Label: JSP Records.
Release Date: February 4, 2003.
Recording Time: 350 minutes.
Release Info: JSPCD 7705, Compilation Studio & Live.
Recording Date: November 4, 1946 - September 7, 1951.
Styles: Country Blues, Regional Blues, Texas Blues.
This five-disc collection from London's JSP Records brings together 126 sides that Lightnin' Hopkins tracked for the Aladdin, Modern/RPM, and Gold Star labels at the very start of his recording career. Included are the Texas bluesman's first hit, "Katie May" from 1946, "T-Model Blues" from 1949, and arguably the most startling Hopkins composition, the powerful "Tim Moore's Farm," also from 1949. Most of the tracks are Hopkins solo, playing either acoustic or electric guitar, but he takes a turn at the organ for "Organ Boogie," a track that shows the same adventuresome liberties with tempo and time that mark all of his work, whatever the instrument. Since his approach and style to the blues never altered throughout his life, a case could be made that these first recordings are the ones to get, but at an astounding 126 tracks, this set is mind-numbing overkill for all but the most devoted fan. Rhino's two-disc Mojo Hand anthology is the place to start for novice listeners drawn to this Texas legend. ~ Steve Leggett
Credits: Billy Bizor - composer; Big Bill Broonzy - composer; Donald Cooks - bass; Robert Ellen - composer; Sleepy John Estes - composer; Lowell Fulson - composer; Sam Hawkins - composer; Hopkins - composer; Joel Hopkins - guitar; Lightnin' Hopkins - composer, guitar, primary artist, vocals; Sam Hopkins - composer; R.M. Jones - composer; Stan Lewis - composer; Hammie Nixon - composer; Ma Rainey - composer; Marty Rubenstein - composer; Frankie Lee Sims - guitar; Neil Slaven - liner notes; Bessie Smith - composer; Thunder Smith - piano; Tampa Red - composer; Traditional - composer; Hudson Whittaker - composer; Big Joe Williams - composer; Clarence Williams - composer; L.C. Williams - dance (tap).
Tracks, Disc 1: 1) Katie Mae Blues; 2) Feel So Bad; 3) That Mean Old Twister; 4) Rocky Mountain Blues; 5) Short Haired Woman; 6) Big Mama Jump; 7) Down Baby; 8) Let Me Play With Your Poodle; 9) Fast Mail Rambler; 10) Thinkin' and Worryin'; 11) Short Haired Woman; 12) Big Mama Jump; 13) Can't Get That Woman Off My Mind; 14) Woman Woman; 15) Picture on the Wall; 16) Worried Life Blues; 17) Miss Me Blues; 18) Sugar Mama; 19) Nightmare Blues; 20) Someday Baby; 21) Come Back Baby; 22) Lightnin's Boogie; 23) Baby, You're Not Going to Make a Fool Out of Me; 24) Daddy Will Be Home One Day; 25) Moonrise Blues; 26) Howling Wolf Blues.
Tracks, Disc 2: 1) Morning Blues; 2) Have to Let You Go; 3) Baby Child; 4) Mistreater Blues; 5) My California; 6) Honey Honey Blues; 7) So Long; 8) See See Rider; 9) Changing Weather Blues; 10) I Just Don't Care; 11) Whiskey Headed Woman; 12) Abilene; 13) Shotgun; 14) Rollin' Blues; 15) Tell It Like It Is; 16) Miss Loretta; 17) Shining Moon; 18) Ida Mae; 19) Mercy; 20) What Can It Be; 21) Lonesome Home; 22) Appetite Blues; 23) Walking Blues; 24) Lightning Blues; 25) No Mail Blues.
Tracks, Disc 3: 1) Ain't It a Shame; 2) Tim Moore's Farm; 3) You Don't Know; 4) Treat Me Kind; 5) Somebody's Got to Go; 6) Baby Please Don't Go; 7) Death Bells; 8) Mad With You; 9) Airplane Blues; 10) Unsuccessful Blues; 11) Rollin' Woman Blues; 12) Jail House Blues; 13) T-Model Blues; 14) Traveler's Blues; 15) Lightnin's Boogie; 16) Unkind Blues; 17) Trying to Find a Friend; 18) Fast Life; 19) European Blues; 20) Automobile; 21) Zologo; 22) Organ Boogie; 23) Automobile Blues; 24) Old Woman Blues; 25) Untrue Blues.
Tracks, Disc 4: 1) Henny Penny Blues; 2) Loretta Blues; 3) Jackstropper Blues; 4) Grievance Blues; 5) Grosebeck Blues; 6) Whiskey Blues; 7) Racetrack Blues; 8) Good-Bye Blues; 9) Bluebird Blues; 10) Seems Funny Baby; 11) Coolin' Board Blues; 12) Goin' Back and Talk to Mama; 13) All I Got Is Gone; 14) Beggin' You to Stay (Someday Baby); 15) Bad Luck and Trouble; 16) Black Cat Bone; 17) Disagreeable; 18) Dark and Cloudy; 19) Coffee Blues; 20) Praying Ground Blues; 21) Gotta Move; 22) Give Me Central 209 (Hello Central); 23) Long Way from Texas; 24) Tell Me Boogie; 25) New Short Haired Woman.
Tracks, Disc 5: 1) New York Boogie; 2) You Caused My Heart to Weep; 3) I Wonder Why; 4) Papa Bones Boogie; 5) No Good Woman; 6) Lightnin's Gone Again; 7) Dirty House; 8) Bald Headed Woman; 9) Everything Happens to Me; 10) Freight Train Blues; 11) I've Been a Bad Man (Mad Blues); 12) New Worried Life Blues; 13) One Kind of Favor; 14) Broken Hearted Blues; 15) Worried Blues; 16) Don't Think I'm Crazy; 17) Down to the River; 18) Contrary Mary; 19) I'm Begging You; 20) Why Did You Get Mad at Me; 21) Everybody's Down on Me; 22) Sad News from Korea; 23) Let Me Fly Your Kite; 24) Gone With the Wind; 25) She's Almost Dead.