Al Smith - Hear My Blues / Midnight Special

Album: Hear My Blues
Size: 77.0 MB
Time: 33:00
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 1960/1993
Styles: Blues, Jazz, Soul
Art: Full

01. Night Time Is The Right Time (4:19)
02. Pledging My Love (2:30)
03. I've Got A Girl (4:34)
04. I'll Be Alright (3:57)
05. Come On, Pretty Baby (2:58)
06. Tears In My Eyes (6:01)
07. Never Let Me Go (5:13)
08. I've Got The Right Kind Of Lovin' (3:25)

As a rule, people who appreciate the late Jimmy Witherspoon have a very favorable reaction to Al Smith -- that is, if they get a chance to hear him. Neither of the two albums that Smith provided for Bluesville (Hear My Blues in 1959 and Midnight Special in 1960) are well-known. While Witherspoon was a big name in the blues world, Smith was a gospel singer who dabbled in secular music. But when Smith did venture outside the gospel realm, his approach was quite comparable to Witherspoon's -- like Witherspoon, he favored a jazz-influenced approach to blues and R&B. Smith, in fact, is backed by hard-swinging jazz musicians on Midnight Special, including tenor titan Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, organist Shirley Scott, bassist Wendell Marshall, and drummer Arthur Edgehill. Davis and Scott were both well aware of the power of the blues, and they were perfect for a jazz-minded bluesman like Smith -- who soars on original material as well as inspired, passionate performances of the Ray Charles hit "Night Time Is the Right Time" and the sentimental Johnny Ace ballad "Pledging My Love." Was Smith a blues purist? Absolutely not. Although some of the tracks have a 12-bar blues format (including the gutsy "I've Got the Right Kind of Lovin'"), others are really R&B. "Pledging My Love," for example, is a classic '50s R&B ballad -- and there's certainly nothing wrong with that. Besides, Witherspoon was never a blues purist either; although he was primarily a blues singer, the versatile Witherspoon also recorded his share of R&B and got into some jazz-oriented torch singing as well. Both of Smith's Bluesville albums are well worth owning, but if you had to pick one of the two, Hear My Blues would the best starting point. ~Alex Henderson

Hear My Blues MP3
Hear My Blues FLAC

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Album: Midnight Special
Size: 76.0 MB
Time: 32:31
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 1961/1996
Styles: Blues, Soul, Jazz
Art: Full

01. Five Long Years (7:01)
02. You're A Sweetheart (4:33)
03. Baby Don't Worry 'Bout Me (3:33)
04. Ride On Midnight Special (2:36)
05. The Bells (4:11)
06. Goin' To Alabama (3:22)
07. I'll Never Let You Go (3:40)
08. I Can't Make It By Myself (3:31)

For many decades, African-American churches have worried about losing their best singers to secular music. And inevitably, many of them will, in fact, explore secular music instead of devoting 100 percent of their time to gospel. Al Smith is a perfect example. The obscure singer's roots were gospel, but he favored a jazz-influenced approach to blues and soul when he recorded two albums for Prestige/Bluesville: Hear My Blues in 1959 and Midnight Special in 1960. Recorded at Rudy Van Gelder's famous New Jersey studio, Midnight Special finds Smith backed by a rock-solid quintet that consists of King Curtis on tenor sax, Robert Banks on organ, Jimmy Lee Robinson on electric guitar, Leonard Gaskin on acoustic bass, and Bobby Donaldson on drums. While the lyrics are totally secular, Smith's gospel background never goes away. You can tell that the passionate, highly expressive singer has a church background whether he is embracing straight-up blues on "Goin' to Alabama" and Eddie Boyd's "Five Long Years" or getting into soul on "I Can't Make It By Myself," "You're a Sweetheart," and "The Bells." Smith has a big, full, rich voice, and he uses it to maximum advantage throughout this excellent album (which Fantasy reissued on CD in 1996 for its Original Blues Classics series). With the right exposure, Smith might have become a major name in 1960s blues and R&B -- he certainly had the chops and the talent. But, unfortunately, he never enjoyed the commercial success that he was most deserving of. Nonetheless, Midnight Special is an album to savor if you're the type of listener who holds classic soul and the blues in equally high regard. ~Alex Henderson

