Bessie Smith - The Complete Recordings Vol 1-5 [FLAC+CUE]

Bessie Smith - The Complete Recordings Vol. 1 - 5 EAC Rip | FLAC + Cue | Scans | Label: Columbia/Legacy C2K 47091 | 10 Discs The first major blues and jazz singer on record and one of the most powerful of all time, Bessie Smith rightly earned the title of "The Empress of the Blues." Even on her first records in 1923, her passionate voice overcame the primitive recording quality of the day and still communicates easily to today's listeners (which is not true of any other singer from that early period). At a time when the blues were in and most vocalists (particularly vaudevillians) were being dubbed "blues singers," Bessie Smith simply had no competition. In the 1970s, Bessie Smith's recordings were reissued on five double LPs. Her CD reissue series also has five volumes with the main difference being that the final volume includes all of her rare alternate takes (which were bypassed on LP). The first set (which, as with all of the CD volumes, is housed in an oversize box that includes an informative booklet) contains her first 38 recordings. During this early era, Bessie Smith had no competitors on record and she was one of the few vocalists who could overcome the primitive recording techniques; her power really comes through. Her very first recording (Alberta Hunter's "Down Hearted Blues") was a big hit and is one of the highlights of this set along with "'Tain't Nobody's Bizness If I Do" (two decades before Billie Holiday), "Jail-House Blues," and "Ticket Agent, Ease Your Window Down." Smith's accompaniment is nothing that special (usually just a pianist and maybe a weak horn or two), but she dominates the music anyway, even on two vocal duets with her rival Clara Smith. All of these volumes reward close listenings and are full of timeless recordings. Bessie Smith, even on the evidence of her earliest recordings, well deserved the title "Empress of the Blues" for in the 1920s there was no one in her league for emotional intensity, honest blues feeling, and power. The second of five volumes finds her accompaniment improving rapidly with such sympathetic sidemen as trombonist Charlie Green, cornetist Joe Smith, and clarinetist Buster Bailey often helping her out. However, they are overshadowed by Louis Armstrong, whose two sessions with Smith (nine songs in all) fall into the time period of this second set; particularly classic are their versions of "St. Louis Blues," "Careless Love Blues," and "I Ain't Goin' to Play Second Fiddle." Other gems on this essential set include "Cake Walkin' Babies From Home," "The Yellow Dog Blues," and "At the Christmas Ball." On the third volume the great Bessie Smith is greatly assisted on some of the 38 selections by a few of her favorite sidemen: cornetist Joe Smith, trombonist Charlie Green, and clarinetist Buster Bailey. But the most important of her occasional musicians was pianist James P. Johnson, who makes his first appearance in 1927 and can be heard on four duets with Bessie, including the monumental "Backwater Blues." Other highlights of this highly recommended set (all five volumes are essential) include "After You've Gone," "Muddy Water," "There'll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight," "Trombone Cholly," "Send Me to the 'Lectric Chair," and "Mean Old Bed Bug Blues." The power and intensity of Bessie Smith's recordings should be considered required listening; even 80 years later they still communicate. The fourth volume traces her career from a period when her popularity was at its height down to just six songs away from the halt of her recording career. But although her commercial fortunes might have slipped, Bessie Smith never declined and these later recordings are consistently powerful. The two-part "Empty Bed Blues" and "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out" (hers is the original version) are true classics and none of the other 40 songs (including the double-entendre "Kitchen Man") are throwaways. With strong accompaniment during some performances by trombonist Charlie Green, guitarist Eddie Lang, Clarence Williams's band and on ten songs (eight of which are duets) the masterful pianist James P. Johnson, this volume (as with the others) is quite essential. Bessie Smith cut 160 sides for the Columbia and OKeh labels between 1923 and 1933, and the four previous two-CD/cassette box sets of her complete recordings released in the 1990s covered 154 of them, which introduces the question, what can a fifth two-CD/cassette box set