Excellent Early Leadbelly
D. B Pepper | Plainview, NY United States | 06/03/2003
(4 out of 5 stars)
"This is an excellent Leadbelly cd, which features work songs, early blues, and African American folk songs. With it's heartbreaking lyrics and seemingly-ancient melody, "Goodnight Irene" is one of, if not the, greatest songs ever, and this cd contains the greatest recording of "Goodnight Irene" that's around. I'll go out on a limb and say that "Ham An' Eggs" and "Take This Hammer" have vocals which have more power than, perhaps, Muddy Water's guitar work on the electric "Still A Fool". Perhaps the only complaint one could make about this cd is that it doesn't feature a lot of Leadbelly's blues recordings, although in my mind, the man is better known for and better at folk and work songs. "Birmingham Jail" is excellent, as always. In conclusion, this is a four star cd that you should definitely pick up!"