Various Artists - Alan Lomax: Blues Songbook (1934 - 1978)

Lots has been written at great length about Alan Lomax elsewhere on this blog, and I'm sure eventually I will write plenty more about the man and his important influence of modern music. However in the interest of not repeating oneself..... 

This 2CD collection is reproduced here in lossless (.flac) quality and is comprised of field recordings made by John and Alan Lomax from 1935-’78, the scope alone of this album is formidable. Many of the acts are obscure even to blues aficionados, yet icons like Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Blind Willie McTell, Son House, Leadbelly, and Mississippi Fred McDowell are peppered throughout the nearly 2 1/2 hour playing time. 

Although the audio quality varies from excellent to primitive, the astounding remastering makes it all able. This is raw, pure, spine-tingling music played with the intense nothing-left-to-lose passion of ordinary people whose impossibly difficult lives are exposed in their voices and performances.

"Alan Lomax is a lifelong fan of blues music, and his efforts to document and promote it have made a profound impact on popular culture. From his earliest audio documentation in 1933 of blues and pre-blues with his father, John A. Lomax, for the library of Congress through his 1985 documentary film, The Land Where the Blues Began, Lomax gathered some of the finest evidence of blues, work songs, hollers, fife and drum music, and other African-American song forms that survived the nineteenth century and prospered in the twentieth. His efforts went far beyond those of the typical musicologist. Lomax not only collected the music for research, but through his radio programs, album releases, books, and concert promotions he presented it to a popular audience. While living in England in the early 1950s he introduced many blues songs to the performers of the skiffle movement, who in quick turn ignited the British rock scene. Lead Belly and other blues artists, interpreted by Lonnie Donegan and Van Morrison, preceded the rock & roll tradition of covering and rewriting blues songs. The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, the Animals, Cream, Jimi Hendrix—all found inspiration from the blues. 

And this is how I came to the blues, as many people have: by way of rock & roll. In the very structure of rock music—and, in fact, -much of popular music—the source is undeniable. My personal journey of exploring the history of blues music is connected by the work of Alan Lomax. I vividly remember the first time I heard Lead Belly's voice on the radio in 1958-I immediately ran up to Sam Goody's to buy the 10" Folkways LP featuring his "C. C. Rider." When I filmed Muddy Waters in 1976 performing "Mannish Boy- for The Last Waltz, I witnessed the success and power of a man who had first been recorded in Stovall, Mississippi, in 1941 by Lomax and John W. Work, III. And when I saw Otha Rimer leading his fife and drum band in The Land Where the Blues Began, I was so struck by its hypnotic force that it became one of the primary musical inspirations for Gangs of New York. 

Alan Lomax: Blues Songbook is the first collection of Lomax blues recordings to encompass his career. I'm sure that his work will continue to inspire and illuminate the minds of future generations. The deep well from which he drew these essential voices of human culture is a treasure for all." 

— Martin Scorsese, York. NE July 2003

"Chilling, mysterious, and even playful--sometimes simultaneously--this collection with 40 pages of detailed history, informative track-by-track notes, and forays into Cajun and spiritual side roads is most recommended to established blues fans wishing to further explore the roots of the genre."

— Hal Horowitz  

Tracklist:

Disc 1:

1. Going Down to the River - Mississippi Fred McDowell, Miles Pratcher
2. Rolled and Tumbled
3. Cherry Ball Blues - Jack Owens,
4. Dust My Broom - Howlin' Wolf, , Hubert Sumlin
5. Boogie Children - Boy Blue, Joe Lee,
6. Stagolee - Lucious Curtis, Willie Ford
7. Stop All the Buses - Cecil Augusta
8. Worried Life Blues - David Honeyboy Edwards
9. Pony Blues - Son House
10. Tangle Eye Blues
11. Trouble So Hard - Vera Hall-Ward, Dock Reed
12. Worried Blues - Sonny Terry
13. Beggin' the Blues - Bessie Jones
14. John Henry - Gabriel Brown
15. Country Blues - Dock Boggs
16. Cherry Ball Blues - Skip James
17. I Hate a Man Like You - Jelly Roll Morton
18. Roll 'Em Pete - Pete Johnson
19. Kokomo - Memphis Jug Band
20. Life Is Like That - Big Bill Broonzy, Memphis Slim, Sonny Boy Williamson

