Tuesday, 29 May 2018

The Rough Guide To Jug Band Blues


Rating: 5/5

Review:
A brilliant release


Amazon seem to have mixed up reviews from several Rough Guides here.  To be clear: this is a review of The Rough Guide To Jug Band Blues.

This is excellent, like all the Rough Guides to various blues genres.  It is very well curated and the sound is very good.

The music itself is wonderful.  Jug Bands were a very varied bunch and some of the music here is stretching the definition of blues pretty widely, but that's fine with me.  The tracks vary from the well-known, like the wonderful, stomping opener, He's In The Jailhouse Now to the downright obscure, but every one is a gem in its own right.  There is a wealth of wonderful, high-energy playing, some top-class singing (try Memphis Minnie!) and the whole thing is an absolute pleasure from start to finish.

The remastering is excellent.  The sound reflects the period, of course, but much of the hiss and crackle has been very well cleaned up and there's a surprising and gratifying amount of jug bass audible on quite a few tracks.

I think this is an absolutely brilliant release and I can recommend it very warmly.

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