Early Recordings Vol. 2

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Early Recordings Vol. 2
Early Recordings Vol 2.jpg
Compilation album by
Lightnin' Hopkins
Released1971
Recordedlate 1940s
Studio Gold Star Recording Studios, Houston, Texas
Genre Blues
Length44:29
Label Arhoolie
CompilerBill Quinn, Chris Strachwitz
Lightnin' Hopkins chronology
Early Recordings
(1965)		Early Recordings Vol. 2
(1971)		 Lightnin' Hopkins Strums the Blues
(1958)

Early Recordings Vol. 2 is an album by blues musician Lightnin' Hopkins featuring tracks recorded at Gold Star Recording Studios 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]

Contents

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [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

  1. "Short Haired Woman" – 2:22
  2. "Old Woman Blues" – 3:04
  3. "Untrue Blues" – 3:03
  4. "T-Model Blues" – 2:39
  5. "Jailhouse Blues" – 3:03
  6. "Trying to Find a Friend" – 3:07
  7. "Can't Be Successful" aka "Unsuccessful Blues" – 2:23
  8. "Tom Moore Blues" – 2:41
  9. "Fast Life Woman" – 2:25
  10. "Grosebeck Blues" [Take 2] – 2:25 previously unreleased
  11. "Grosebeck Blues" [Take 3] – 2:37 previously unreleased
  12. "Rollin' Woman Blues" – 2:49
  13. "Ain't It a Shame" – 2:56
  14. "Somebody's Got to Go" – 2:48
  15. "Automobile Blues" – 2:50
  16. "All I Got Is Gone" – 3:06 previously unreleased

Personnel

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References

  1. ↑ O'Brien, T. J. Lightnin' Album of the Week: Week 18 January 1, 2011 accessed November 23, 2018
  2. ↑ Smithsonian Folkways: Lightnin' Hopkins catalog accessed November 23, 2018
  3. 1 2 Chadbourne, Eugene. Lightnin' Hopkins: Early Recordings Vol. 2 – Review at AllMusic . Retrieved November 22, 2018.
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