“77-minutes of gut-bucket, early gospel from the collections of Gayle Dean Wardlow and John Fahey.  Included... Charley Patton, Rev. I.B. Ware with Wife & Son, Booker T. Washington - “Bukka” White, William & Versey Smith, Blind Willie Davis, Frank Palmes, Bo Weavil Jackson, Elder Otis Jones, Blind Roosevelt Graves, Blind Joe Taggart, Blind Mamie Forehand, Jaybird Coleman, and more.”  Double LP, gatefold sleeve, liner notes by John Fahey.

Many shades of longing / wistfulness from recent immigrants to the United States, recorded from 1927-1948.  Rebetika, Cajun, Hawaiian, calypso, and more flow together in lovely and ear-opening fashion.  Includes a fetching sleeve that takes off on the cover to the classic Really! The Country Blues album.

Cleoma Falcon – Prends Done Courage
Two Gospel Keys – I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore
Wilmouth Houdini – Blow Wind Blow
Marika Papagika – Zmirneikos Balos
Mme. Riviere’s Hawaiians – Edward the VIII
Sexteto Bolona – Te Prohibido el Cabaret
Jacob Hoffman & Kandal’s Orchestra – Diona & Hora
Blind Uncle Gaspard & Dela Lachney – Baoille
Mike Hanapi’s Ilima Islanders – Hilo Hula
Lydia Mendoza – Palida Luna
Blue Sky Boys – Will You Miss Me When I’m Gone?
Unknown – Sorban Palid
Big Boy Cleveland – Quill Blues

Stellar collection of prewar blues and gospel, some of the greatest hits alongside other fantastic lesser-knowns.  Hard for me to argue with any compilation that includes Robert Wilkins, Geechie Wiley, Sister O.M. Terrell, and Robert Petway’s “Catfish Blues”. 

Track listing:
Geechie Wiley – Last Kind Words
Kid Prince Moore – Church Bells
Robert Petway – Catfish Blues
Sister O.M. Terrell – I'm Going To That City (To Die No More)
Lottie Kimbrough (The Kansas City Butterball) – Rolling Log
Louis McDaniels & Cid Smith – It's Hard To Leave You Sweet Love
Lulu Jackson – Careless Love
Robert Wilkins – That's No Way To Get Along
The Anglin Brothers – Money Cannot Buy Your Soul
Blind Willie & Kate McTell – Don't Let Nobody Turn You 'Round
Cannons' Jug Stompers – I'm Going To Germany
Isiah Nettles (The Mississippi Moaner) – It's Cold In China
Memphis Minnie & Kansas Joe McCoy – I Called You This Morning
Rev. Edward Clayborn – Death Is Only A Dream

Hot post-war gospel compilation put together by Mike McGonigal of the great Yeti zine.  Lots of terrific music on here, but perhaps most noteworthy is the gospel collector crowd’s recent “discovery” of the Straight Street Group, who hit a massive, joyous sacred guitar groove.  You also get one of Rev. Anderson Johnson’s absolutely off the hook first recordings, Elder Beck’s barnstorming “Rock & Roll Sermon”, Rev. Lonnie Farris’ early sacred steel, and plenty more to get you doing the holy dance.  Note that this second pressing does not contain the bonus 7” that was included on the first go-round.

Track listing:
Utah Smith – Take a Trip
Rev. Lonnie Farris – A Night in the House of Prayer
Sister O.M. Terrell – Life is a Problem
Straight Street Group – Angels Keep Watching Over Me
Rev. A. Johnson – Lord Will Make a Way
Elder Charles Beck – Rock & Roll Sermon, parts 1 & 2
Crumb Brothers – Seat in the Kingdom
Bishop Perry Tillis – I Found a Solid Rock
Utah Smith – I’m Free
Willanette Singers – Pray On
Professor Johnson – Standing in the Safety Zone
Tom Dutson – Lil’ School Song
Oakland’s Famous One Man Band – Amazing Grace

A quite lovely collection of African pop music, “Love Is Love is a beautifully compiled twelve-song LP of incredibly hard-to-find African pop music. The recordings are from between 1965 and 1972, and span the entire continent from places like Ethiopia, Kenya, and Sierra Leone. Styles are culled from R&B, highlife and acoustic guitar folk. Includes tracks from S.E. Rogers and Alemayno Eshintay (whose song gives the compilation its title).”

Alemayno Eshintay – Love is Love
S. E. Rogers – Toomus Meremereh Nor Good
Peter Tsotsi, Nashil Pichen, and the Equator Sound Band – Pole Musa
Miss Smodern – S’modern
Leribe – Sax Jive
William Siwale and Friends – Castle Beer
Jimmy Amukamua – Khukhaua Minyinzi
W. John Ondolo – Kerena
George Kazoka – Ulayinda Kubota
W. John Ondolo – Tumshukuru Mungu
Eliga Ishmael – Jumbe Nipelek Kwetu
Unknown – Chemirocha

Several years ago Fat Possum bought the rights to the recorded archive of folklorist George Mitchell, which resulted in the release of several CDs and a slew of 7”s, a fair number of which are also stocked here.  Right before this update was about to go out, word came in of this budget-priced 7CD box which compiles all of the material released on those 45 7”s, plus a full CD of additional material.  Mitchell’s recordings and books such as Blow My Blues Away and Ponce de Leon have had a substantial impact on 50 Miles of Elbow Room, so this will get a special mention in these parts. 

