Recorded in Detroit in the second half of 1948, and released just before New Year, this primitive solo blues stomper by John Lee Hooker reached the number one spot in the R&B charts in 1949. It stands in complete contrast to the jump blues combos of Paul Williams, Louis Jordan and Amos Milburn who dominated the R&B scene at that time.
The good news for blues fans is that El Enmascarado has taken a break from getting his ass kicked in wrestling rings the length and breadth of Mexico and has devoted his time to acquiring even more 78 rpm shellac discs which he is working round the clock to convert to a bloggable format. This is the first in a series of "Blues on 78" posts which will feature streaming audio ripped directly from battered 78s. Don't expect hi-fi sound quality but do expect the REAL blues.
Many thanks to El Enmascarado for the sounds and label scans. There hasn't been much activity on the blog lately as real life has kept me from the keyboard. Not only have there been no posts, but I've let a pile of unanswered blog related emails and comments build up. I'll get back to you all, I promise. A special thanks to the son of Calvin Boze for taking the time to leave a comment on "Choo Choo's Bringing My Baby Home." That certainly came as a very pleasant surprise!
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4 comments:
Oh Lord!
Beautiful post. It still brings chills to my arms - so primal.
I love hearing the clicks and pops of the real deal too.
Howeverm if there's those out there who lust after the best sound - check out the Bear Family CD "Blowing The Fuse - 1949". I've reviewed most of the 16 discs in this fantastic series. Mastered by their top engineer Jurgen Crasser - it has the best ever remastered sound for this great track.
Best wishes
Mark Barry, Reckless Records, London
Thanks very much for the info on the Bear Family release, Mark.
BW
The sound on the linked "app.box.com" is awful.
But because every Hooker fan knows and has the early track in his collection (and heart) because it was rereleased many times, this link is a joke.
-kdm
Hi kdm - the blog post makes it clear that you shouldn't expect good sound quality from this link. The sound file is a low bitrate mp3 ripped from an original 78 rpm shellac disc which was in poor condition. See Mark Barry's comment above for a different point of view.
There may also have been a problem with the Box website. I played this link about half an hour ago and the sound was pretty muffled. 5 minutes ago the sound quality was better when I replayed the link.
This blog is full of scratchy old shellac and vinyl. There are many commercial rereleases for those who want better sound quality.
BW
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