Disc: 2

1. I Could Hear My Name A-Ringin' - Big Bill Broonzy, Memphis Slim, Sonny Boy Williamson
2. Dimples in Your Jaws - Boy Blue, Joe Lee,
3. Catfish Blues - Jack Owens,
4. Kill-It-Kid Bag - Blind Willie McTell
5. You're Gonna Need My Help - Elinor Boyer
6. Army Blues - David Honeyboy Edwards
7. Blues de la Prison - Alphonse "Bois Sec" Ardoin, Canray Fontenot
8. I Been Drinking - Vera Hall-Ward
9. I Been a Bad, Bad Girl (Prisoner Blues) - Ozella Jones
10. I Be's Troubled - Muddy Waters
11. Boogie Instrumental - R.L. Burnside
12. Blind Lemon Blues - Leadbelly
13. Sweet Patootie Blues - Albert Ammons
14. Last Time - Sam Chatmon
15. Shorty George - Smith Casey
16. Desert Blues - Hattie Ellis,
17. Joe Turner - Hobart Smith, Ed Young
18. Joe Turner - Bob Pratcher, Miles Pratcher
19. Joe Turner
20. See That My Grave Is Kept Clean - Hobart Smith
21. How Long Blues - Leadbelly, Brownie McGhee, Sonny Terry

Download Link - Mediafire - CD1

Download Link - Mediafire - CD2

Various Artists - Zeppelin Took My Blues Away (2014)

I cannot take credit for putting in any of the time and effort (and passion) that it took to create this compilation. All this research and this fantastic collection were made possible by “Willard’s Wormholes” http://www.willardswormholes.com . On his website he has a cool interface where you can click on cards and it produces links to the original tracks and then alternative streams so you can compare the tracks for similarities. Excellent project and really well researched. Check it out before downloading!

I didn’t include any of the original Led Zeppelin tunes in this, and took the liberty of splitting all the ‘source tracks’ into 2 CD format just cause the whole playlist was about 90 minutes and I still like CD’s. I’ve reproduced faithfully below all the content from the original web based interface, it makes for extremely interesting reading. And have included in each sub folder the original images from the website (which are awesome by the way).

Anyway excellent compilation, enjoy, thanks to Willard’s Wormholes again for the dedication and research necessary to produce something like this!

From Willard's Wormholes:

They’re one of rock’s greatest bands. They’re also one of rock’s worst… when it comes to properly crediting their sources of inspiration. Led Zeppelin’s many incidents of copyright infringement are legendary. There are those who have called it outright theft, and have sworn in a court of law that Led Zeppelin (primarily Jimmy Page and Robert Plant) have repeatedly taken credit for writing music that wasn’t their’s to take credit for. And, many of those cases have been vindicated. Of course… this is not to take away from Led Zeppelin’s greatness; the amazing arrangements, renditions, covers, interpretations, performances and history they’ve created and been a part of. But, the truth is they’ve become rich partly from royalties they were never entitled to. Jimmy Page was uncharacteristically candid on the subject when he spoke to Guitar Player Magazine in 1993, downplaying his own culpability while simultaneously throwing his partner, Robert Plant, under the bus. “I always tried to bring something fresh to anything that I used. I always made sure to come up with some variation. In fact, I think in most cases, you would never know what the original source could be. Maybe not in every case – but in most cases. So most of the comparisons rest on the lyrics. And Robert was supposed to change the lyrics, and he didn’t always do that – which is what brought on most of the grief. They couldn’t get us on the guitar parts of the music, but they nailed us on the lyrics. We did, however, take some liberties (laughs), I must say.” Note that Page says, “Robert was supposed to change the lyrics…” which might accidentally say a lot more about their process than Page intended.

