Includes 3 previously unreleased tracks by Lightnin' Hopkins and a 16-page booklet with photos, an interview with Jewel/Paula founder Stan Lewis, and extensive liner notes by Wayne Jancik.
Jewel and Paula were started by Stan Lewis, a record store owner and mail-order operator specializing in the kind of vital R&B, blues, soul and gospel tunes that many people enjoyed, but were highly undervalued by most major record labels. Lewis moved into the record business during the mid-'60s, signing raw artists who made music light-years away from slick pop fare. This two-disc anthology features prime Jewel and Paula acts from the 1960s, '70s and '80s. The first disc includes urgent soul tunes from Toussaint McCall and Ted Taylor, Delta blues from Frank Foster, classic shouting R&B from Joe Turner, the smoother R&B sound of Charles Brown, Lightnin' Hopkins, John Lee Hooker, and others. The second disc is just as distinguished, featuring Little Johnny Taylor, Fontella Bass, Ike and Tina Turner, Buster Benton and Ted Taylor, then-budding stars Bobby Rush and Artie "Blues Boy" White, plus other regional attractions.
by Ron Wynn
Credits: Jewel Akens - Producer; Fontella Bass - Performer, Primary Artist; R. Bell - Composer; Buster Benton - Performer, Primary Artist; Big Mac - Performer, Primary Artist; Cicero Blake - Performer, Primary Artist; Little Joe Blue - Performer, Primary Artist; Marshall Boxley - Composer; Charles Brown - Composer, Performer; Harrison Calloway - Composer, Producer; Barbara Carr - Performer, Primary Artist; Leroy Carr - Composer; The Carter Brothers - Performer; Calvin Carter - Composer, Producer; Jerry Carter - Producer; Roman Carter - Producer; Peter Chatman - Composer; Don Clay - Composer; Charles Colbert - Arranger, Producer; Duke Coleman - Composer; George Davis - Arranger; Maxwell Davis - Composer, Producer; Thomas Maxwell Davis - Composer; Willie Dixon - Composer, Producer; Frank Frost - Composer, Performer, Primary Artist; Lowell Fulson - Composer, Performer; Miles Grayson - Arranger, Composer, Producer; Peppermint Harris - Performer, Primary Artist, Producer; John Lee Hooker - Composer, Performer, Primary Artist; Lightnin' Hopkins - Composer, Performer, Primary Artist; L. Horton - Composer; Ernie Johnson - Arranger, Composer, Performer, Primary Artist, Producer; Gene Kent - Producer; Stan Lewis - Composer, Producer; Bobby Lexing - Composer; Albert Luandrew - Composer; Cash McCall - Arranger, Performer, Primary Artist, Producer; Toussaint McCall - Composer, Performer, Primary Artist, Producer; Memphis Slim - Performer, Primary Artist; The Montclairs - Performer, Primary Artist; Scotty Moore - Producer; Bobby Patterson - Arranger, Composer, Performer, Primary Artist, Producer; Bob Riley - Producer; Robert Riley - Composer; Alan Robinson - Composer; Bobby Rush - Composer, Performer, Primary Artist; Oliver Sain - Producer; Rob Smith - Arranger; Jerry Strickland - Composer; Sunnyland Slim - Performer, Primary Artist; Roosevelt Sykes - Composer, Performer, Primary Artist; Johnny Taylor - Composer; Little Johnny Taylor - Composer, Performer, Primary Artist, Producer; Ted Taylor - Composer, Performer, Primary Artist, Producer; Big Joe Turner - Performer, Primary Artist, Producer; Ike Turner - Producer; Ike & Tina Turner - Performer, Primary Artist; Artie "Blues Boy" White - Arranger, Composer, Performer, Producer; A. Williams - Composer; B. Williams - Composer; W. Williams - Composer; Chuck Willis - Composer; Chip Young - Composer.
***
Rolling Stone (6/10/93, p.69) - 3 Stars - Good - "...another attempt to boil a diverse indie catalog down to essentials...music you can groove to..."
Musician (7/93, p.93) - "...A groovy collection of contemporary blues, R&B and soul, drawn from 1965 through 1989, this two-CD set is the kind of musical portfolio that makes acquisition-hungry international conglomerates drool..."
TrackList:
Disc 1) 1. Southern Country Boy - Carter Brothers; 2. Booze In The Bottle - Carter Brothers; 3. My Back Scratcher - Frank Frost; 4. Nothing Takes The Place Of You - Toussaint McCall; 5. Bad Bad Whiskey - Peppermint Harris; 6. Rough Dried Woman, Pt.1 - Big Mac; 7. Back Door Friend - Lightnin' Hopkins; 8. Standing On The Threshold - Little Joe Blue; 9. It's Too Late - Ted Taylor; 10. Night Time Is The Right Time - Joe Turner; 11. Mr. Charlie, Pts. 1 & 2 - Lightnin' Hopkins; 12. Sleeper - Lowell Fulson; 13. Born With The Blues - Memphis Slim; 14. Brown Skin Woman - Sunnyland Slim; 15. Little School Girl (Previously Unreleased) - Lightnin' Hopkins; 16. Trouble Blues - Charles Brown; 17. My Daddy Was A Preacher Man (Previously Unreleased) - Lightnin' Hopkins; 18. Death In The Family (Previously Unreleased) - Lightnin' Hopkins; 19. Roll And Tumble - John Lee Hooker; 20. Safety Pin Blues - Roosevelt Sykes; 21. New Orleans Jump - Roosevelt Sykes.
Disc 2) 1. Something Strange Is Going On In My House - Ted Taylor; 2. Everybody Knows About My Good Thing, Pt. 1 - Little Johnny Taylor; 3. How's Your Love Life Baby - Ted Taylor; 4. Quiet! Do Not Disturb - Bobby Patterson; 5. It's My Fault Darling - Little Johnny Taylor; 6. Dreaming's Out Of Season - The Montclairs; 7. How Do You Spell Love - Bobby Patterson; 8. Open House At My House, Pt. 1 - Little Johnny Taylor; 9. She Don't Have To See You (To See Through You) - Bobby Patterson; 10. Bowlegged Woman/Knock-Kneed Man - Bobby Rush; 11. Right On Jody - Bobby Patterson; 12. Walking The Floor - Little Johnny Taylor & Ted Taylor; 13. Hard Attack - Cash McCall; 14. Homewrecker - Fontella Bass; 15. Love Me Baby - Cash McCall; 16. I Can't See Myself As A One Woman Man - Little Johnny Taylor; 17. Dip My Dipper (Alternate Mix) - Cicero Blake; 18. Mississippi Rollin' Stone - Ike & Tina Turner; 19. Spider In My Stew - Buster Benton; 20. Jimmie - Artie 'Blues Boy' White; 21. Good Woman Go Bad - Barbara Carr; 22. Cold Woman - Ernie Johnson.
Recording Time: 02:23:17, Studio/Mixed (Mono/Stereo).