Midnight Special MP3
Midnight Special FLAC

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VA - Bayou Blues Blasters: Goldband Blues

Size: 161.7 MB
Time: 67:32
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 1993
Styles: Louisiana Blues, R&B
Art: Front & Back

01 Ivory Jackson - I'm A Country Boy (2:00)
02 Clarence Garlow - Purty Little Dolly (2:38)
03 Guitar Jr - Goin' Crazy Baby (2:04)
04 Hop Wilson & His Buddies - Broke And Hungry (2:42)
05 Little Bob - Make Up My Mind (2:11)
06 Lazy Lester, Katie Webster & Ashton Savoy - Need Shorter Hours (2:32)
07 Lonesome Sundown & Clarence Garlow - It Ain't Right (2:27)
08 Juke Boy Bonner - Just Got To Take A Ride (2:41)
09 Al Smith - You Wanna Do Me Wrong (2:34)
10 Jimmy Wilson - Tin Pan Alley (3:10)
11 Charles Sheffield - I Got Fever (2:16)
12 Tal Miller - Life's Journey (2:48)
13 Lewft Handed Charlie - Honey Bee (2:39)
14 Clarence Garlow - Sunday Morning (2:43)
15 Jimmy Wilson - Trouble In My Home (2:31)
16 Walter Price - Oh Ramona (2:20)
17 Elton Anderson - Highway Back Home (2:35)
18 Cookie & The Cupcakes - I'm Going (2:34)
19 Carol Fran - Please Stand By Me (3:17)
20 Elton Anderson - Too Tired (2:28)
21 Big Chenier - Let Me Hold Your Hand (2:02)
22 Katie Webster - What In The World Are You Gonna Do (2:58)
23 Rockin' Sidney - Something Working Baby (2:38)
24 Marcel Dugas & Wild Bill's Washboard Band - Pretty Little Red Dress (3:09)
25 Little Latour's Sulphur Playboys - C-Key Blues (2:52)
26 Thaddus Declouet - Catch That Morning Train (2:32)

The Goldband label is most known for the Cajun artists it recorded, such as Iry LeJeune and Cleveland Crochet, but it also put out releases by numerous blues musicians. These included some pretty respected, if secondary, blues notables like Lazy Lester, Lonesome Sundown, Juke Boy Bonner, Hop Wilson, and Katie Webster. They, and several much less familiar names, can be heard on this 26-song compilation of Goldband blues sides, mostly done in the 1950s and 1960s. The blues records done during this era at Jay Miller's studio in Crowley, LA. (by Slim Harpo especially) are justly more famous than the Goldband blues sides as far as Louisiana blues goes. But there was a different sound to the Goldband blues stable, although its studios were located just 50 miles to the west, particularly in the overlap with Texas blues, as Goldband's Lake Charles headquarters were close to the Texas border. There was also some spillover from zydeco and Cajun music, as Clarence Garlow, Thaddus Declouet, and Rockin' Sidney -- all represented on this anthology -- did some R&B and blues sides for Goldband, although they are principally zydeco artists. Cookie & the Cupcakes, who also have a track, are thought of more as a swamp-pop group than as a blues one. Most of this, however, is neither swamp pop nor zydeco-influenced, but fair though not wondrous electric blues/R&B of various shades, not too refined but not always that swampy either. Jimmy Wilson's "Trouble in My Home," for instance, sounds a little like the minor-keyed anguished blues of early Otis Rush, though he lacks Rush's superb guitar and vocal skills. The CD is worth investigating for those who are heavily into Louisiana R&B of the 1950s and 1960s, and on the lookout for some variations from the usual regional stew that aren't so well known. ~Richie Unterberger

