Pre-War Blues
Tom Martin -- Mon, 10/20/2008 - 20:30
The November 2008 issue of Harper's has an interesting article on pre-war blues. They cover a recording produced by Revenant Records, called American Primitive, Vol. II: Pre-War Revenants that I understand has remastered version of some signficant pre-war recordings, many of which are single copy only, or for which there exist only a handful of copies.
I got the discs. First let me say, the booklet that comes with the discs is worth the cost. Not because it is beautiful, but it is full of history and interesting writing.
The discs are amazing too. Every song is interesting. Some of the recordings (all from 78s and most from 1927-1935) are terrible but the music shines through. Some of the recordings are surprisingly good.
A must-have for anyone interested in good playing, emotion and life.
One last thing that I hadn't fully appreciated: these recordings are among the first made with the new-fangled electronic recording technology (which basically was first seen in 1925). Prior to this, performers played into a horn that acoustically drove the cutting stylus.
So with these recordings we're hearing the first modern discs.
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