(I put the title in all caps for you Axel)
Here is Axel talking about the blues and God and such.
A lot can change in say, A MONTH. Before, I was known as ‘Hudson P. Hudson Hudson’, a regular guy with a backdoor blogging problem. Now, I am known as ‘Hudson P. Hudson Hudson’, byline?
WRITER!
YES I have graduated properly into a world populated by the likes of Hemingway, Borges and Bruce Campbell. But I am a good man. I do not forget what made me the successful figure I am today. As long as my fingers can still furiously tap tap tap away on a borrowed keyboard, then by golly I’ll still write for my friend’s motherFUCKING blog!
Anyway, welcome, you SHIT to another Hudson P. Hudson Hudson ATTACK on the senses. Tonight’s topic of discussion? Yep, you guessed it, REVENANT RECORDS’ AMERICAN PRIMITIVE VOL. 1: RAW PRE-WAR GOSPEL COMP (so much caps in this bitch!) I decided that I gotta classy up this blog a bit. Sure there’s a bunch of cool shit on here, especially the stuff I write about, I mean crap dude, I like good music, but there is a distinct lack of I don’t know, BLUES on this blog.
And yeah, this ain’t any of that pussy willow ‘Eric Clapton pissing around in E Blues’ bullshit, this is fucking RAW as a goddamned piece of BLUE MEAT. Of course I’m a white guy student. Get off that stuff. Anyway, so some context I guess. You know that guy John Fahey? I know that guy John Fahey. One of the few musical figures I would call a personal hero. Man is just a legend. So in the 90’s he and a mate started this record label, Revenant, specializing in basically ‘Music you should be listening to.’ They released new (at the time) Jim O’Rourke, reissued some classic Cecil Taylor Trio recordings and compiled some of the greatest compilations of American Folk/Blues you’ll ever hear. This is one of them.
So what’s the difference between Delta Blues and Gospel? Well, let’s look at two artists which are considered some of the finest Bluesman ever to have strummed (they are not on this compilation for obvious reasons (the reason is you know who they are.)), Son House and Blind Willie Johnson. Now, Son House had a bunch of songs about owning one to no shoes, or having a ladyfriend that was two timing him with a horse, or other such as ‘Blues’ songs. That’s fine. That’s ok.
Blind Willie Johnson had songs about the crucifixion of Jesus Christ (listen to ‘Dark was the night, Cold was the ground’ and believe in God).
So there’s that. This is 78 minutes of dead dudes/ladies bangin’ away on cheap instruments, recorded on even cheaper and nastier equipment, wailing about how much they love God or how He is a vengeful figure.
AND THIS ABSOLUTELY FUCKING RULES.
Listen, consider Blind Roosevelt Graves and Brother’s ‘Woke up This Morning with My Mind on Jesus’, one of the hottest religious records ever made according to Fahey’s liner notes. I’m inclined to agree. (By the way, if you ain’t a cheap shit you DEFINITELY should seek this package out. The notes written by Fahey are both informative and hilarious.)
Or maybe cover star Charley Patton (aka Elder J.J Hadley)’s two parter ‘Prayer of Death’. Hell, there’s 26 bloody tracks on here, you’ll seek out your favourites and remove your duds. There’s songs here for everybody but there’s a common thread, OBVIOUSLY between them all and I’m not talking just about the poor recording quality, which is part of the Revenant experience, they ain’t cleanin’ up these 45s for anybody, especially not you.
The common thread is the power of religious expression.
I mean, I am by no means a God-fearing man but I connect with this on a personal level. Here is the inevitable personal anecdote: I’ve been listening to this for about a month or so pretty heavily and it came about to Valentine’s Day, you know of this day? And yeah I know it’s a Hallmark Holiday of the highest order but goddamn it, I’m a lonely guy. So I was lonely. And I bought some red wine and I was just thinking about writing myself off listening to some blues on this night. Because that’s what I wanted to do.
And I did, for a while. I just sat there and drank my cleanskin Merlot while these dead and buried men and women poured their SOULS out on shellac for the Lord. So I did what any self-respecting guy would do; I made Pokemon themed Valentine’s pun E-card for this lady I fucking adore. The LORD or rather this record just made me think ‘everything’s cool, man. Just have fun with yourself.’
So basically this ramble is saying, you’ll find what you like and don’t like in this comp, it’s a deep, deep well of material. But even the hardest atheist, or Richard ‘I’m possibly the biggest cunt in the universe’ Dawkins cannot deny that all the artists represented on this comp and others like it wail and moan for the Lord because, well, they just have to. And the results are often spectacular.
Believe in God, if only for a little while.
Buy
Sorry ya'll I cannot find a download link just now. I will upload it asap though
