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"...Sugar Coated Love..."
The 'By The Bayou' Series of CD compilations from Ace Records of the UK now numbers 22 titles in June 2021 and runs through four generalised genre themes - Bluesin' By The Bayou - Rhythm 'n' Bluesin' By The Bayou - Boppin' By The Bayou and Swamp Pop By The Bayou - each title numbered on the spine (this set from 2017 is No. 18, see discography list provided below).
Each is 28-tracks long (so plenty of listening time) and tackle down 'n' dirty Deep South sounds from a large range of American labels specialising in fast-cat 45s - names like Ric, Goldband, Dixie, Carl and whole slew more. This is the Jay D. Miller catalogue out of Louisiana that got turned out on oodles of those Flyright compilation LPs in the 70s, 80s & 90s – so there is also liberal doses of Cajun, Zydeco, Tex Mex, Rock and Roll and Rockabilly choons too. As Flyright clocked up some huge number of reissues – nearly 300 as I recall – I imagine there are many sea-legs left in this CD Series, even if it is at No. 22 already.
UK-issued, each CD compilation has its share of previously unreleased (eight in this case) and mixes up known names like Soul Singer Barbara Lynn and Blues Boy Lazy Lester with virtual unknowns like T.B. Fisher and Boozoo Chavis & His Zodico Accordian. With Ace's usual attention to track-by-track booklet detail and period photos to compliment the 50s and 60s listens, as you can imagine each comp is a whole heap of hoodoo fun and a proper journey of genre jumpin' discovery. So let's get to the lonesome cigarettes, sugar coated lovers and prison hamburgers (and that's just the left leg)...
UK released Friday, 25 August 2017 - "Bluesin' By The Bayou: Ain't Broke, Ain't Hungry" by VARIOUS ARTISTS on Ace Records CDCHD 1506 (Barcode 029667084222) is a Remastered 28-Track CD compilation with Eight Previously Unreleased Tracks that plays out as follows (73:08 minutes):
1. Pleadin' - MERCY BABY (June 1958, US 45-single on Ric 955, A-side)
2. I've Been In This Prison - LEROY WASHINGTON (originally issued on the 1981 UK LP "Wild Cherry" on Flyright FLY LP 574)
3. Little Girl Blues (The Blues And My Woman) - LIGHTNIN' SLIM (PREVIOUSLY UNISSUED Take 3 of a track originally on the 1976 UK LP "The Early Years" on Flyright FLY LP 524)
4. I Haven't Got A Home - RAMBLIN' HI HARRIS (originally on the 1989 Various Artists UK LP compilation "I Ain't Got No Money: 1950s South Louisiana Blues" on Flyright FLY LP 620)
5. Better Start Doin' It – HONEY BOY ALLEN – PREVIOUSLY UNISSUED
6. Cigarettes – SLIM HARPO (from the 1985 Various Artists UK LP "Baton Rouge Blues" on Flyright FLY LP 607)
7. Hoo Doo Blues – LIGHTNIN' SLIM (originally unissued take of the January 1958 A-side to Excello 2131, first released on the 1981 UK LP "The Feature Sides 1954" on Flyright Records FLY LP 583)
8. Ain't Broke, Ain't Hungry – POLKA DOT SLIM (December 1964, US 45-single on Instant 3269, B-side of "A Thing You Gotta Face")
9. I'm A Lover Not A Fighter – LAZY LESTER (PREVIOUSLY UNISSUED Take 6 of Excello 2143, September 1958 US 45-single A-side)
10. Dreaming Dreaming – JOE RICHARDS (1962 US 45-single on Carl 504, A-side)
11. Still In Love With You – AL SMITH – PREVIOUSLY UNISSUED
12. In The Evening – COOKIE & THE CUPCAKES (from the 1976 US LP "The Legendary Cookie And The Cupcakes" on Goldband GRLP-7757)
13. A Thing You Gotta Face – POLKA DOT SLIM (December 1964, US 45-single on Instant 3269, A-side – for B-side see Track 8)
14. Life Gets Hard – JAKE JACKSON (originally on the 1989 Various Artists UK LP compilation "I Ain't Got No Money: 1950s South Louisiana Blues" on Flyright FLY LP 620)
15. Sugar Coated Love – BARBARA LYNN (1971 US Copyright Records 2319, A-side)
16. Tee Black – BOOZOO CHAVIS & HIS ZODICO ACCORDIAN (1960s, US 45-single on Goldband 1161, B-side – see Track 19 for A-side)
