Label: Jewel Records / P-Vine Records.
Release Date: February 19, 2003.
Recording Time: 156 minutes.
Release Info: Compilation.
Styles: Electric Blues, Electric Texas Blues, Regional Blues, Acoustic Texas Blues, Country Blues, Texas Blues.
Lightnin' Hopkins had a hard and fast approach to dealing with the abundance of record labels he recorded for during his career. The irascible bluesman would show up at the session in question but would refuse to play a note until he was paid his fee upfront. Once paid and satisfied, he'd unpack his stock set of boogie blues riffs and pretty much improvise songs on the spot until he'd fulfilled his agreed upon quota. Then he would leave. This system led to a bloated discography full of similarly constructed and executed throwaway tracks, but Hopkins had a gift for personalizing the blues that came to the fore in the best of these improvised songs, and some gems often showed up in the process. Between 1965 and 1969 he recorded three LPs (Blue Lightnin', Talkin' Some Sense and The Great Electric Show and Dance) for Stan Lewis' Louisiana-based Jewell Records, in what was a relatively long contractual stay for Hopkins. This compilation includes all three of those albums plus an additional 15 unreleased tracks in a two-disc package that will delight Hopkins collectors and archivists but will undoubtedly be way too much Lightnin' for the casual listener. - Review by Steve Leggett.
Credits: Barry Beckett - piano; George "Wild Child" Butler - harmonica; Roger Hawkins - drums; Eddie Hinton - guitar; David Hood - bass; Lightnin' Hopkins - composer, guitar, primary artist, vocals; Robert Lockwood, Jr. - composer; Bessie Smith - composer; Chris Frazer Smith - liner notes, transcription; Hudson Whittaker - composer; Clarence Williams - composer.
Tracks, Disc 1: 1) Found My Baby Crying; 2) Move on Out, Pt. 1; 3) Back Door Friend; 4) Fishing Clothes; 5) Morning Blues; 6) Gamblers Blues; 7) Wig Wearing Woman; 8) Move on Out, Pt. 2; 9) Long Way from Home; 10) I'm Tired of Trouble; 11) Vietnam War, Pts. 1 & 2; 12) Lightnin' Strikes One More Time; 13) Walkin' Blues; 14) Talkin' Some Sense; 15) Lonesome Lightnin'; 16) My Suggestion; 17) Uncle Stan the Hip Hit Record Man; 18) You're Gonna Miss Me; 19) The Purple Puppy; 20) My Money Is What You Want; 21) Race Track.
Tracks, Disc 2: 1) Lovin' Arms; 2) Rock Me Mama; 3) Mr. Charlie, Pts. 1 & 2; 4) Play with Your Poodle; 5) You're Too Fast; 6) Love Me This Morning; 7) I'm Coming Home; 8) Ride in Your New Automobile; 9) Breakfast Time; 10) Katie Mae; 11) West Texas Blues; 12) Pneumonia Blues; 13) Little Boy Blue; 14) Walk Me; 15) Sail on Little Girl; 16) I Hate I Got Married; 17) Jail House Blues; 18) Little School Girl; 19) Huntin' in the Mornin'; 20) My Daddy Was a Preacher; 21) A Death in the Family; 22) Letter to My Back Door Friend.