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| | The Sky Is Crying: The History of Elmore James | | | Music Artist : | | Elmore James | | Music Style : | | General | | Record Label : | | Rhino / Wea | | Release Date : | | 1993-04-06 | | Store Price : | | $9.98 | | Artistopia's Price: $8.99 | | Usually ships in 24 hours | | |
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CD Tracks/Songs
Disc 11. Dust My Broom
2. Sun Is Shining
3. Hawaiian Boogie
4. Sho' Nuff I Do
5. Please Find My Baby
6. TV Mama - James Elmore, Elmore James, Big Joe Turner
7. My Best Friend
8. Madison Blues
9. Cry for Me Baby
10. Sky Is Crying
11. Sunnyland
12. I Can't Hold Out
13. Look on Yonder Wall
14. I Need You
15. Done Somebody Wrong
16. Shake Your Moneymaker
17. 12 Year Old Boy
18. It Hurts Me Too
19. Rollin' and Tumblin'
20. Something Inside Me
21. Standing at the Crossroads
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Other Artist Albums
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Customer Reviews of This Album/CD |
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 Real and Exciting Chicago Blues Slide Guitar and Singing
Submitted on: 2009-02-18 |
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Elmore James sang and played the blues with 100% emotion, as the songs on this recording will verify. His strength was in his honest, energetic interpretations of mid-tempo twelve-bar blues songs in the postwar urban Chicago style. In that idiom, Elmore James ranks with the kings of the court.
Elmore's singing was unfailingly expressive and he had plenty of lung power, which he made no attempt to restrain.
Regarding the many superb vocal tracks he recorded, the listener will observe that his vocal enthusiasm often sent the VU meter-needle into the red zone (overdrive). Elmore James was not one to step back and coddle a microphone.
Of course, an engineer with modern compression equipment would have no trouble controlling this technical "flaw." But why would anyone want to control something so real and exciting?
Elmore's slide playing was relatively fundamental, even repetitive, but not in a tedious way. I find his slide work rousing because it is propelled by pure passion. Like his singing, the slide licks were emblazoned with his personal brand, and there is no mistaking an Elmore James solo.
Elmore played in open tuning in the minor pentatonic scale, and in the rare instances when his rhythm section would play substitute harmonies for the basic blues chords ("Stormy Monday," which is not on this disc), Elmore would think "to hell with that," and keep playing in the same scale, harmonic clashes and all.
Jazz players call that technique "playing outside." Elmore wasn't thinking that way; he simply played what he knew and didn't try to play what he didn't know. If you think about it, there's a lot of integrity in that viewpoint.
His slide solos were the essence of the urban blues, and that is why he remains a great influence and teacher to all who aspire to play blues slide guitar.
This CD, like all of Elmore James' work, has one ingredient: raw emotion. It is a fine representation of his artistry, and I recommend it highly. |
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Good work, Rhino, on this great assortment!
Submitted on: 2009-01-06 |
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Rhino has done an outstanding job pulling together these 21 excellent Elmore James selections from a wide variety of labels and spanning a large part of his career, and with great sound quality.
Of course any single disc omits a lot of great songs of James. If you want to have most of Elmore's best songs, I have found that this CD, together with "Let's Cut It" does the job. I also bought downloads of 8 other songs I wanted, to get all I was after. If you are a completist, look into the box sets that others have mentioned, particularly "The Classic Early Recordings (51-56)" and "King of the Slide Guitar".
With the 18 songs on "Let's Cut It" you get some indispensable additional James hits, such as "Dust My Blues", "I Was A Fool", Blues Before Sunrise", "Goodbye Baby".
Five songs are duplicated between the two, but only Sunnyland" and "Hawaiian Boogie" are the exact same versions. The other 3 are quite different versions ("Sho Nuff I Do", "Standing At The Crossroads", and "My Best Friend"), so not really "duplication". "Sho Nuff I Do" is my personal favorite Elmore James song and IMO one of the greatest blues songs ever, so I don't mind having a couple different versions. |
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A Great Start
Submitted on: 2009-01-04 |
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This c.d. is a great introduction to Elmore James and his blues sound. There isn't a bad song on this album to be found. This is nitty-gritty blues not the "House of Blues" corporate water-downed stuff, which has no feeling to it and some how passes for blues these days.
This c.d. should very much be apart of any respectable blues collection. While Elmore James isn't as known as Muddy Waters he is just as good and worthy of legend status.
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 Dust My Broom, Ya!
Submitted on: 2008-11-17 |
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When one thinks of the classic blues tune "Dust My Broom" one tends to think of the legendary Robert Johnson who along with his "Sweet Home, Chicago" created two of the signature blues songs of the pre-World War II period. However, my first hearing of "Dust My Broom" was on a hot LP (the old days, right?) version covered and made his own by the artist under review, Elmore James. I have heard many cover versions since then, including from the likes of George Thorogood and Chris Smithers, and they all reflect on the influence of Elmore's amazing slide guitar virtuosity to provide the "heat" necessary to do the song justice. Moreover, this is only the tip of the iceberg as such blues masters and aficionados as B.B. King and The Rolling Stones have covered other parts of James' catalog.
Perhaps because Elmore died relativity young at a time when blues were just being revived in the early 1960's as part of the general trend toward "discovering" roots music by the likes of this reviewer he has been a less well-known member of the blues pantheon. However, for those who know the value of a good slide guitar to add sexiness and sauciness to a blues number James' is a hero. Hell Thorogood built a whole career out of Elmore covers (and also, to be sure, of the late legendary Bo Didderly). I never get tired of hearing these great songs. Moreover, it did not hurt to have the famous Broomdusters backing him up throughout the years. As one would expect of material done in the pre-digital age the sound quality is very dependent on the quality of the studio. But that, to my mind just makes it more authentic.
Well, what did you NEED to listen to here? Obvioulsy,"Dust My Broom". On this CD though you MUST listen to Elmore and the great Big Joe Turner on "T.V. Mama". Wow, this is a key matchup of blues legends giving their all. "Look On Yonder Wall", "It Hurts Me Too" and the classic "The Cry is Crying" round out the minimum program here. Listen on.
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The first Elmore record to own
Submitted on: 2008-10-15 |
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| Elmore's blues, of all the major blues, had in them the most rock & roll kind of excitement. This is the first Elmore record to own. Next, go for Charly's 3 CD compilation box set King Of The Slide Guitar: The Complete Trumpet, Chief & Fire Sessions, and finally another 3 CD compilation, The Classic Early Recordings 1951-1956 from Ace. This one though - The Sky Is Crying: The History Of Elmore James - still has several tracks, all mighty fine, unavailable on either of those other collections ("The Sun Is Shining", "T.V. Mama", "Madison Blues" and "I Can't Hold Out"). |
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