17. Angel Please – JIMMY ANDERSON & THE JOY JUMPERS (1962 US 45-single on Zynn 1014, B-side to "I Wanna Boogie")
18. Make Me Cry – CLARENCE GARLOW (from the 1987 US LP "Zydeco Birth" on Goldband Records GFCL 103)
19. Hamburgers & Popcorn BOOZOO CHAVIS & HIS ZODICO ACCORDIAN (1960s, US 45-single on Goldband 1161, A-side – see Track 16 for B-side)
20. I Hate To Leave You Baby - LIGHTNIN' SLIM (PREVIOUSLY UNISSUED Alternate of a Track on the 1976 UK LP "The Early Years" on Flyright Records FLY LP 524)
21. If I Don't See You - AL SMITH (1959 US 45-single on Goldband 1092, B-side of "I Love Her So")
22. Baby, Baby, Baby - RAMBLIN' HI HARRIS - PREVIOUSLY UNISSUED
23. I Don't Know - LIGHTNIN' SLIM (from the 1986 UK LP "We Gotta Rock Tonight" on Flyright Records FLY LP 612)
24. If The Blues Was Money - BIG WALTER - PREVIOUSLY UNISSUED
25. Somebody Tell Me - JAKE JACKSON (originally on the 1989 Various Artists UK LP compilation "I Ain't Got No Money: 1950s South Louisiana Blues" on Flyright FLY LP 620)
26.
Tracks 3, 5, 9, 11, 20, 22, 24 and 28 are PREVIOUSLY UNISSUED
NICK ROBBINS handles the clearly homecookin' tapes - some super clean - but many rough as a gutbucket. The audio is always real - full of energy even if the source has clearly been recorded in Aunty Flo's outside lavvy. IAN SADLER handles the track-by-track histories (Lester Johnson is the real name for Lazy Lester, Julius Mullins is Mercy Baby, gunned down at the age of 47,and so on) and of course you get those rare and obscure 45-labels siding the text. Typically well annotated Ace Records 12-page liner notes.
"Ain't Broke, Ain't Hungry..." opens on a suitably rough-recorded raucous Blues stomper, Mercy Baby asking why his woman don't love him all the time - but his "Pleadin'" falls of her cold deaf ears. The Audio takes a leap up with the cool steppin' toe-tapper "I've Been In This Prison" - Leroy Washington lonely in his factory of the Blues – his prison cell jumpin' every night with songs like this. The big moan continues with Lightnin' Slim in all kinds of misery 'cause his women won't let him be (poor chap). It's worse for Ramblin' Hi Harris whose sleepin' in his bed alone - that's when he has a home to lay his worried mind down in.
Always loved Slim Harpo and his "Cigarettes" is a great little shuffler with witty lyrics – his pals always broke and bumming smokes off of him. Fantastic comes in the shape of the put-you-down "Hoo Doo Blues" – Lightnin' Slim watching his women runnin' 'round with another man (it even has some talk in dialogue and a blow-your-harmonica-son harp solo too). It gets even better - Howlin' Wolf fans will double-take at the set titles "Ain't Broke, Ain't Hungry" by Polka Dot Slim - a fantastic down-in-the-mud Blues shuffle as he moans like the Wolf and plays his harp like Little Walter. It's not audiophile baby, but it's got Soul and a few other neckjerkin' Hoodoo moments
in-between.
Other highlights include the simple Harmonica, Guitar and Piano rolls of the Previously Unissued "Still In Love With You" - a real discovery by Al Smith. Rough and ready is the kicking beat in "A Thing You Gotta Face" by Polka Dot Slim - a recording that's barely hanging on by its tape lapels. There's a pair of bare-bones but well recorded shufflers from Jake Jackson that turned up on an obscure 1989 LP - Volume 55 in the Jay Miller Series. And I'm diggin' the I-don't-have-worry Harmonica shuffle in Barbara Lynn's "Sugar Coated Love" - yes, he's got what Babs can use.
As I recall the Flyright LPs were easy purchases at record fairs and secondhand stores back in the day - but I also remember they were fab one minute and patchy the next. This Ace CD Series seems to be consciously re-writing that 'hotch-potch' mentality and mixing it up into better compilation listens. "I Hate To Leave You Baby..." moaned Lightnin' Slim as he flicked his guitar like Ike Turner in girly pain yet again.
