Various Artists - Baby, How Can It Be? Songs of Love, Lust and Contempt from the 1920s and 1930s [Digipak]

Artist:

Various Artists

UPC:

880226001629

Description:

Illustrator: R. Crumb.
Dust to Digital always does an impressive job of providing compelling thematic material in artfully designed packaging. This has been true since their debut offering, Goodbye, Babylon, that showcased Southern sacred song and oratory. Baby, How Can It Be? Songs of Love Lust and Contempt from the 1920s and 1930s (the label`s 16th release), follows suit. Assembled from the 78 collection of John Heneghan, this three-disc, 66-track set looks at its title subjects from all sides. It travels disc by disc from the first flush and ardor of romance, through the heat and passion of eros, to the tales of terror, depression, and violence that occur when the flower of belladonna replaces the rose`s bloom. Baby How Can It Be? contains selections by familiar names such as the Mississippi Sheiks, Bo Carter,Cab Calloway, and Blind Lemon Jefferson, but there are plenty of obscure artists and songs too. Blues, jazz, old-timey folk, urban "pop" tunes, bluegrass, brass bands, yodels, wild, raw rural jams -- check "I Ain`t a Bit Drunk" by George "Short Buckle" Roark and tell us what it is -- are all included. Disc one, the "Love" disc, features romantic and sometimes syrupy songs one would usually associate with a thematic compilation like this, but all selections are wonderfully chosen and a pleasure to hear. Even here, however, there is complexity; as love can breed darkness too, as "Insane Crazy Blues" by Charlie Burse & the Memphis Jug Band, "Lost Lover Blues" by Lottie Kimbrough & Winston Holmes, and "Don`t Leave Me Here" by Henry "Ragtime Texas" Thomas, reveal. Disc two --the "Lust" disc-- offers sensually suggestive tomes such as Ukelele Ike`s "If You Can`t Land `Er on the Old Veranda" and the originally recorded version of "Tip Toe Through The Tulips with Me" by Eddie Peabody. But there are downright bawdy and scandalous ones as well: Harry Roy & His Bat Club Boys` "Pussy," Hartman`s Heart Breakers` "Let Me Play with It," and Frank Quinn`s "Murphy`s Wife" -- the tale of a drunken Irish threesome -- attest. The "Contempt" disc offers the widest range of emotion and musical diversity. There are tales of heartbreak so profound they result in self loathing -- Laura Smith`s barroom betrayal blues "I`m Gonna Kill Myself" and the Callahan Brothers` high lonesome "I Want to Ask the Stars" are examples. Hostility abounds in "You`re Gonna Look Like a Monkey When You Get Old" by Robert Hill; "Married Girl`s Troubles" by Hazel Scherf gives way to the desperate in Mississippi Matilda`s "Hard Working Woman"; while relief comes in the wild brass band jazz of "After You`ve Gone" by Alphonse Trent & His Orchestra, and the criminal, in Fiddlin` John Carson`s "Its a Shame to Whip Your Wife on Sunday." With a terrific set of liner notes by Nick Tosches and a centerfold illustration by R. Crumb, this set isn`t just for vintage American music fans, it`s for virtually anyone interested in the blessings and burdens caused by love or the lack of it. ~ Thom Jurek

Track Listing:

DISC 1: LOVE:

1. Baby, How Can It Be? - Bo Carter
2. My Angeline - Mississippi Maulers
3. I Wants My Lulu - Welling & McGhee
4. If I Had My Way - Norridge Mayhams & His Barbecue Boys
5. We Courted in the Rain - Dock Walsh
6. Poche Town - Joseph Falcon
7. My Pretty Little Indian Napanee - Davey Miller
8. Hapa Haole Hula Girl - Kalama`s Quartette
9. Sweetest Girl in Town - Oscar Ford
10. I`m Crazy `Bout My Baby - Ted Lewis & His Band
11. That`s What the Old Bachelor`s Made Out Of - Taylor`s Kentucky Boys
12. Then I`ll Be Happy - Fletcher Henderson & His Orchestra
13. Always Marry Your Lover - Dick Reinhart
14. Johnny, Will You Marry Me? - Dan Sullivan`s Shamrock Band
15. That`s What I Call Keen - Eddie South & His Alabamians
16. Insane Crazy Blues - Memphis Jug Band/Charlie Burse
17. Lost Lover Blues - Winston Holmes/Lottie Kimbrough
18. My Four Reasons - "Banjo" Ikey Robinson & His Bull Fiddle Band
19. Hard for to Love - Hayes Shepherd
20. Don`t Leave Me Here - Henry Thomas

