| CUSTOMER REVIEWS: | 4/5 - ****1/2 - not all of the best. But what's here is great
This 14-song compilation is not everything you could ever want from acoustic country blues duo Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. A couple of their live albums, like the two December, 1961 concerts captured on "Sonny & Brownie At Sugar Hill" and "Backwater Blues" respectively, are at least as good as introduction, but there is certainly nothing wrong with what is here.
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<br />There is a notable lack of good, career-spanning Sonny & Brownie-compilations, and even this August, 2000 disc is a bit on the short side considering that a CD has room for 80 minutes of music. But "Absolutely The Best" is definitely the best single-disc collection there is, and songs like "Walk On", "I'm A Stranger Here", "Dirty Mistreater", and the lesser-known but equally enjoyable "Po' Boy" are all among the duo's best. Indeed, the first two both rank among the all-time acoustic blues classics, and the combination of Sonny Terry's raw freight-train harmonica and gruff vocals and Walter "Brownie" McGhee's softer, more melodic approach guarantees lots of great moments.
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<br />"Absolutely The Best is an entertaining, thoughtfully chosen compilation, and if you get this one along with the two live albums I mentioned earlier, you'll pretty much be set!
<br />Well, alright...there is "Live At The New Penelope Café", too, of course. And "Brownie McGhee & Sonny Terry At The 2nd Fret".
<br />But this is still a great place to start!
5/5 - Absolutely!
This re-mastered version contains some of the finest riffs from Sonny. The quality of the sound is unparalleled. Accompanying Sonny and Brownie on 3 tracks are Lightnin' Hopkins and Big Joe Williams. Tremendous enthusiasm and great teamwork! Sonny was born in my adopted hometown. Probably the best product that this city produced. |
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Sunday, December 27, 2009
Last visit: 26/12/2009
