Decent but could have been better
weBBed | Crosby, TX USA | 02/11/2001
(3 out of 5 stars)
"With less than a handful of vintage "dirty blues" compilations around, it's hard to complain about a bad one. This one may not be bad, but it is merely decent: At under 43 minutes and only 13 tracks there's a real lack of material here. Factual errors (Track 2 "Stew Meat Blues" is incorrect -- it's actually Bessie Smith's "I got what it takes (But it breaks my heart to give it away)" from 1929) and omissions (Track 13 "Artist Unknown" is a rare transcription of Gene Autry) are real flaws. As is the odd inclusion of Light Crust Doughboys' "Pussy, Pussy, Pussy" -- why here?, and why digitize such an awful copy of this 1938 Vocalion single when Rhino/Sony's "Hillbilly Fever! Vol.1" reveals the track in its pristine glory. And whatever happened to Volume 2 anyway? Not bad for twelve bucks, but look first for Mojo Record's "The Copulatin' Blues" or the 2CD "Them Dirty Blues", or the Sony/Columbia "Raunchy Blues: Hot Nuts and Lollypops" for compilations with a better edge."