Search - Lightnin Hopkins :: Blues in My Bottle

Very strong despite flaws

Tim Weber | Iowa | 05/24/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"First of all, the music here is also part of the seven-disc "The Complete Prestige/Bluesville Recordings," so if you have the money to get all of Lightnin's fine music (112 songs!) for those labels in one fell swoop, you might as well. Anyway, this is a fine disc recorded on July 26, 1961, and featuring a higher than usual number of traditional songs. That's OK, though; Lightnin' makes every song his own, anyway. But among his own songs, the new "DC-7" is great, as is his remake of "Death Bells." The traditional "Blues in the Bottle" also is very, very nice. The only problem with this CD is the unreasonable amount of distortion from the guitar. Lightnin's playing was poorly recorded, and that keeps this from possibly being a five-star review. But since Lightnin' recorded everything "live" in the studio, if the microphones weren't placed correctly or if there was some other problem, tough; Lightnin' wasn't cutting the album again! All of Lightnin's Prestige/Bluesville work is worth having; this would probably rank third behind "Last Night Blues" and "Lightnin'"."