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Hambone Willie Newbern wasn't as well thought of in the area as maybe he should have been... when Yank's mother heard he'd traded the pig for a mandolin she said 'Well, that's OK son, this winter, when we're all eating meat, you can eat that mandolin' - Yank Rachell, as told by Steve James, Port Townsend 97

Author Topic: Which is the best source for Blind Lemon Jefferson?  (Read 9526 times)

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Offline paulreso1

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Which is the best source for Blind Lemon Jefferson?
« on: April 29, 2009, 08:13:53 AM »
Hi
I am a guitar player & love BLJ's music.  Understandably, it is not the highest recording quality, but there are several versions of BLJ's music available.  I wonder if anyone can point me in the direction of the best remastering of this classic music (I particularly would love to hear the guitar parts more distinctly)

thanks
Paul

Offline Slack

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Offline uncle bud

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Re: Which is the best source for Blind Lemon Jefferson?
« Reply #2 on: April 29, 2009, 08:46:27 AM »
Hi Paul - the CDs Slack points to are the basic completist choices, though really only the Yazoo Best Of can claim to be "improved".

If you are getting down to the individual song level, it's worth seeking out the older, out-of-print Yazoo CD King of the Country Blues for some stuff that was replaced on the Best Of disc, for a couple tracks that are superior to the transfers on the JSP set.

The CDs that come with the Blues Images calendar each year have included several tracks by Lemon. Some of these already appear on the Yazoo. Others are better transfers that don't appear on the Yazoo, like Lemon's Worried Blues, Christmas Eve Blues and Black Snake Moan No. 2. Perhaps they appear on some of the Yazoo compilations like the Times Ain't Like They Used to Be series, I don't know, haven't checked.

Hope that helps.

Offline Great Bear

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Re: Which is the best source for Blind Lemon Jefferson?
« Reply #3 on: April 29, 2009, 10:03:27 AM »
Black Swan's Blind Lemon Jefferson CD sounds significantly better than Yazoo's two offerings.

Offline uncle bud

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Re: Which is the best source for Blind Lemon Jefferson?
« Reply #4 on: April 29, 2009, 10:10:48 AM »
Thanks for the info, Great Bear. Good to know.

Offline paulreso1

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Re: Which is the best source for Blind Lemon Jefferson?
« Reply #5 on: April 29, 2009, 10:43:07 AM »
Hi all ...thanks for the information...I will check out the Black Swan CD

Paul

Offline Great Bear

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Re: Which is the best source for Blind Lemon Jefferson?
« Reply #6 on: April 29, 2009, 11:08:18 AM »
Paramount Blues: Early Morning Blues (Black Swan) is also worth owning for it's four BLJ tracks: Yo Yo Blues, Bootin' Me 'Bout, Empty House Blues and Bed Springs Blues.

Offline doctorpep

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Blind Lemon Sets
« Reply #7 on: October 18, 2009, 06:51:24 AM »
Hello, everyone. I'd like to know if you recommend Blind Lemon's Texas Blues Box set, which also includes early T-Bone and Little Hat Jones, or the 4 cd JSP box set? Apparently, the former has 1 more song than the JSP set.

Did Lemon record 94 or 95 songs?

If anyone owns both of these, what are the advantages and disadvantages of each?

Thanks so much!
"There ain't no Heaven, ain't no burning Hell. Where I go when I die, can't nobody tell."

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Offline uncle bud

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Re: Blind Lemon Sets
« Reply #8 on: October 18, 2009, 09:25:01 AM »
Hi doctor pep,

It looks like the the set from Snapper includes an additional take of Corinna Blues. The JSP set does not include this first take of Corinna, plus it does not include third versions of Got the Blues, and Long Lonesome Blues. The latter two do not look like they're on the Snapper set. All three of these alt. takes are available on Document, DOCD-5625, Too Late, Too Late Vol 11. I have not heard the Snapper release but I would guess that much like JSP it does not involve much actual remastering beyond playing with EQ and is taken from existing material (such as one would find on Document). Though I would be curious to hear from anyone who has done an A/B of the sets. Don't know whether the Snapper documentation includes discographical information. JSP does.

