Early Recordings Vol. 2
Early Recordings Vol. 2 | ||||
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Compilation album by Lightnin' Hopkins | ||||
Released | 1971 | |||
Recorded | late 1940s | |||
Studio | Gold Star (Houston, Texas) | |||
Genre | Blues | |||
Length | 44:29 | |||
Label | Arhoolie | |||
Compiler | Bill Quinn, Chris Strachwitz | |||
Lightnin' Hopkins chronology | ||||
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Early Recordings Vol. 2 is an album by blues musician Lightnin' Hopkins featuring tracks recorded at Gold Star Studios in Houston, Texas between 1946 and 1950, thirteen of which were originally released as 10-inch 78rpm records on the Gold Star and Dart labels, along with three others that were previously unissued.[1] Arhoolie reissued The Gold Star Sessions on two CDs through Smithsonian Folkways in 1990.[2]
Reception
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [3] |
AllMusic reviewer Eugene Chadbourne stated: "The Arhoolie collection of recordings done for the Texas Gold Star label continued with a particularly well-assembled collection in which a few interesting variations in recording and backup musicians contribute to a sense of variety often missing from albums by this artist. There are also some vocal performances here that are among Hopkins' best committed to vinyl ... These recordings are all very typical of the Hopkins approach in that many songs were probably improvised on the spot, or at least whipped up around a framework or some kind of skeletal idea. Hopkins has quite a strange attention span, sometimes approaching a song with strong concentration until he is halfway through, then becoming casual and letting things drift off completely. Aspects like this, and his way of improvising instrumental breaks in which the chord structure or tempo can be transformed at whim, make this a kind of blues that is challenging not only for the listener but for the performer as well.".[3]
Track listing
All compositions by Sam "Lightnin'" Hopkins
- "Short Haired Woman" – 2:22
- "Old Woman Blues" – 3:04
- "Untrue Blues" – 3:03
- "T-Model Blues" – 2:39
- "Jailhouse Blues" – 3:03
- "Trying to Find a Friend" – 3:07
- "Can't Be Successful" aka "Unsuccessful Blues" – 2:23
- "Tom Moore Blues" – 2:41
- "Fast Life Woman" – 2:25
- "Grosebeck Blues" [Take 2] – 2:25 previously unreleased
- "Grosebeck Blues" [Take 3] – 2:37 previously unreleased
- "Rollin' Woman Blues" – 2:49
- "Ain't It a Shame" – 2:56
- "Somebody's Got to Go" – 2:48
- "Automobile Blues" – 2:50
- "All I Got Is Gone" – 3:06 previously unreleased
Personnel
- Lightnin' Hopkins – guitar, vocals, organ
- Joel Hopkins – guitar (track 1)
- Frankie Lee Sims – slide guitar (tracks 5 & 6)
References
- v
- t
- e
- Lightnin' Hopkins (1959)
- Country Blues (1959)
- Autobiography in Blues (1960)
- Down South Summit Meetin' (1960)
- Last Night Blues (1961)
- Lightnin' (1961)
- Lightnin' in New York (1961)
- Blues in My Bottle (1961)
- Mojo Hand (1962)
- Lightnin' Sam Hopkins (1962)
- Walkin' This Road by Myself (1962)
- Lightnin' and Co. (1962)
- Lightnin' Strikes (1962)
- Blues Hoot (1963)
- Smokes Like Lightning (1963)
- Goin' Away (1963)
- Hootin' the Blues (1964)
- Down Home Blues (1964)
- Soul Blues (1965)
- My Life in the Blues (1965)
- The King of the Blues (1965)
- Lightning Hopkins with His Brothers Joel and John Henry / with Barbara Dane (1966)
- Lightnin' Strikes (1966)
- Blue Lightnin' (1967)
- Something Blue (1967)
- Texas Blues Man (1968)
- Free Form Patterns (1968)
- Talkin' Some Sense (1968)
- The Great Electric Show and Dance (1969)
- California Mudslide (and Earthquake) (1969)
- Lightnin'! (1969)
- Lightning Hopkins in Berkeley (1972)
- The Swarthmore Concert (1993)
- Live at Newport (2002)
- In the Key of Lightnin' (2002)
- Lightnin' Hopkins Strums the Blues (1958)
- Last of the Great Blues Singers (1960)
- Lightnin' and the Blues (1960)
- Lightning Hopkins Sings the Blues (1961)
- Early Recordings (1965)
- Early Recordings Vol. 2 (1971)
- Po' Lightnin' (1983)
- Mojo Hand: The Life and Music of Lightnin' Hopkins