Blues lore is ripe with tales of expeditionary road trips: the Lomaxes criss-crossed a fertile grid in the Forties and the German pair of Lippman & Rau traced a similar route in the Seventies. On this first in a projected trilogy of reissues Ike Turner plays Virgil to Joe Bihari’s Dante, guiding the Modern Records label honcho through a tour of the dusty by-ways of the Deep South. Deviating from the itineraries of the others, this team eschewed the back porches and cotton fields and focused instead on the dancehalls and the juke joints that littered the landscape. The results showcase performers that fuse the region’s coarse acoustic traditions with the new-fangled demon of amplification. Antique Delta riffs are transmogrified into spitting electric snakes as even-then obscure purveyors like Junior Brooks and Houston Boines plug in and pitch a wang dang doodle all night long. Also included are stinging tracks from more well-known names like Elmore James and Drifting Slim that slice with the same serrated edge. 24 cuts in all, each lifted from vintage tape reels & 78s and exhaustively annotated. If there’s a downside to the collection it’s found in the thematic repetition that creeps through as the program progresses, but swilled in moderation this is some mighty strong stuff. Perfect for the car, cranked up on a cruise down a limitless stretch of asphalt.
Posted by derek on May 7, 2003 9:02 AM.................................................. © 2003 - 2006 bagatellen ..................................................