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Listening to the CD is as if one was actually there on the street. This is without a doubt, the best live blues CD I have ever heard. The recording quality is outstanding, amazing considering it waas recorded in the 60's.
This one is not nearly as consistant. That one is an absolute masterpiece. Sometimes less IS more. There is a lot of good stuff on this set and the booklet is great. That said, I knocked off one star because I was a little disappointed with this when compared to the Robert Nighthawk cuts that form his "Live On Maxwell St.-1964" CD.
You can sometimes hear a car driving by, a street preacher pops up for a few seconds, and the chatter of the crowd is audible in the background.This two-hour collection is a rare treat indeed. Nighthawk was as accomplished a lead guitar player as he was a slide slinger, and his single-string picking is pure liquid fire.The slow grind of "Love You Tonight" is another previously unreleased number by Big John Wrencher, and Robert Nighthawk's powerful rendition of Big Joe Turner's "Honey Hush" takes Turner's bouncy jump blues into new territory.The dozen songs by Robert Lee "Nighthawk" McCullum do indeed form the centrepiece of this collection, but literally everything is worth a listen. is quite mind-boggling. You can also hear John Wrencher jamming with guitarists Robert Nighthawk and Little Arthur King on his own "Lucille", and inquiring about the drinking habits of his fellow musicians: Tea or coffee. Lenoir's infectious boogie "Mama Talk To Your Daughter" has previously been credited to its composer, the man with no first name, but nothing indicates that Lenoir was present when this music was recorded, and this repacked and expanded edition of the Maxwell Street tapes credits Robert "Big Mojo" Elam as the singer. You can just pop the discs in you CD player and turn it up.
This is one top-notch blues box set.great annotation, great music, nicely packaged. Even the most casual fans of classic Chicago blues need to own a copy of slide guitarist Robert Nighthawk's 1964 album "Live On Maxwell Street".And those slightly more obsessed will want to check out this wonderful document, the soundtrack, if you will, to Mike Shea's 1964 documentary "And This Is Free". It features all of Nighthawk's recordings, plus another 18 cuts by artists like Johnny Young, Carey Bell and Big John Wrencher, and it is one of the most impressive live blues albums you'll ever come across.The well-written and exceptionally thorough 62-page (). A lively performance of J.B.
And disc two is equally great. Bit of a shame, that.Still, that's about the only letdown on disc one, and it's a very minor one. Harpist Carey Bell, who later became a member of the Muddy Waters band (and is still playing), smoulders on the instrumental "Carey'n On", little-known singer/guitarist Arvella Gray does a thoroughly authentic sounding solo performance of "John Henry", and the listener is treated to a couple of gospel numbers: The James Brewer Gospel Group do a wonderful swinging "When The Saints Go Marchin' In", and a rendition of "Fly Away" which is made all the more remarkable by a very enthusiastic harmony vocal by one of the male singers. Five stars and no reservations at all.
Nighthawk's magnificent 8 1/2 minute medley of his two biggest hits and best-known songs, "Anna Lee" and "Sweet Black Angel", has been restored.the previously issued version which edited out two minutes of instrumental bridge, and his single-string solo halfway through the supremely tough "The Time Have Come" [sic]. Apparently Robert Nighthawk was a coffee-man ("coffee" meaning whiskey. Also, the (unfortunately truncated) "I Shall Overcome" by singer/guitarist Fannie Brewer is just beautiful.But, again, the main attraction is Robert Nighthawk (or "Night Hawk" as the liner notes call him, and as he probably spelled it himself). booklet includes information about every recording, artist's biographies, interviews, pictures, and all available recording information, and the sound is surprisingly clear and full considering the unusual circumstances.
He supposedly got his nickname because of his ability to pull off a rousing rendition of Lenoir's "Mojo Boogie". One is a snippet of Robert Nighthawk doing "That's All Right" (the Jimmy Rogers tune, not the one by Arthur Crudup that Presley recorded); "Honky Tonk" is a swaggering instrumental boogie, and Nighthawk also lays down a thumping "Dust My Broom" which was omitted from previous issues of this material, perhaps because of the flawed mix which allows the repetitive rhythm guitar playing to drown out Nighthawk's fluid leads. No need to program anything out.there is barely the slightest dip in quality along the way.Disc one opens with singer/guitarist Johnny Young's excellent, gritty rendition of "The Sun Is Shining", all clattering drums and simple but effective boogie-styled rhythm guitar, and one-armed harpist Big John Wrencher's tough "Can't Hold Out Much Longer" is equally wonderful. "Tea" was wine).Other highlights include "All I Want For My Breakfast" by Johnny Young, and pretty much everything by Robert Nighthawk, including the menacing "Cheating And Lying Blues", an up-tempo "Take It Easy, Baby", and a couple of songs not included on Nighthawk's "Live On Maxwell Street".
In researching my family's history, I am overwhelmed by Arvella Gray 's (my father's only male sibling) significant contribution to this genre. I am grateful that, in my lifetime, fate has given me the opportunity to discover the pure talent and outstanding blues recordings in AND THIS IS MAXWELL STREET.
"And This Is Maxwell Street" is the real thing. And what extraordinary music it is. The producers have attempted (and succeeded, in my view) to recreate the experience of a Sunday on Maxwell Street in the 1960s. Both this set from Rooster and the Catfish release are identical to the P-Vine release with the exception of the language of the liner notes and the addition of a third bonus disc, which contains the entirety of the 44-minute interview of Robert Nighthawk conducted by guitarist Michael Bloomfield as part of the "And This Is Free" documentary project.
It contains one of the very few glimpses we have of Robert Nighthawk on the street. The interview disc is icing on a very fine cake. Highly recommended. Nominated this year for a W.C. At last. What a pleasure it is finally to see the original recordings from Mike Shea's 1964 Maxwell Street documentary "And this Is Free" available in the North American market (also now in Europe on the Catfish label as KAT3D1) with its in-depth liner notes in English for the first time-more than 60 pages. Highlights include his growling guitar work on "Cheating and Lying Blues;" some of the most extraordinary electric blues guitar playing ever recorded on "I Need Love So Bad;" Nighthawk doing the two songs that brought him his first real fame--"Annie Lee" and "Sweet Black Angel;" and a lively rendition of "Take It Easy, Baby." Not to be overlooked is fine harp work by Carey Bell, and perhaps the most dynamic and moving performances by one-armed harpist Big John Wrencher that were ever recorded. We also hear car horns, conversations, street noise, and the enthusiastic shouting and clapping of the audience on tracks such as "Dust my Broom" and two jams that are perhaps the wildest, most spirited live blues performances ever captured on tape.
Interspersed between the songs are snippets of street preachers, hawkers, hucksters, and the voices of the musicians between numbers. Don't confuse it with the Rounder disc. Handy Award and surely the right choice for best historical release. This is a slice of what the blues was really about during this period. Here we also get gospel performances by James Brewer, a fine "John Henry" from Arvella Gray (so much livelier than the stiff version on the Swedish Radio tapes also recently issued), and rousing, raw gospel shouting from Carrie Robinson and other performers. My advice is to take your Rounder version to the used record store and replace it with this one.While this raw, raucous, record of the blues in the streets of Chicago will not appeal to casual listeners who want to turn on some easy background music and relax, it should make any serious blues fan sit up straight and listen hard.
(these recordings first appeared in 1999 in Japan as P-Vine PCD 5527/28). Revel in it.(.). In short, this music captures the excitement of raw, live blues on Chicago's Maxwell Street in its heyday. This disc contains the first known recordings of Carey Bell (who was about 28 in 1964). Another highlight is two fine songs from Johnny Young.
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