This collection contains all the Skip James tracks released by Paramount records in 1931 in chronological order.
Personnel includes: Skip James (vocals, guitar, piano).
Includes liner notes by Steve Calt.
Personnel: Skip James (vocals, guitar, piano).
Recording information: 02/1931.
THE COMPLETE EARLY RECORDINGS by Skip James is one of the most essential blues albums in existence. With a voice that sounds like wind carving away rock (he sings in a high, quavering falsetto ringed with knowledge and pain), James laid down some of the most chilling acoustic blues ever set to wax.
"Devil Got My Woman," which opens this collection, is a case in point: a snaking siren song that leads down to the root of loss and mortal dread (if that description sounds like an exaggeration, listen to the track). James's deft, fingerpicking is everywhere in evidence, especially on the uncharacteristically ebullient "I'm So Glad." The surface noise of these old 78s is a distraction, but even that can't dilute the unbelievable power of these performances.
Professional Reviews
Down Beat (8/95, p.55) - 5 Stars - Excellent - "...this haunting collection...has the power to catch you by the throat. Using his high, keening voice and refined modal guitar picking, James infuses `rags' and blues with an inner-directed melancholy that perfectly fits his lyrics on death, desolation, devilry and the Depression..."
Mojo (Publisher) (4/01, p.44) - "...Enigmatic and fascinating..."