UB

Offline blueshome

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Re: Blind Lemon Sets
« Reply #9 on: October 19, 2009, 02:45:58 AM »
I have the Snapper set in front of me, I was just listening to a Willie Reed song. It has reasonable sound (I haven't heard the JSP, but I doubt there'll be a lot in it on past experience) and a 20-odd page booklet including a discography. At the price you can't go wrong.

Offline doctorpep

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Re: Blind Lemon Sets
« Reply #10 on: October 19, 2009, 04:49:29 AM »
Thank you very much for all of the information, Mr. Gibson and Mr. Hutchison!=)
"There ain't no Heaven, ain't no burning Hell. Where I go when I die, can't nobody tell."

http://www.hardluckchild.blogspot.com/

Offline Gingergeezer

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Re: Which is the best source for Blind Lemon Jefferson?
« Reply #11 on: November 10, 2009, 05:18:03 AM »
The best remaster of Jefferson's music I have ever heard is on the Pristine Audio label.
http://www.pristineclassical.com/LargeWorks/Jazz/Jazz-Blues.html

All of their Blues CDs feature astonishing sound quality and the jefferson one is particularly impressive. (The Robert Johnson ones are just staggering!)

Hope this helps.

Offline Norfolk Slim

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Re: Which is the best source for Blind Lemon Jefferson?
« Reply #12 on: November 10, 2009, 06:35:30 AM »
There are mixed views on the pristine treatments.

Personally I agree that the Lemon one is excellent- you can hear the top end wailing vocals without them breaking up and being harsh on the ear.

But then there's a some value in that harshness which arguably you lose....  Certainly sounds more "real" to me and less the product of a cheaply pressed record.  Worth a try.

Offline misterjones

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Blind Lemon Jefferson - Best Audio
« Reply #13 on: March 27, 2011, 04:20:04 PM »
This has been discussed generally here before (and I'm aware of the page that contains suggested reading and listening), but I wanted to focus on the P-Vine releases.  I have the JSP set.  About a year ago someone opined that the P-Vine set was better.  A CD seller at another site concluded the Patton P-Vine set was the same as the Document Patton set.  I thought the Jefferson JSPs were as good or better than the Jefferson Documents.  And so it all seems to go in circles.

I'm VERY skeptical the Jefferson P-Vines are noticably better that the JSP set.  Are they?  (I have the Pristine Audio and Yazoo versions and I think they are better than the JSPs.  What I'm trying to determine is whether it's worth paying the price for the P-Vines as a relacement for the JSPs as my complete set.  I'm aware the JSPs are three short of complete, but I could download those.)
« Last Edit: March 27, 2011, 06:32:59 PM by misterjones »

Offline uncle bud

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Re: Which is the best source for Blind Lemon Jefferson?
« Reply #14 on: March 28, 2011, 07:52:35 AM »
This has been discussed generally here before (and I'm aware of the page that contains suggested reading and listening), but I wanted to focus on the P-Vine releases.  I have the JSP set.  About a year ago someone opined that the P-Vine set was better.  A CD seller at another site concluded the Patton P-Vine set was the same as the Document Patton set.  I thought the Jefferson JSPs were as good or better than the Jefferson Documents.  And so it all seems to go in circles.

I'm VERY skeptical the Jefferson P-Vines are noticably better that the JSP set.  Are they?  (I have the Pristine Audio and Yazoo versions and I think they are better than the JSPs.  What I'm trying to determine is whether it's worth paying the price for the P-Vines as a relacement for the JSPs as my complete set.  I'm aware the JSPs are three short of complete, but I could download those.)

I merged this topic since we already had one dealing with the best Lemon audio. I haven't heard the P-Vine set myself.

I should add that, unless a company is working from totally new transfers, I too would be very skeptical, since it is otherwise playing around with EQ and some digital tricks that may not have much to add. I don't have the Pristine CD but found the sample sounded somewhat "digital" to me.
« Last Edit: March 28, 2011, 08:10:01 AM by uncle bud »

 


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