DISC 2: LUST:

1. Gal That Got Stuck on Everything She Seen, The - Uncle Dave Macon
2. Tomi, Tomi - Kanui & Lula
3. Minnie the Mermaid (A Love Song in Fish Time) - Bernie Cummins & His Hotel New Yorker Orchestra
4. I`d Feel Much Better - Virginia Four
5. Mama You`re a Mess - Kid Smith And Family
6. Pussy - Harry Roy & His Bat Club Boys
7. It`s Heated - Frankie "Half-Pint" Jaxon
8. I Ain`t a Bit Drunk - George Short Buckle Roark
9. Shortnin` Bread - Bobbie Leecan`s Need-More Band
10. Strut That Thing - Cripple Clarence Lofton
11. Tip Toe Thru the Tulips with Me - Eddie Peabody
12. Wild About My Loving - Lonnie Coleman
13. There`s More Pretty Girls Than One - Rutherford & Foster
14. I`m Feelin` Devilish - Fess Williams & His Royal Flush Orchestra
15. Let Me Play with It - Hartman`s Heartbreakers
16. If You Can`t Land `Er on the Old Veranda - Cliff "Ukelele Ike" Edwards
17. Murphy`s Wife - Frank Quinn
18. Queen of the South Sea Isles - Hawaiian Beach Combers
19. How I Got My Gal - Clyde Evans Band
20. Nehi Mama Blues - Frank Stokes
21. Curley-Heade Woman - Burnett & Rutherford

DISC 3: CONTEMPT:

1. I`m Gonna Kill Myself - Laura Smith
2. She Ain`t Built That Way - Asa Martin
3. How Can You Look so Good? - Cliff "Ukelele Ike" Edwards
4. You Gonna Look Like a Monkey When You Get Old - Robert Hill
5. I`m Wearin` the Britches Now - Bill Carlisle
6. Sweet to Mama - State Street Boys
7. I Used to Call Her Baby - Dallas String Band
8. I Got Worry (Love Is on My Mind) - Doc Cook & His 14 Doctors of Syncopation
9. He Went in Like a Lion (But Came Out Like a Lamb) - The Carolina Buddies
10. Married Girls Troubles - Hazel Scherf
11. Some of These Days - Cab Calloway & His Orchestra
12. Who Stole De Lock? - The Georgia Browns
13. Pretty Mama Blues - Joe Linthecome
14. I Want to Ask the Stars - The Callahan Brothers
15. Some Cold Rainy Day - Bertha "Chippie" Hill
16. Corinna Blues - Blind Lemon Jefferson
17. Big Leg Blues - Mississippi John Hurt
18. I Don`t Let the Girls Worry My Mind - Crowder Brothers
19. Wimmin-Aaah! - The Broadway Bell-Hops
20. World Is Going Wrong, The - Mississippi Sheiks
21. Left All Alone Again Blues - Lowe Stokes & His North Georgians
22. After You`ve Gone - Alphonse Trent & His Orchestra
23. It`s a Shame to Whip Your Wife on Sunday - Fiddlin` John Carson & His Virginia Reelers
24. Hard Working Woman - Mississippi Matilda
25. Worrying Blues - Macon Ed/Tampa Joe

Album Information

Release Date:

10/26/2010

Type:

Collection

Genre:

Country

Subgenre:

Bluegrass

Label:

Dust-to-Digital

Producer:

Steven Lance Ledbetter; John Heneghan

Catalog Number:

16

Original Release Year:

2010

# of Discs:

3

Studio/Live:

Studio

Mono/Stereo:

Stereo

Runtime:

196 : 41

Portions copyright 2005 Muze Inc. All rights reserved.