Lonnie Donegan "Midnight Special" - The Skiffle Years 1953 - 1957

meines erachtens die wesentlich bessere zusammenstellung als die bear family cd box. gruss von der pussycat (Garageland)

As any skiffle enthusiast will tell you, there's no shortage of Lonnie Donegan compilations out there, ranging from not-too-fully packed hits collections to Bear Family's eight-CD tome. But this three-CD 73-song set is probably the best compromise between those two extremes, and manages to cover even more territory than the Bear Family set, especially on the early side of Donegan's history, making it an essential purchase even for those who own the Bear Family box. Going all the way back to 1953 radio broadcasts, and performances by Donegan as part of Ken Colyer's band, listeners are treated to a full 15 minutes of formative skiffle music (prior to it even having an accepted name) before we get to the legendary Decca Records release of "Rock Island Line." And then we get more live radio broadcasts between that record and his equally definitive "Diggin' My Potatoes," which pushed Donegan off of Decca. And after that, we're treated to some incredibly obscure sides -- perfectly valid folk, blues, gospel, and even New Orleans-flavored jazz -- that Donegan cut for Oriole and EMI-Columbia, which are usually overlooked even by many devotees of his work. Fans will be listening for an hour before this set gets to its first sides from the Pye/Nixa label (still using the Polygon name at the time), which is the company with which most people associate Donegan. And even after that, we're treated to a liberal dose of live radio broadcasts and unissued takes. The riches just pour off of these three CDs, which never slacken even toward the end of 1957, when skiffle had seemingly run out its commercial string -- and that's mostly because Donegan never lost his enthusiasm, and also never limited himself, and was equally adept at all of those other genres. So just when the listener might think the material is starting to get a little repetitive, the repertory switches gears, into lean guitar blues or a horn-driven New Orleans vein, and it all sounds incredibly authentic on its own terms. Especially on the early sides, Donegan shares the spotlight at times with Chris Barber and Ken Colyer, the two bandleaders with whom he was associated early on, as well as guitarist (and sometime singer) Dickie Bishop, and shares vocals with British jazz queen Ottilie Patterson on "When I Move to the Sky"); and guitarist Denny Wright is all over most of this set, as well. The whole set is a treat from beginning to end, even for listeners who are very familiar with the repertory or sound, based on the live and broadcast sides represented, and the sound is killer. The annotation by Roger Dopson is also extremely thorough, though one wishes that the art director had not made Dopson's work so difficult to read, using print that only a somewhat darker shade than the tan background against which it is printed. - by Bruce Eder

trax disc 1:
01 Hard Time Blues (Live) 02 Nobody's Child (Live) 03 You Don't Know My Mind (Live) 04 Midnight Special (Voc- Ken Colyer) (Live) 05 John Henry (Radio Session) 06 Midnight Special (Voc- Ken Colyer) (Radio Session) 07 Rock Island Line (Single) 08 John Henry (Single) 09 Nobody's Child (Unissued) 10 Wabash Cannonball (Unissued) 11 Precious Lord, Lead Me On (Live) 12 Over In The New Burying Ground (Live) 13 Leavin' Blues (Live) 14 Bury My Body (Single) 15 Diggin' My Potatoes (Single) 16 The Passing Stranger (Single) 17 On A Christmas Day (Single) 18 Take My Hand, Precious Lord (Single) 19 When I Move To The Sky (Voc- Ottilie Patterson) (Radio Broadcast) 20 On A Monday (Radio Broadcast) 21 Midnight Special (Backstairs Session Ep) 22 When The Sun Goes Down (Backstairs Session Ep) 23 New Buryin' Ground (Backstairs Session Ep) 24 Worried Man Blues (Vocal- Dickie Bishop) (Backstairs Session Ep) 25 Harmonica Blues (Harmonica- Chris Barber) (Unissued)
trax disc 2:
01 (In The Evening) When The Sun Goes Down (Radio Broadcast) 02 Midnight Special (Radio Broadcast) 03 Lost John (Radio Broadcast) 04 Goin' Down The Road Feelin' Bad (Voc- Dickie Bishop) (Radio Broadcast) 05 Railroad Bill (Radio Broadcast) 06 Lost John (Single) 07 Stewball (Single) 08 The Ballad Of Jesse James (Voc- Dickie Bishop) (Skiffle Session Ep) 09 Ol' Riley (Skiffle Session Ep) 10 Railroad Bill (Skiffle Session Ep) 11 Stackalee (Stack O'lee) (Voc- Dickie Bishop) (Skiffle Session Ep) 12 Bring A Little Water, Sylvie (Single) 13 Dead Or Alive (Single) 14 Wabash Cannonball (Lonnie Donegan Showcase Lp) 15 Nobody's Child (Lonnie Donegan Showcase Lp) 16 I Shall Not Be Moved (Lonnie Donegan Showcase Lp) 17 I'm Alabammy Bound (Lonnie Donegan Showcase Lp) 18 I'm A Ramblin' Man (Lonnie Donegan Showcase Lp) 19 Wreck Of The Old '97 (Lonnie Donegan Showcase Lp) 20 How Long, How Long Blues (Lonnie Donegan Showcase Lp) 21 Frankie And Johnny (Lonnie Donegan Showcase Lp) 22 I've Got Rocks In My Bed (Unissued) 23 Rock Island Line (Unissued) 24 Don't You Rock Me Daddy-O (Single)
trax disc 3:
01 On A Monday (Donegan On Stage Ep) 02 Old Hannah (Go Down Old Hannah) (Donegan On Stage Ep) 03 Mule Skinner Blues (Donegan On Stage Ep) 04 Precious Memories (Voc- Dickie Bishop) (Donegan On Stage Outtake) 05 Brother Moses Smote The Water (Donegan On Stage Outtake) 06 Ella Speed (Donegan On Stage Outtake) 07 Glory (False Start) (Donegan On Stage Outtake) 08 Black Girl (Donegan On Stage Outtake) 09 Glory (Donegan On Stage Ep) 10 I'm Alabammy Bound (Radio Broadcast) 11 Cumberland Gap (Radio Broadcast) 12 Don't You Rock Me Daddy-O (Radio Broadcast) 13 Bring A Little Water, Sylvie (Radio Broadcast) 14 Cumberland Gap (Single) 15 Love Is Strange (Single) 16 Puttin' On The Style (Single) 17 Gamblin' Man (Single) 18 My Dixie Darling (Single) 19 I'm Just A Rolling Stone (Single) 20 Jack O'diamonds (Single) 21 Ham'n'eggs (Single) 22 Hard Travellin' (Unissued) 23 The Grand Coulee Dam (Single) 24 Nobody Loves Like An Irishman (Single)
...served by pussycat (Garageland)...