various / rhythm & blues

The History of Rhythm & Blues (1942-1952)

This second volume in The History Of Rhythm & Blues series is a comprehensive and lavish package comprising four CDs (stretching across a decade from 1942 onwards) and book-sized 64-page booklet giving biographical insights and contextual explanations on the evolution of the rhythm & blues movement. The CDs are divided up according to movements and sub-divisions within the genre rather than doggedly following a timeline, and this makes for a more informative and enjoyable way of listening through the anthology. The first disc deals with West Coast Blues and piano boogie-woogie, drawing on T-Bone Walker & Marle Young's Orchestra, Dinah Washington, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Big Joe Turner and the King Cole Trio, before the second CD moves on to gospel, the Chittlin Circuit and down home blues from Muddy Waters, Johnny Otis, Lightnin' Hopkins (NB: when Lightnin' Hopkins sings 'Let Me Play With Your Poodle', he may not be expressing an interest in small dogs), John Lee Hooker and Hank Williams. Next comes the third disc charting the nascent strands of rock & roll music, before finally disc four heads over to New Orleans, where R&B was infiltrated by Latin influences from rhumba and mambo beats. A massive collection that'll supply countless hours of listening (and reading) pleasure.