Rating 5.0
Brilliant,get it.I came to this box set having heard nothing of the music of Blind Willie McTell,I just thought I'd take a chance.I do not regret it for one solitary second,the whole set is brilliant.Unlike some more famous blues artists,Mr.McTell sang in a soft voice that displays his regional accent.He sang clear and he sang sweet.His guitar playing is fantastic,it's hard to believe that there is only one player on a lot of these recordings,but's that indeed how it is,and thanks to the clarity of the vast majority of the recordings,I would recommend this set without reserve.wow...prepare yourself!!Absolutely compelling music from one of the masters of country blues. Here you will find most of his classics but there are hidden jewels also. The lomax cd is great stuff...highly recommended to any fan of the blues.Exceptionally thorough box setWilliam Samuel McTell never had a hit record.
He also didn't make Rolling Stone's list of the 100 greatest guitarists of the twentieth century, even though he could play circles around most of those who did. Willie McTell was in fact one of the blues' greatest guitarists, and also one of the idiom's finest and most expressive singers ever. Almost every other pre-WW II blues guitarist relied on their instrument as a rhythm instrument, often hitting it, utilizing its resonance, but McTell displayed a nimble, sophisticated slide and finger-picking style that made it sound like more than one guitar at any given moment. This fine box set offer a lot more value than JSP Records is asking in its retail price, and there is absolutely no reason to view this as a low budget-type compilation (in spite of the slightly cartoonish design). JSP has somehow managed to assemble a series of generally clean and bright masters going back to the late '20s. Now digitally remastered, they showcase McTell's dazzling finger-picking style on the 12-string guitar, and listeners will swear there's more than one guitarist playing, but there isn't - at least not on the early sides. What Blind Willie McTell gets out of that one guitar makes it sound almost like a trio, covering rhythm as well as lead parts, but without any feeling of artifice.
And when he gets teamed up with fellow blues virtuoso Curley Weaver (who also escaped Rolling Stones' net) on some of the 1930s sessions, it's a collaboration between two geniuses that can spin your head if you listen closely enough to the playing. Only a few of the mid-'30s sides and the relatively primiive non-commercial Lomax-sides have some surface noise; otherwise the sound quality is very good for 20s and 30s waxings, at least as good as on any pre-war McTell compilation on the market. And all four discs are well annotated, including thorough recording information. Unlike Catfish's otherwise excellent three-disc compilation "The Definitive Blind Willie McTell", this set includes McTell's religious sides as well as several minutes of very interesting interview snippets conducted by John Lomax during the 1940 session. (Willie McTell sounds strikingly urbane, more so than the 73-year-old John Lomax, who adresses him in a condescending manner, and obviously doesn't understand or appreciate McTell's sophisticated brand of blues.)
And McTell's sides with vocalist Ruth Willis are here as well, making this the definitive overview of the music of Blind Willie McTell at the height of his abilities. |