Many of these tracks, which form the basis for quite a number of Led Zeppelin’s earlier recordings, have found their way onto “Roots Of” Zep collections before, so this gathering is nothing new. Many already know this story, and these songs, but for those that haven’t stayed abreast of the decades of abuse Zep has endured for their costly “borrowing” from others just might be shocked at what they hear on this collection. Of course, musicians borrow from each other all the time. Zeppelin were just way too blatant about it, and way too often took the credit (and royalties) for themselves. And, depending on how you slice it, this is only the half of it. On its own, this is a fun, mostly old blues collection made up of all the original songs heard on these pages… with a strangely familiar twist.

Tracklist:

JAKE HOLMES Dazed And Confused (3:48)
BERT JANSCH Blackwaterside (3:45)
HOWLIN’ WOLF No Place To Go (a.k.a. How Many More Years) (2:53)
ALBERT KING The Hunter (2:46)
ALES KORNER BLUES INC. Rosie (2:13)
ALEXIS KORNER & ROBERT PLANT Steal Away (4:45)
JOAN BAEZ Babe, I’m Gonna Leave You (2:39)
MUDDY WATERS You Need Love (2:43)
SMALL FACES You Need Loving (4:00)
HOWLIN’ WOLF Killing Floor (2:49)
ROBERT JOHNSON Travelling Riverside Blues (2:39)
SONNY BOY WILLIAMSON Bring It On Home (2:38)
BUKKA WHITE Shake ‘Em On Down (3:02)
MOBY GRAPE Never (6:15)
BERT JANSCH The Waggoner’s Lad (3:26)
KANSAS JOE McCOY & MEMPHIS MINNIE When The Levee Breaks (3:11)
SPIRIT Taurus (2:37)
SLEEPY JOHN ESTES Drop Down Mama (3:12)
BLIND BOY FULLER I Want Some Of Your Pie (2:45)
JOSH WHITE Jesus Gonna Make Up My Dying Bed (a.k.a. In My Time Of Dying) (3:06)
RITCHIE VALENS Ooh, My Head (1:47)
BLIND WILLIE JOHNSON It’s Nobody’s Fault But Mine (3:11)
THE THAMESIDERS AND DAVY GRAHAM She Moved Thro’ The Fair (3:10)
SLEEPY JOHN ESTES The Girl I Love, She Got Long Curly Hair (2:58)
BOBBY PARKER Watch Your Step (2:44)

(plus a few bonus tracks.......)

Download Link - Mediafire

Obray Ramsey - Blue Ridge Banjo (1957)

Another Bleeding Panda discovery, reposted here due to the mediafire account on that blog being cancelled. Interesting album in it's own right.

Obray Ramsey is the banjo-picking cousin of old-time music instrumentalist Byard Ray, and the two worked regularly as a duo until they were "discovered" playing at an Asheville folk festival during the folk music revival of the '60s. From that point on, the two men's musical career took a strangely twisted path. Late-night television mongers who may have made it all the way through the strange psychedelic rock western Zachariah, may wonder who the two old-time musicians are that show up in one of this epic's many strange musical wonders, and the answer would be Ray and Ramsey.

Read the rest of the biography...

From the back cover of Obray Ramsey’s 1957 LP Blue Ridge Banjo, notes by Kenneth S. Goldstein:

In recent years, we have heard all to often about the ‘dying’ of folkculture in the Southern mountains. Many of the collectors who ventured into this area to record the songlore of the region in the 1930s and ’40s, shed sorry tears for the passing of a beautiful and rich tradition, each proclaiming his own collection to be the “last leaves” of this once-proud heritage. So, fewer and fewer adventuresome souls have involved themselves in recording the still-living tradition of the area. Those who have, however, have been amply rewarded by finding that, even though mountain life has been completely revolutionized in the past few decades, tradition dies hard, and numerous singers may still be heard and recorded.

To be sure, there are new sounds and new songs, but this material is, in many ways, as vibrant and vital as it was in the days of Cecil Sharp’s pioneering collecting forays.Obray Ramsey, whose sprightly banjo songs and instrumentals make up this LP, is living proof that this tradition still exists. And there are many more young, middle-aged and old folksingers like him, who have retained the best songs of their hardy mountain ancestors, perhaps changing some of them to suit their own artistic and performing abilities, but still retaining the best elements of old-style singing and playing. Ramsey was born on the banks of the three Laurels at the edge of the Smokey Mountains in western North Carolina. His father’s people came from the highlands of Scotland, and his mother’s ancestors were Cherokee Indians. Most of his songs were learned from his mother and grandmother, both fine singers with extensive repertoires.

