C.W. Stoneking - King Hokum

Am I living in the right times? Wouldn't I rather have been born in the, say, 1940's so I could experience the 60's and 70's first hand? Well, yes, that would've been interesting but I'm not sure if it would be so much fun without internet. It's a 'small' question compared to C.W. Stoneking's dilemma since he seems to be born roughly 80 years too late.
This guy plays pre-WW2 music like an original. Blues from the delta and the country, with some other influences from the 1920's. He makes it sound genuine without becoming tacky, clean or cheap. Stoneking is a worthy addition to historical music and no replacement, although you'll find it hard to distinguish his music from the songs that really are early recordings.
What does separate him is more diversity in styles. King Hokum is a little like a catalog of old music which prevents listening through this album from becoming boring, also because he adds bits of humor to his craftsmanship.
Voodoo Rhythm, 2005

C.W. Stoneking - King Hokum

Ruthie Foster - The Phenomenal

Phenomenal? I leave that up to you to decide. This album is my introduction to Ruthie Foster but it's her 5th album already. With her voice she can be labeled as a contemporary soul singer, more influenced by music from the past than attempting to get chart success with modern RnB.
Her voice is worth listening to, it's the best quality of this album imho, next to the lyrics which are mostly written by herself. Musically she explores soul, blues and gospel, but nothing particularly remarkable here; it's skillful and tasteful but fairly traditional singer/songwriter.
I guess that's the point here, this album is a 'masterpiece' in that it proves a competent craftswoman. From here on we, the audience, are allowed to expect even more than she already delivers providing Ruthie Foster gets the stage she deserves, and for that it's a first start to get to know her.
Blue Corn Music, 2006

Ruthie Foster - The Phenomenal

Arthur Conley & The Sweaters - Recorded Live In Amsterdam

This can be finally brought to a closure. I received an innocent email from Jack whether I had anything by 'Lee Roberts'. I didn't, but he knew the artist under his former name Arthur Conley. From just curious I got intrigued when I found out that Conley had lived in the Netherlands under the name Lee Roberts and that there indeed was a recording made by him using that name. It was based on a public performance by the great Arthur Conley, immortalized by his one smash hit 'Sweet soul music'.
Conley lived and died in the small village Ruurlo, the last place you'd expect a soul legend to live which was probably precisely why he lived there.
I got the LP with the concert but then couldn't get that digitized, to my own frustration and not in the last place Jack's. The LP is rather rare since it was released by a small label and almost nobody had heard of Lee Roberts (or The Sweaters). Miraculously, this year finally saw the release of that concert on CD, 27 years after the gig itself (a Thank You to those who got me some rips early!).
It's an excellent release, it has more songs than on the LP and comes with a bonus DVD with a documentary and interview. The extensive booklet has his biography and numerous pictures of the concert, together with Conley's relevant discography.
The recordings were made during 3 performances in Amsterdam. It all started with some local musicians being impressed by the voice of the unknown American. He didn't mind working with this enthusiast band of soul-novices and a live performance was only natural. However, word spread fast it was the great Arthur Conley performing so the gigs got more and more crowded. The renewed popularity made Arthur Conley realize it wasn't what he was after, which brought the band to an end after a few more shows. 8 years later the tapes resurfaced and were released with the condition the name Arthur Conley was to be omitted and Lee Roberts used in stead.
Roberts didn't leave the music biz altogether, there must be more recordings of him, if only as a guest artist, and there were more performances, again if only as a guest artist. He even planned to pick up his career again, as Arthur Conley, but his death in 2003 at the age of 57 cut those plans short.
I've ripped the CD, not the DVD. I managed to get fairly decent scans of the LP and CD covers (the LP cover was too big for my scanner) and I've included those so you can compare the tracklists and artwork of the CD and LP.
Walboomers Music, 2007

Arthur Conley & The Sweaters - Recorded Live In Amsterdam

Hazmat Modine - Bahamut

This album sold itself, according to the guys at the record store. All they had to do was play it in the shop and someone would take a copy of their hands. I can testify that's true; it's how I bought the CD.
The booklet contains some beautiful old photographs but doesn't tell anything about the musicians, for that I had to use the internet. The band is a bunch of New York based guys, mostly session musicians, mostly with a jazz background.
The music is the interesting part. It's old, traditional influences mixed into something new. Blues based but through that you can hear old jazz, Jewish music, Caribbean, Eastern European, etcetera, there's a lot to discover if you want to peal it apart but it's no less fascinating as a unit on it's own, probably even more so.
Most of the recordings are a few years old already, the CD was released somewhere last year but for me this is the discovery of 2007.
Barbes Records, 2006

Hazmat Modine - Bahamut
(nw link 2008-03-24