For many years, the recordings made by George Mitchell as he traveled the south needed to be procured in a similar manner to which Mitchell learned about the musicians he recorded: following up on a lead here or a reference there, analyzing some scrap of information that might prove to be key, and generally a lot of asking around.  A music enthusiast from an early age, Mitchell’s first trip to hang out with blues musicians took place in 1961, when he was only 17 years old.  Over the next 20 years, he proceeded to periodically record, interview, and photograph many great blues artists.  Along the way he made the first recordings of some artists who later went on to great renown, such as RL Burnside and Otha Turner, as well as some of the earliest “revival” sessions with pre-war stars such as Sleepy John Estes and Furry Lewis.  Mostly he recorded people who remain largely unfamiliar to modern listeners, but whose music offers great rewards: the massive “Georgia Drumbeat” stomp of James Davis, the deep and inscrutable blues of Cecil Barfield, the stately slide guitar gospel of Leon Pinson, the ancient-sounding blues of Lonzie Thomas, the stunning high and lonesome tunes of John Lee Ziegler, beautiful a cappella spirituals, and on and on.  Particularly noteworthy is the amount of material from the Chattahoochee Valley region, which was largely ignored by other folklorists of the time. 

Though these recordings are consistently outstanding, what makes this material truly special to me is the manner in which it transports the listener to a different place and time, giving a sense of how the blues existed during a period when the status of the musicians who played it was often starting to fade in their communities.  That said, the performances often have an intimate and relaxed feel to them, as befits a music played for the joy of a few.  In his liner notes to this box set, Sam Sweet sums it up quite well, “A detailed picture of 20th century black musical culture in the rural South emerges from the recurring themes in Mitchell’s archive: kids learning instruments from their relatives or family friends; musicians spending their entire life within the distance of one or two towns; musicians forming irreplaceable and lifelong musical partnerships; people staging non-church-related concerts and parties for themselves in the woods and fields near their homes.  What Mitchell amassed over his 20 years in the field is as good a picture of that world as any of us are ever going to get.”

For this project, Qbico Records brought together a bunch of open-minded musicians from a multitude of backgrounds and generations, with the objective of everyone coming together for a collective throw-down.  Side B is a notable hoot.  Recorded live at Tonic on March 18, 2004.  Found a couple more of these, very last copies. 

“Thunderously heavy two LP set from Qbico documenting a night in New York where some of the hardest working lungs still in the service of liberated fire - Arthur Doyle, Perry Robinson, Daniel Carter, Charles Waters, Shanir Ezra Blummenkranz and Andrew Barker - plotted various tactical formations with brains of a whole other order, including Ed Wilcox of Temple Of Bon Matin, Nuuj of Pengo/Asthmatic, Dave Cross Of Coffee, Leslie Q and Vinnie Paternostro. Freely-improvised avant-guerilla spurt in the spirit of the LAFMS/MEV and avant/rock coalitions like BAG. First time Doyle has played together with Robinson and Carter since the loft-scene days of the 1970s... Comes in absurd full-colour gatefold sleeve with poem from Steve Dalachinsky.” – David Keenan, The Wire / Volcanic Tongue

side A:
Steve Dalachinsky- Phenomena of interference (excerpt)
Andrew Barker/Charles Waters duo & trio with Daniel Carter
side B:
Andrew Barker/Charles Waters/Daniel Carter/Shanir-Ezra Blumenkranz/Perry Robinson 5et
side C
Arthur Doyle/Nuuj duo
Arthur Doyle Electro-Acoustic Ensemble with special guests Daniel Carter and Perry Robinson
side D
Arthur Doyle Electro-Acoustic Ensemble with special guest Daniel Carter
Arthur Doyle solo

“Double LP set documenting two Qbico hosted nights in Denmark that featured a big band free jazz wig-out led by saxophonist Daniel Carter (Test/Other Dimensions In Music et al) and featuring Vin Paternostro on soprano sax, Marc Gade on tuba, Pernaus Salon on recorder, soprano sax and clay flute 'Qbico' on balalaika, vocals, percussion and violin and Ed Wilcox (Temple Of Bon Matin et al) on drums and harmonica.  There's also some premier trio blats led by Carter alongside Paternostro and Wilcox that succeeds in raising the roof and a particularly massive side-long work from Denmark's own Family Underground.” – Volcanic Tongue

Side A:
Global Experience Orchestra
Side B:
Family Underground
Sides C and D:
Daniel Carter/Vin Paternostro/Ed Wilcox

Nice collection of early African-American gospel song out of New Orleans, mostly in an unaccompanied jubilee style.  Pressed in 1989, this one’s long out-of-print and has always been hard for me to find.  Includes an 18-page 11”x11” booklet of notes by Lynn Abbott.  It smells a bit musty, so it's available here for cheap.

St. Mark’s Chanters – Buked and Scorned
St. Mark’s Chanters – Live Humble
St. Mark’s Chanters – So High
Rev. A. A. Gundy – The Old Account Was Settled Long Ago
Rev. A. A. Gundy – While the Blood’s Running Warm in Your Veins
Rev. A. A. Gundy – Lift Him Up
Original Valentin Choral Club Quintette – Give Me that Old Time Religion
Original Valentin Choral Club Quintette – Sing On
Black Billy Sunday – The Red Horse and its Rider
Alma Lillie Hubbard – The Old Ark is a’Movin’
Wesley Trio – Every Time I Feel de Spirit
Wesley Female Quartet – Reign Massa Jesus Reign
The Second Zion Four – The Second Zion Four are We
The Second Zion Four – Praise Him Shining Angels
The Second Zion Four – On Flowery Beds of Ease
New Orleans University Glee Club – Climbing Jacob’s Ladder