For most of his life he has sung his songs unaccompanied, though he had learned to play the guitar when still a young boy. After he married and settled down as a successful farmer near Marshall, North Carolina, he met Bascom Lamar Lunsford, folksinger, collector, and organizer of the Mountain Dance and Folk Festival held annually in Asheville, North Carolina. Lunsford recognized his fine singing talents and encouraged him to take up the 5-string banjo, which he believed would be perfectly suited to Obray’s style of singing. To show his faith in this belief, Lunsford gave Ramsey his first banjo in 1953. Now, Obray Ramsey is one of the finest banjo-pickers in the Southern Mountains. His style is a perfect compromise between old picking styles and currently popular modern styles.

Download Link - Mediafire

Ye Banished Privateers - Songs and Curses (2013)

Ye Banished Privateers be a band, a crew an’ a soup kitchen who think that gettin’ new interesting bruises,
mixin’ the perfect tar “perfume” an’ getting’ the audience to vocally overpower them is at least as important as hittin’ the right notes.

Ye Banished Privateers play original songs inspired by traditional sea shanties, bastardized irish folk, old scandinavian ballads, plays and court protocols of the pirate era and puttin’ it into a cracked and homemade 17th century punk mold.

This album was distributed for free by means of TPB, Grooveshark and a number of other file sharing media.

More information : www.yebanishedprivateers.com

Tracklist:

01 - Bottle of Rum
02 - Welcome to Tortuga
03 - Yellow Jack
04 - 'Bout Me Father
05 - It Matters Not
06 - Color of Sin
07 - Waves Roll High
08 - Fire Down Below
09 - When ye Dead Come Sailing Home
10 - Drowned Walz

Download Link - Mediafire

Babatunde Olatunji - Drums Of Passion (1959)

Babatunde Olatunji was a virtuoso drummer who became a sensation in the '60s with his albums of traditional Nigerian drumming and chanting. If Olatunji debuted in today's environment, he would be subjected to much tougher scrutiny and evaluation regarding "authenticity" than he received in the '60s. His heralded albums, particularly Drums of Passion, weren't quite the innovative event some claimed. They were fine LPs, but also contained a heavy dose of show business and sanitized playing that would be duly noted today, particuarly in the specialist press. Still, his albums reportedly were very influential on John Coltrane. They were among the few international releases to not just make the charts, but remain on them for years.

The popularity of Drums Of Passion and More Drums Of Passion predated the '60s black nationalist movement and Afrocentricity of the '80s and '90s. They also had some impact in jazz circles, though they weren't as significant as the Afro-Latin revolution initiated by Mario Bauza, Machito and Chano Pozo.

Album Review from allmusic:

Having come to the U.S. from his native Nigeria to study medicine, percussionist Babatunde Olatunji eventually became one of the first African music stars in the States. He also soon counted jazz heavyweights like John Coltrane ("Tunji") and Dizzy Gillespie among his admirers (Gillespie had, a decade earlier, also courted many Cuban music stars via his trailblazing Latin jazz recordings). And, in spite of it being viewed by some as a symbol of African chic, Drums of Passion is still a substantial record thanks to Olatunji's complex and raw drumming. Along with a cadre of backup singers and two other percussionists, Olatunji works through eight traditional drum and chorus cuts originally used to celebrate a variety of things in Nigeria: "Akiwowo" and "Shango" are chants to a train conductor and the God of Thunder, respectively, while "Baba Jinde" is a celebration of the dance of flirtation and "Odun De! Odun De!" serves as a New Year's greeting. The choruses do sound a bit overwrought and even too slick at times (partly due to the fact that most of the singers are not African), but thankfully the drumming is never less than engaging. The many curious world music fans who are likely to check this album out should also be sure to look into even better African drumming by native groups like the Drummers of Burundi and the percussion outfits featured on various field recordings.

Download Link - Mediafire