Bayou Blues Blasters

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Various Artists - Bluesin' By The Bayou: Ain't Broke, Ain't Hungry

Year: 2017
Bitrate: MP3@320K/s
Time: 73:08
Size: 169,7 MB
Styles: Blues
Scans: Full

1. Mercy Baby - Pleadin' (2:19)
2. Leroy Washington - I've Been In This Prison (2:29)
3. Lightnin' Slim - Little Girl Blues (2:59)
4. Ramblin' Hi Harris - I Haven't Got A Home (3:02)
5. 'Honey Boy' Allen Pierre - Better Start Doin' It (1:59)
6. Slim Harpo - Cigarettes (2:12)
7. Lightnin' Slim - Hoo Doo Blues (2:30)
8. Polka Dot Slim - Ain't Broke, Ain't Hungry (3:04)
9. Lazy Lester - I'm A Lover Not A Fighter (2:52)
10. Joe Richards - Dreaming, Dreaming (2:26)
11. Al Smith - Still In Love With You (2:40)
12. Cookie & The Cupcakes - In The Evening (2:50)
13. Polka Dot Slim - A Thing You Gotta Face (2:59)
14. Jake Jackson - Life Gets Hard (2:40)
15. Barbara Lynn - Sugar Coated Love (2:46)
16. Boozoo Chavis & His Zodico Accordian - Tee Black (2:08)
17. Jimmy Anderson & The Joy Jumpers - Angel Please (2:50)
18. Clarence Garlow - Make Me Cry (2:51)
19. Boozoo Chavis & His Zodico Accordian - Hamburgers & Popcorn (1:33)
20. Lightnin' Slim - I Hate To Leave You Baby (2:55)
21. Al Smith - If I Don't See You (2:28)
22. Ramblin' Hi Harris - Baby, Baby, Baby (2:45)
23. Lightnin' Slim - I Don't Know (2:07)
24. Big Walter - If The Blues Was Money (3:18)
25. Jake Jackson - Somebody Tell Me (3:00)
26. Al Smith - I Love Her So (2:09)
27. T.B. Fisher - Don't Change Your Mind (2:05)
28. Unknown Artist - I'm Gonna Find My Baby (3:01)

The “By The Bayou” series leaps to Volume 18 with a return to the blues of South Louisiana, bringing you rare or previously unissued tracks from stars of the genre such as Lightnin’ Slim, Lazy Lester and Slim Harpo, plus a host of little-known or completely unknown performers. We also have two artists who you would never think performed in the downhome style – Barbara Lynn and Cookie (aka Huey Thierry) – but who sound right at home, with an unknown harmonica player setting the tone on Barbara’s track whilst Cupcakes guitarist Marshall Laday supports Cookie with some mean blues pickin’. In fact there are several tracks here that will have air-guitar virtuosos reaching for their imaginary axes.

We reveal in the booklet that the much-reported birthplace of Lightnin’ Slim may be another creation of this enigmatic performer. Sorting out the different takes of his songs has proven complicated because he was inclined to sing subtle changes in the lyrics whilst performing identical guitar work. This time we have had the support of a dedicated fan who prefers to remain anonymous but provided detailed analysis. As for Slim Harpo, ‘Cigarettes’ is one of my favourites amongst his lesser-known titles.

As always there are a handful of mystery singers. Was there really a “Ramblin’ Hi Harris”, for example, or was his name created later by J.D. Miller? Another rarity is an artist whose record doesn’t appear in that veritable tome The Blues Discography 1943-1970. T.B. Fisher may have escaped notice there but he is proof of what a great ear Huey Meaux had for all manner of music. The man had a real knack for spotting talent and bringing out their best on vinyl, and I’ll wager there will be many a blues aficionado hunting for Fisher’s disc once it’s been heard.

Bluesin' By The Bayou: Aint' Broke, Ain't Hungry mc
Bluesin' By The Bayou: Aint' Broke, Ain't Hungry zippy

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