Search - T-Bone Walker :: Original Source

Everything from 1951 back!!!

Bangsmith | Cumberland, RI | 04/21/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Amazon's review calls this a budget release, which may be a bit misleading. This is the exact equivalent of any of the JSP blues boxes. The packaging is very cheap, but the music is major-label quality and remastered(just like JSP). This has everything T-Bone recorded from 1951 back. The major downside(if there is one) is that it ends abruptly in 1951 in the middle of his tenure with Imperial. He was with that label from 1950 through 1954, and this collection has the first half(or so) of that output. There is no real reason to end it here when this could have been a 5-CD set including all the Imperial material. His entire Imperial output is available on an excellent 2-CD set, but the first disk, and the first couple of songs on the second disk of that set overlap with the last disk and the end of the third disk of this set. If you don't buy both sets, you will have the blues when you hear what you're missing!!!!!!"

YOU LIKE BEANO...CHECK OUT THE REAL DEAL!

David E. Palmer | 02/06/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Anyone who thinks the 'modern blues sound' was created on Mayall & Clapton's Beano album (1966) or Butterfield & Bloomfield's (1965) for that matter...go check out the real deal...T-Bone Walker 'the inventor of the new blues'...that is the modern electric blues we are accustomed to today. I can't say enough good about this Properbox as it's just stunning (and also cheap). Sound is incredible...remember this stuff predates the above albums by a decade or two! The Penguin Guide to the Blues gives this collection their highest (4 star) rating. I would just recommend you listen to discs backwards as the collection is in chronological order and the fifties stuff will be easier for most to digest and appreciate first...then work your way back. T-Bones guitar tone will make most think this sounds just like modern blues albums...in actuality the reverse is true. P.S. Hendrix didn't invent guitar theatrics either...check out this showman. Do yourself a favor get this boxset."

The Original Electric Blues Source, Indeed

J. Grant | North Carolina, USA | 08/26/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I agree with the other 2 reviewers as to the importance and quality of all of T-Bone's recordings, especially those he made for Imperial The Complete Imperial Recordings: 1950-1954 and Capitol/B&W Complete Capitol/Black & White Recordings. Walker was the first "blues" musician to use the electric guitar in the mid-thirties (although, I believe Charlie Christian, the great jazz guitarist, started using one first). I do disagree with another reviewer who stated that the sound on the Proper boxes is the same as that on JSP (both made in the UK). Proper tends to use more noise reduction (sometimes too much, in my opinion), whereas JSP takes the more minimalist approach, leaving the upper range mostly intact, while removing only the most annoying noise. Hence, JSP tends to have a more natural sound, but with more tape hiss. Proper, however, does include nice, thick and informative booklets, while JSP gives you about 2 1/2 pages per CD (which I find quite adequate). I own several box sets from both companies, and am happy with all of them so far (knock on wood). Well, back to this T-Bone Box. If you look at some of the pictures, you will see where Elvis, Chuck Berry and others got some of their moves from. Walker was a complete performer, equally adept at playing his guitar as at singing and dancing. Often imitated but never duplicated, T-Bone Walker truly was "The Original Source". For those that want to try a single disc before buying the boxes I would recommend Blues Masters: The Very Best of T-Bone Walker."