Various Artists - Juke Joints 3 (CD)

Juke Joints. Dark and noisy rooms bursting with loud music, drunken revelry and an air of imminent violence. A reality which few of us have experienced. Many then present held their lives cheap and carried guns and knives that were used to redress a momentary disagreement or a long-held grudge. Eddie Burns reckoned, 'Mississippi was a rough place. I've seen them gamble and everybody would lay their guns up on the table in the lamplight. There wasn't no electricity back then. So everybody get to shooting in there and the lights go out 'cause the lamplight got a tendency to don't stay lit. A lamp don't when they're shooting in a house.' The music seems to perfectly match the times. Tough, loud and raucous, it was intended to command the attention of people with plenty of distractions. Titles like Alley Special, Locked In Jail Blues and Broke And Hungry tell it like it was. But that's not the only story - songs like Ride My New Car With Me, You'll Always Have A Home and I'm Gonna Love You suggest it wasn't all misery. Here by popular demand is a further collection of sides that might otherwise have been forgotten. So compelling are they that we might - for an incautious second or two - wish ourselves back in those dives. Selection and notes are by Neil Slaven, so you know you're in safe hands.

Track List:

Disc: 1

1. I'm a King Bee
2. My Woman Has a Black Cat Bone
3. Steady
4. Late Hours at Midnight
5. Ludella
6. Sail on, Little Girl
7. Alley Special
8. Play My Juke Box
9. Chicago Blues
10. Shackles Round My Body
11. Throw a Little Boogie
12. Dial 110 Blues
13. About to Lose My Mind
14. You Better Move on Away from Here
15. Applejack Boogie
16. Seems Like a Million Years [TK 1] [Take]
17. Western Union Man
18. Silver Haired Woman
19. She Got Me Walkin'
20. Ride My New Car with Me
21. After Hours
22. 1958 Blues
23. Bad Feeling Blues [Alt] [Alternate Take]
24. Feel So Worried [TK 2] [Take]
25. I Want a Roller
26. Gary Stomp

Disc: 2

1. Operator Blues [TK 3] [Take]
2. My Baby Left Me
3. Lookin' for My Baby [TK 5] [Take]
4. I'm Gonna Love You
5. She's Gone with the Wind
6. Eula Mae
7. Ardelle
8. Happy Home Blues
9. I've Got Love If You Want It
10. That's All Right
11. Hello Central, Please Give Me 209
12. Crying
13. I'll Move You
14. Awful Shame
15. Cadillac Blues
16. Hollywood Boogie
17. Chicken Stuff
18. Please Mam Forgive Me
19. You Better Watch That Jive
20. Walking Talking Blues
21. Locked in Jail Blues
22. Highway 51
23. Jet Black Woman
24. I Had a Dream
25. Got a Letter This Morning
26. Down South

Disc: 3

1. She's Tough
2. Baker Shop Boogie [TK 1] [Take]
3. Ridin' Home
4. Sad and Lonely
5. Crawdad
6. No One to Love Me
7. Wonderin' and Worryin'
8. Lightnin' Slim Boogie
9. A ; B Blues
10. Homesick Blues
11. Fat Mouth
12. Number Writer
13. King's Highway
14. John Henry
15. Jammin'
16. Take It Easy
17. Mr Ticket Agent
18. Which One Do I Love
19. Little School Girl
20. Excuse Me Baby
21. Have You a Match
22. Goin' to New Orleans
23. Want to Boogie-Woogie
24. Love Me Mama
25. Log House on the Hill
26. You'll Always Have a Home

Disc: 4

1. Jimmie's Boogie
2. Rather Be Sloppy Drunk
3. G-Man Blues
4. No One to Love Me
5. Y M ; V Blues
6. Sittin' Here Wonderin'
7. Strange Love
8. Size 4 Shoe
9. I'm in Love
10. You Gotta Lay Down Mama
11. Jelly Roll Man
12. Cold in the Evening
13. Mistreated Blues
14. My Baby's Gone
15. Forgive Me
16. Don't Do It Again
17. Good Lookin' Woman
18. Goin' Back to Mama
19. Truck 'Em on Down
20. Goin' Back Home Today
21. Uncle Sam Blues
22. Harlem Women
23. Don't Want Me Blues
24. Broke and Hungry
25. I Don't Know Why
26. Boogie