NEW ON CD
CD offers sampling
of blues in PBS series
This sampler of material is a serviceable overview of the music that will be featured in "The Blues" PBS TV series by Martin Scorsese, starting Sept. 28.
"Martin Scorsese Presents
the Best of The Blues"
Various artists
UTVThe CD progresses from early, seminal songs, to a larger portion featuring late '60s and more current recordings, to material recorded specifically for the series.
There are also a couple of tracks that seem to have been recorded for, but not used in the films, such as Bonnie Raitt's take on J.B. Lenoir's "Round and Round," that did not make the final cut of Wim Wenders' film, and a performance taken from February's "Salute to the Blues" all-star concert in New York, featuring Robert Cray and Shemekia Copeland on "I Pity the Fool," a song first popularized by Bobby "Blue" Bland.
When documenting the history of the blues, any compilation worth its salt should include names like Robert Johnson, Bessie Smith, Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters. But on this album, it's good to hear Skip James' haunting "Devil Got My Woman," the jaunty "Boom Boom" by John Lee Hooker and a stark version of "Death Letter Blues" from Son House (surprisingly misidentified as having been recorded with the late Al "Blind Owl" Wilson of Canned Heat, who's nowhere to be heard on harmonica).
It's not surprising that the bulk of "The Blues" features artists and songs familiar to a wide audience. After experiencing a mighty triumvirate of songs in "Hard Times" (Ray Charles), "I'd Rather Go Blind" (Etta James) and the transcendent "The Thrill is Gone" (B.B. King), we get blues examples from the usual suspects, such as John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, The Allman Brothers Band and Stevie Ray Vaughan.
The best is saved for last, with a couple of fine examples of new blues from Keb' Mo' and especially Susan Tedeschi, who's just glorious on her self-penned "Just Won't Burn."
A trio of J.B. Lenoir compositions wrap up the collection: The aforementioned Raitt cut, plus "Voodoo Music" performed by Los Lobos, and Cassandra Wilson doing "Vietnam Blues."
This collection is just enough to whet the appetite of any blues neophyte.
Gary C. W. Chun, Star-Bulletin
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MP3 downloads
The most downloaded songs of the week, as listed by MP3.com:
National
1. "Until the Day I Die" / Story of the Year
2. "Shake Your Tailfeather" / Nelly, P. Diddy and Murphy Lee (from "Bad Boys II")
3. "Promise" / Spoken
4. "Baby Blue" / The Early November
5. "Harder to Breathe" / Maroon 5
6. "Best of Me" / The Starting Line
7. "Ibiza MegaMix 2003" / Antinomie
8. "Cute Without the 'E' (Cut from the Team)" / Taking Back Sunday
9. "i remember everything" / Sub City
10. "And the Hero Will Drown" / Story of the Year
Local
1. "Riverside Waiting" / Pennylane
2. "Not waving, but drowning" / Pennylane
3. "Big Band" / drdrbob
4. "Hawaiian Rain" / Coconut Joe
5. "No Ka Moku Kiakahi Ke Aloha" / Keali'i Reichel
6. "Shalom -- Live in Peace" / Lost at Last
7. "Kachina -- Club Mix" / Lost at Last
8. "Troy's Bucket" / Olivia
9. "Ooom Pah Pah!" / drdrbob
10. "StaticoElectroMusico" / drdrbob
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