Release Date: June, 1991.
Recording Time: 95 minutes.
Recording Date: May, 1928 - August, 1929.
Release Info: DOCD-5026, Compilation, Reissue, Remastered.
The third volume in the series opens with a pair of mid-1928 tracks featuring Blind Blake in the role of sideman, lending his brilliant guitar leads in support of Elzadie Robinson on "Elzadie's Policy Blues" and "Pay Day Daddy Blues." Blake's next session, from later that same year, returns him to the fore, yielding the mesmerizing "Notoriety Woman," one of the most menacingly violent tracks he ever cut; the same date also produced the comparatively lighthearted "Sweet Papa Low Down," a seeming attempt to cash in on the Charleston dance craze. The real jewel of the set, however, is a 1929 session teaming him with pianist Charlie Spand; "Hastings St." is a lively, swinging guitar and piano duet, while "Police Dog Blues" is among Blake's most vividly lyrical efforts, further galvanized by his haunting instrumental work. ~ Jason Ankeny
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Abridged from this album’s original booklet notes.
Blind Blake, one of the top blues guitarists and singers of the 1920s, is a mystery figure whose birth and death dates are not definitively known. He recorded 84 selections in six years (1926-1932), and all have been reissued on four Document albums (DOCD-5024, DOCD-5025, DOCD-5026, DOCD-5027). By 1928 Blind Blake had gathered a faithful following, his appeal probably being due to the scope of his material, his popularity rivaling that of Blind Lemon Jefferson. The third volume in the series opens featuring Blake in the role of sideman, lending his brilliant guitar leads in support of Elzadie Robinson on Elzadie's Policy Blues and Pay Day Daddy Blues. Returning to recording under his own name, a session, or sessions, held during September 1928 seemed to find Blake obsessed by women and the problems they were causing him, at times sounding lachrymal and despondent Search Warrant, Back Door, desperate Walkin Across The Country and positively violent as in Notoriety Woman, To keep her quiet I knocked her teeth out her mouth, that notoriety woman is known all over the south”. The final number recorded that month, Sweet Papa Low Down, with its cornet, piano and xylophone accompaniment, evoke the kind of bouncy tune popular with practitioners of the Charleston dance craze. It was to be a further nine months before Blake recorded again, this time in company with pianist Alex Robinson. The five titles cut were of a far less suicidal nature than previous and on one number in particular, Doin A Stretch, his approach owed much to the style of Leroy Carr. There then followed a session in August 1929 which teamed him with Detroit pianist Charlie Spand that was to produce some of Blind Blake’s most vital and memorable recordings of his career. Hastings St., a swinging, boogie based piano and guitar duet, is primarily a showcase for the talents of Spand with the vocal banter between the pair celebrating the good times to be found in Detroit’s Black Bottom, “Out on Hastings Street doing the boogie, umm, umm, very woogie in much the same manner as John Lee Hooker did in “Boogie Chillun twenty years later. One of the best known mythical themes in black folklore is that of Diddie Wa Diddie, a kind of heaven on earth, a utopia of no work, no worries and all the food one could wish for. Blind Blake, while playing some mesmerising guitar, pokes fun at the idea, claiming that as far as he’s concerned it’s a great big mystery, his Diddie Wa Diddie is one for sexual gratification. The following year he cynically accepted the meaning (see Document DOCD-5027). The theme was taken up by in the 5Os by popular R&B singer, Bo Diddley. The unmistakable resonance of the steel-bodied National guitar introduces Police Dog Blues, one of Blake’s most lyrical songs and is notable for his use of the harmonics during the instrumental breaks, where he makes the guitar sound “most like a piano (to borrow Leadbelly’s description of the technique). The haunting melody of Georgia Bound is common to the blues having been used by Charlie Patton (Tom Rushen Document DOCD- 5009), Big Bill Broonzy (Shelby County Blues document DOCD-5051) and Robert Johnson (From Four Till Late), to name but some, the sentiments of the song bearing an air of weary resignation suggesting that Blind Blake had more than just a passing acquaintance with the State. Despite the onset of the Depression, Blake went on recording, albeit sporadically, until 1932, lasting longer than many others as demonstrated in the final Document album of his work, Volume 4 (DOCD-5027). ~ Alan Balfour (1991 & 2008 Document Records)
Credits: Compiled By, Producer - Johnny Parth; Liner Notes - Alan Balfour; Remastered By [uncredited] - Hans Klement.
