Personnel includes: Elmore James (vocals, guitar); Big Joe Turner (vocals); Willie Johnson, Jimmy Spruill, Wayne Bennett, Eddie Taylor, Riff Ruffin (guitar); Ike Turner (guitar, piano); Homesick James (guitar, bass); Sam Myers (harmonica, drums); Sonny Boy Williamson (harmonica); J.T. Brown, Grady Jackson (tenor saxophone); Mark Easton, Paul Williams (baritone saxophone); Sonny Cohn (trumpet); Johnny Jones, Willard McDaniel, Johnny "Big Moose" Walker, Johnny Acey, Danny Moore (piano); Willie Dixon, Leonard Ware, Ransom Knowling, Jimmy Richardson, Chuck Hamilton, Sammy Lee Bully, Eddie Taylor (bass); Frock O'Dell, Henry "Sneaky Joe" Harris, Odie Payne, Red Saunders, Fred Below, Jesse Sailes, King Mose, Belton Evans, Johnny Williams (drums).
Producers: Bobby Robinson, Lilian McMurry, Ike Turner, The Bihari Brothers.
Compilation producers: Robert Palmer, James Austin.
Digitally remastered by Bob Fisher.
THE SKY IS CRYING: THE HISTORY OF ELMORE JAMES compiles recordings James made between 1951 and 1961 for a variety of labels including the Mississippi-based Trumpet, Chicago-based Chess/Chief as well as Bobby Robinson's Fire/Fury/Enjoy and the Bihari Brother's Flair/Meteor labels.
This set includes a 14-page booklet with a discography, black and white photogrpaphs, background information about the sessions by Steve Franz and a biographical essay by Robert Palmer.
Rhino's superlative Elmore James retrospective is essential, not only because it brings together 21 of the artist's finest sides, but because it collects those tracks from various periods (1951-1969) and labels (Trumpet, Chess, Flair, Fire, Chief, and Flashback). James's erratic recording history makes a representative one-stop compilation difficult, but from "Dust My Broom," James's signature tune and the set's opener, to "Standing at the Crossroads, " the raw 1960 single that brings the disc to a close, THE SKY IS CRYING serves as both a career overview and a greatest-hits collection.
Whether on slow blues (the title track) or boogie-woogie grooves ("Shake Your Moneymaker"), the slide master's slashing technique and feral tenor voice are on full display. James's slide work is justifiably exalted--though there have been slide players more technically advanced, James's wild, wiry leads have indelibly influenced nearly all blues players that followed him. James's singing, too, is ferocious and marked by extraordinary intensity (he has what can be known in the blues as a "crying" voice). This is electric Chicago blues of the first order, and a finer compilation of this blues-guitar master is difficult to imagine.
Format:
CD
Country:
USA
UPC:
0743215237624
Studio/Live:
Studio
Release Date:
22 September, 1997
Guest Artist:
Big Joe Turner; Sonny Boy Williamson; Ike Turner; Willie Dixon
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Reviews
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can't think of anybody in the history of rock and roll or blues who has had their music covered more than Elmore James. For a man who died almost 40 years ago, his music has held up well with time. James has influenced generations of musicians. From the older blues acts like B.B.King and Jimmy Reed. To the old rock acts like the Rolling Stones, Jimmy Hendrix, and Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac. To the newer acts like Stevie Ray Vaughan and especially George Thorogood. And I still never get tired of hearing these great songs. All of the music on here was recorded between 1951-61. The first 6 songs here, including his most famous "Dust My Broom", were all done on prehistoric recording equipment, and the sound quality isn't always the absolute best, but they did an excellent job on here of restoring these early recordings, which were done many times in later years for many different record labels, but they were never as good as the older versions you find on this cd. The rest of these tracks were done after 1954 when recording techniques got much better. That's when his slide guitar prowess really began to shine through, on tracks such as "The Sky Is Crying", I Can't Hold Out", "Done Somebody Wrong", and "Shake Your Moneymaker". It didn't hurt that he had the Broomdusters, who were probably the smokingest band of backing musicians as there ever was. James had a pretty prolific catalog of music for somebody who died at the young age of 45 from heart disease. There's no telling what he could have done if he had lived longer. The fact that James was an electric slide guitar pioneer was probably as important as his music. Having influenced thousands of would be guitar players to pick up a bottleneck. As for this compilation, I think the older versions of these classic songs are every bit as entertaining and worthwhile as the newer souped up versions. This "History Of Elmore James", along with my Best Of from Little Walter's Chess recordings, are the two best blues compilations from the old guard that I've ever heard. It's all timeless music, and absolutely essential to any serious blues lovers collection.
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