Various Artists – Full Spectrum Blues – Star Sounds SS3711-2

What an interesting and engaging blues assemblage this is!  Originally released in 1996, this four-CD set, divided into “Rural Blues”, “Piano Blues & Boogie Woogie”, “Classic Blues & Vaudeville”, and “Urban Blues” (though that is a bit of a loose term as it considers the music only up to the 1940s), provides blues pleasure for everybody across its 65 tracks, no matter their blues preference.   

A compelling case could be made that this collection offers the blues greenhorn with a comprehensive initial introduction into blues music; that’s certainly a valid argument.  Nevertheless, it is sufficiently varied, and includes adequately obscure songs, as to render it of substantial worth to even the most earnest of blues collectors.  The compilers of this wide-ranging blues anthology did an outstanding job augmenting the ultimate listenability of the oldest selections, considering what must have been the source materials, and the included 14-page booklet delivers stimulating performer biographical data.

If you do some investigative work, this superlative compilation can still be found.  Highly-recommended, indeed! 

Song Titles

Space constraints prohibit the listing of all titles.  Instead, the following individual disc information conveys the artists represented on each respective CD.

CD One – “Rural Blues”

Charley Patton, Henry Thomas, Papa Charlie Jackson, Frank Stokes, Blind Blake, Mississippi Sheiks, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Son House, Blind Willie Johnson, Cannon’s Jug Stompers, Robert Johnson, Blind Willie McTell, Bukka White, Big Joe Williams, Blind Boy Fuller & Sonny Terry, Tommy McClennan.

CD Two – “Piano Blues & Boogie Woogie”

Little Brother Montgomery, Jimmy Blythe & Buddy Burton, Pine Top Smith, Leroy Carr with Scrapper Blackwell, Cripple Clarence Lofton, Jimmy Yancey, Meade Lux Lewis, Bill Gaither, Roosevelt Sykes, Curtis Jones, Peetie Wheatstraw, Walter Davis, Pete Johnson, Big Maceo, Memphis Slim, Albert Ammons.

CD Three – “Classic Blues & Vaudeville”

Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Mamie Smith, Alberta Hunter, Ida Cox, Butterbeans & Susie, Rosa Henderson, Bertha Hill, Clara Smith, Lucille Hegamin, Sara Martin, Coot Grant & Sox Wilson, Viola McCoy, Sippie Wallace, Lizzie Miles, Victoria Spivey.

CD Four – “Urban Blues”

Washboard Sam, Tampa Red, Bumble Bee Slim, Memphis Minnie, Ollie Shepard, Yas Sippy Girl, Jimmie Gordon, Big Bill Broonzy, Lil Green, Big Joe Turner, Trixie Smith, Georgia White, Doctor Clayton, Harlem Hamfats, Sonny Boy Williamson, Jimmy Rushing, Billie Holiday.