terrible – false starts and a version that just does not work. "Pony Blues" is a different kettle of fish – five minutes of Primo Son House getting in the groove.
This is a cool reissue of genuine Sixties Mississippi Delta Acoustic Blues – cumbersome in presentation maybe – a tiny bit out-dated looking by today's standards perhaps – but its contents and audio ROCK. Eddie James House, Jr. - John The Revelator – nice one son...