A blast of a listen and a good indicator of what the whole 'By The Bayou' Series offers...
BY THE BAYOU CD Compilation Series
From Ace Records of the UK
A LIST
22 Titles correct to June 2021
Focuses mostly on the Louisiana Recordings of Jay D. Miller
(The Legendary Sessions Series), a lot of which were issued on
UK Flyright Records LPs in the 70s, 80s and 90s
Boppin' By The Bayou TITLES
1. Boppin' By The Bayou (August 2012, Ace CDCHD 1345 - Barcode 029667052023) - No. 1 in the Series
2. Boppin' By The Bayou Again (January 2013, Ace CDCHD 1355 - Barcode 029667053228) - No. 2 in the Series
3. Boppin' By The Bayou: More Dynamite (October 2013, Ace CDCHD 1380 - Barcode 029667056625) - No. 5 in the Series
4. Boppin' By The Bayou: Made In The Shade (September 2014, Ace CDCHD 1415 - Barcode 029667062022) - No. 9 in the Series
5. Boppin' By The Bayou: Rock Me Mama! (29 June 2015, Ace CDCHD 1443 - Barcode 029667072229) - No. 11 in the Series
6. Boppin' By The Bayou: Drive-Ins & Baby Dolls (28 October 2016, Ace CDCHD 1486 - Barcode 029667077521) - No. 16 in the Series
7. Boppin' By The Bayou: Flip, Flop & Fly (June 2018, Ace CDCHD 1529 - Barcode 029667089920) - No. 20 in the Series
8. Boppin' By The Bayou: Feel So Good (29 May 2020, Ace CDCHD 1567 - Barcode 029667097727) - No. 22 in the Series
Bluesin' By The Bayou TITLES
1. Bluesin' By The Bayou (27 June 2013, Ace CDCHD 1368 – Barcode 029667054928) – No. 4 in the Series
2. Bluesin' By The Bayou: Rough 'n' Tough (28 July 2014, Ace CDCHD 1403 – Barcode 029667060622) – No. 8 in the Series
3. Bluesin' By The Bayou: I'm Not Jivin' (8 June 0216, Ace CDCHD 1471 - Barcode 029667075824) - No. 14 in the Series
4. Bluesin' By The Bayou: Ain't Broke, Ain't Hungry (25 August 2017, Ace CDCHD 1506 - Barcode 029667084222) - No. 18 in the Series
Rhythm 'n' Bluesin' By The Bayou TITLES
1. Rhythm 'n' Bluesin' By The Bayou (February 2013, Ace CDCHD 1363 – Barcode 029668053723) – No. 3 in the Series
2. Rhythm 'n' Bluesin' By The Bayou: Rompin' & Stompin' (27 January 2014, Ace CDCHD 1388 – Barcode 029667057820) – No. 6 in the Series
3. Rhythm 'n' Bluesin' By The Bayou: Mad Dogs, Sweet Daddies & Pretty Babies (26 January 2015, Ace CDCHD 1422 - Barcode 029667063425) - No. 10 in the Series
4. Rhythm 'n' Bluesin' By The Bayou: Vocal Groups (25 September 2015, Ace CDCHD 1448 - Barcode 029667073127) - No. 12 in the Series
5. Rhythm 'n' Bluesin' By The Bayou: Nights Of Sin, Dirty Deals And Love Sick Souls (29 July 2016, Ace CDCHD 1478 - Barcode 029667076425) - No. 15 in the Series
6. Rhythm 'n' Bluesin' By The Bayou: Livin', Lovin' & Lyin' (24 November 2017, Ace CDCHD 1514 - Barcode 029667086424) - No. 19 in the Series
7. Rhythm 'n' Bluesin' By The Bayou: Bop Cat Stomp (31 May 2019, Ace CDCHD 1547 - Barcode 029667094528) - No. 21 in the Series
Swamp Pop By The Bayou TITLES
1. Swamp Pop By The Bayou (March 2014, Ace CDCHD 1397 - Barcode 029667058520) - No. 7 in the Series
2. Swamp Pop By The Bayou: Troubles, Tears & Trains (29 January 2016, Ace CDCHD 1462 - Barcode 029667074520) - No. 13 in the Series
3. Swamp Pop By The Bayou: Let's Get Together Tonight (28 April 2017, Ace CDCHD 1499 - Barcode 029667079426) - No. 17 in the Series
