Search - Newport Folk Festival :: B.O. The Blues 1959-1968

Blues in the Open Air

daveguy | Virginia | 04/18/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Newport Folk Festival in the 1960's regularly featured blues artists; from Son House to the Butterfield Blues Band, acoustic to electric: Mike Bloomfield was on hand with Butterfield in '65 and wound up backing Bob Dylan in his now-near-mythic "coming out" as a rocker. This new anthology of Newport blues supercedes and expands upon the "Blues With a Feeling" set, leaning heavily on the acoustic, but including some essential electric performances. The rawness and authenticity of these artists will excite anyone with ears for this kind of music. Essential for blues fans, and a real bargain as a three-CD set. Highly recommended."

A Stunning Collection Of Live Performances

Gavin B. | St. Louis MO | 03/12/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If there is a better collection of live blues than this Newport 3 CD set, I haven't heard it. This stunning CD covers 10 years Newport performances during the height of the folk blues revival in the early 60's. Many of the artists were rediscovered by blues enthusiasts like John Fahey, Al "Blind Owl" Wilson and Sam Charters by canvassing remote areas of the south and locating the M.I.A.s of the 1920-30s "race" records. Some of these performers were presumed to be dead, and Newport was their first time in front of an audience in decades. There is not a single throw-away among 16 performers and the 51 (count 'em!)cuts here.Vangaurd Records is to be commended for making the right artistic choices in thier production of this CD. Many of these performances had been floating around for years on other Newport collections. Producer Tom Vicker devoted an entire disc to each of these three categories: delta blues, country blues and urban blues. There is a sense of continuity on each disc without any jarring segues. Engineer Jeff Zaraya captures the warm analogic glory of the orginal performances and wisely chooses not to edit out foot stomping, hand clapping and crowd noises. Zaraya's mastering work captures the passion of the living blues and he avoids the mistake of reducing the performances to sterile museum piece curiosities.The scope of performers is staggering. Son House, self proclaimed mentor of Robert Johnson, whose piercing slap-time steel guitar was the alter-ego to his gritty emotional baritone. Skip James, ghost of the delta, sings in his haunting falsetto with his mastery of complex right hand poly-rhythymic bassline fingerpicking. Jesse Fuller, San Francisco's one man band, plays his ramshackle ragtime blues. Mississppi John Hurt demonstrates his wry humor and his delicate five finger picking of his brillant orginal music. Polished performers like Muddy Waters and Brownie McGee know how to pace a show and work the crowd. Harlem's Rev. Gary Davis' does "old time religion" gospel shouting and precision ragtime picking. The suprise is an obscure ex-con, Robert Pete Williams with his eerie "stream of consciousness" lyrics and elliptical song structures. Robert Pete Williams, more than any of the performers, is connected to the roots of West African folk music. By my own count, John Lee Hooker was the last performer on these recordings to die(June 21, 2001). These astounding Newport performances are, at once, a historical document, a tribute to the diverse artistry of American blues, and some of the most passionate and riveting music I've ever heard. An essential for anyone collecting blues or roots music."

Great Set & Package

N. Wakabayashi | Jawsey | 10/18/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a nice cd set done by the folks at Vanguard records. They collected many of the cuts that have been previously released into one collection, with some tasty unreleased tracks. Regarding the artists & their material.. well, you really can't go wrong with sets by Mississippi John Hurt, Muddy, Son House, John Lee Hooker, & etc. The artists on disc 1 alone is a "who is who" of the early blues that were only heard on scratchy vinyl before these organized festivals existed. Some might've considered them past their so called "prime", but their performances don't reflect upon it, as they take the listener & the white crowd on a trip down the Delta. Some of the performances on this package are unbelievable. Might be me, but John Lee Hooker's set REALLY stands out. He sounds DANGEROUS, & his unreleased tracks alone make this package a well worth buy.An interesting note, that in this mostly acoustic set is the inclusion of two Butterfield Blues band cuts. Having these cuts on different sources, it was great to hear them sonically remastered in all its glory.Recommended, but more importantly, this is essential listening."