Personnel: Elzadie Robinson - vocals, acc. Johnny Dodds - clarinet; Blind Blake - vocals, guitar, whistle (on 1), vocals (speech on 17; Jimmy Bertrand - xylophone on 11; unknown - cornet on 11; unknown - piano on 11; Alex (?) Robinson - piano; No vocals but incidental talking on 16; Charlie Spand - piano on 17; Aletha (possibly Aletha Dickerson) - piano on 23.
Tracklist:
- 01. Elzadie's Policy Blues – Blind Blake with Elzadie Robinson
- 02. Pay Day Daddy Blues – Blind Blake with Elzadie Robinson
- 03. Walkin' Across The Country Blues – Blind Blake
- 04. Search Warrant Blues – Blind Blake
- 05. Ramblin' Mama Blues – Blind Blake
- 06. That New Style Of Loving – Blind Blake
- 07. Back Door Slam Blues – Blind Blake
- 08. Notoriety Woman Blues – Blind Blake
- 09. Cold Hearted Mama Blues – Blind Blake
- 10. Low Down Loving Gal – Blind Blake
- 11. Sweet Papa Low Down – Blind Blake
- 12. Poker Woman Blues – Blind Blake
- 13. Doing A Stretch – Blind Blake
- 14. Fighin' The Jug – Blind Blake
- 15. Hookworm Blues – Blind Blake
- 16. Slippery Rag – Blind Blake
- 17. Hastings St – Blind Blake
- 18. Diddie Wa Diddie – Blind Blake
- 19. Too Tight Blues No. 2 – Blind Blake
- 20. Chump Man Blues – Blind Blake
- 21. Ice Man Blues – Blind Blake
- 22. Police Dog Blues – Blind Blake
- 23. I Was Afraid Of That – Part 2 – Hokum Boys
- 24. Georgia Bound – Blind Blake
- 25. Keep It Home – Blind Blake
Recording date, location, matrix, catalog number:
01. circa May 1928, Chicago, 20583-2, Paramount 12635
02. circa May 1928, Chicago, 20584-, Paramount 12635
03. circa September 1928, Chicago, 20868-2, Paramount 12754
04. circa September 1928, Chicago, 20871-3, Paramount 12737
05. circa September 1928, Chicago, 20872-2, Paramount 12767
06. circa September 1928, Chicago, 20873-2, Paramount 12767
07. circa September 1928, Chicago, 20874-1, Paramount 12710
08. circa September 1928, Chicago, 20875-2, Paramount 12754
09. circa September 1928, Chicago, 20884-1, Paramount 12710
10. circa September 1928, Chicago, 20887-5, Paramount 12695
11. circa September 1928, Chicago, 20888-1, Paramount 12737
12. June 20, 1929, Richmond, Indiana, 15248-A, Paramount 12810
13. June 20, 1929, Richmond, Indiana, 15249-A, Paramount 12810
14. June 20, 1929, Richmond, Indiana, 15250-, Paramount 12863
15. June 20, 1929, Richmond, Indiana, 15251-A, Paramount 12794
16. June 20, 1929, Richmond, Indiana, 15252-A, Paramount 12794
17. August 17, 1929, Richmond, Indiana, 15457-, Paramount 12863
18. August 17, 1929, Richmond, Indiana, 15459-A, Paramount 12888
19. August 17, 1929, Richmond, Indiana, 15460-, Paramount 12824
20. August 17, 1929, Richmond, Indiana, 15461-, Paramount 12904
21. August 17, 1929, Richmond, Indiana, 15462-, Paramount 12904
22. August 17, 1929, Richmond, Indiana, 15463-, Paramount 12888
23. August 17, 1929, Richmond, Indiana, 15464-A, Paramount 12882
24. August 17, 1929, Richmond, Indiana, 15466-, Paramount 12824
25. circa August 1929, Chicago, 21354-1, Paramount 12964