contain in addition to the remaining six cuts? First, there are five previously unreleased alternate takes; second, there is the 15-minute low-fi soundtrack to the two-reel short St. Louis Blues, which constitutes the only film of Smith; and third, taking up all of the second CD/cassette, there are 72 minutes of interview tapes of Ruby Smith, Bessie Smith's niece, who traveled as part of her show. The box contains a "Parental Advisory -- Explicit Lyrics" warning because of the nature of Ruby Smith's reminiscences. You won't learn much about Bessie Smith's music from her niece's remarks, but you will learn a lot about her sexual preferences. Tracklisting: Volume 1 - disc 1 01 - Down Hearted Blues 02 - Gulf Coast Blues 03 - Aggravatin' Papa 04 - Beale Street Mama 05 - Baby Won't You Please Come Home 06 - Oh Daddy Blues 07 - 'Tain't Nobody's Bizness If I Do 08 - Keeps On A-Rainin' (Papa, He Can't Make No Time) 09 - Mama's Got The Blues 10 - Outside Of That 11 - Bleeding Hearted Blues 12 - Lady Luck Blues 13 - Yodling Blues 14 - Midnight Blues 15 - If You Don't, I Know Who Will 16 - Nobody In Town Can Bake A Sweet Jelly Roll Like Mine 17 - Jail-House Blues 18 - St. Louis Gal 19 - Sam Jones Blues Volume 1 - Disc 2 01 - Graveyard Dream Blues 02 - Cemetery Blues 03 - Far Away Blues 04 - I'm Going Back to My Used to Be 05 - Whoa, Tillie, Take Your Time 06 - My Sweetie Went Away 07 - Any Woman's Blues 08 - Chicago Bound Blues 09 - Mistreating Daddy 10 - Frosty Morning Blues 11 - Haunted House Blues 12 - Eavesdropper's Blues 13 - Easy Come, Easy Go Blues 14 - Sorrowful Blues 15 - Pinchbacks - Take 'Em Away 16 - Rocking Chair Blues 17 - Ticket Agent, Ease Your Window Down 18 - Boweavil Blues 19 - Hateful Blues Volume 2 - Disc 1 01 - Frankie Blues 02 - Moonshine Blues 03 - Lou'siana Low-Down Blues 04 - Mountain Top Blues 05 - Work House Blues 06 - House Rent Blues 07 - Salt Water Blues 08 - Rainy Weather Blues 09 - Weeping Willow Blues 10 - The Bye Bye Blues 11 - Sing Sing Prison Blues 12 - Follow the Deal on Down 13 - Sinful Blues 14 - Woman's Trouble Blues 15 - Love Me Daddy Blues 16 - Dying Gambler's Blues 17 - The St. Louis Blues 18 - Reckless Blues 19 - Sobbin' Hearted Blues Volume 2 - Disc 2 01 - Cold In Hand Blues 02 - You've Been a Good Ole Wagon 03 - Cake Walkin' babies (From Home) 04 - The Yellow Dog Blues 05 - Soft Pedal Blues 06 - Dixie Flyer Blues 07 - Nashville Woman's Blues 08 - Careless Love Blues 09 - J.C. Holmes Blues 10 - I Ain't Goin' to Play Second Fiddle 11 - He's Gone Blues 12 - Nobody's Blues But Mine 13 - I Ain't Got Nobody 14 - My Man Blues 15 - New Gulf Coast Blues 16 - Florida Bound Blues 17 - At the Christmas Ball 18 - I've Been Mistreated and I Don't Like It Volume 3 - Disc 1 01 - Red Mountain Blues 02 - Golden Rule Blues 03 - Lonesome Desert Blues 04 - Them 'Has Been' Blues 05 - Squeeze Me 06 - What's The Matter Now 07 - I Want Every Bit Of It 08 - Jazzbo Brown From Memphis Town 09 - The Gin House Blues 10 - Money Blues 11 - Baby Doll 12 - Hard Driving Papa 13 - Lost Your Head Blues 14 - Hard Time Blues 15 - Honey Man Blues 16 - One And Two Blues 17 - Young Woman's Blues 18 - Preachin' The Blues 19 - Back Water Blues 20 - After You've Gone 21 - Alexander's Ragtime Band Volume 3 - Disc 2 01 - Muddy Water (A Mississippi Moan) 02 - There'll Be A Hot Time In The Old Town Tonight 03 - Trombone Cholly 04 - Send Me To The 'Lectric Chair 05 - Them's Graveyard Words 06 - Hot Spring Blues 07 - Sweet Mistreater 08 - Lock And Key 09 - Mean Old Bedbug Blues 10 - A Good Man Is Hard To Find 11 - Homeless Blues 12 - Looking For My Man Blues 13 - Dyin' By The Hour 14 - Foolish Man Blues 15 - Thinking Blues 16 - Pickpocket Blues 17 - I Used To Be Your Sweet Mama 18 - I'd Rather Be Dead And Buried In My Grave Volume 4 - Disc 1 01 - Standin' In The Rain Blues 02 - It Won't Be You 03 - Spider Man Blues 04 - Empty Bed Blues (Part 1) 05 - Empty Bed Blues (Part 2) 06 - Put It Right Here (Or Keep It Out There) 07 - Yes Indeed He Do! 08 - Devil's Gonna Git You 09 - You Ought To Be Ashamed 10 - Washwoman's Blues 11 - Slow And Easy Man 12 - Poor Man's Blues 13 - Please Help Me Get Him Out Of My Mind 14 - Me And My Gin 15 - I'm Wild About That Thing 16 - You've Got To Give Me Some 17 - Kitchen Man 18 - I've Got What It Takes (But It Breaks My Heart To Give It Away) 19 - Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out 20 - Take It Right Back ('Cause I Don't Want It Here) Volume 4 - Disc 2 01 - He's Got Me Goin' 02 - It Makes My Love Come Down 03 - Wasted Life Blues 04 - Dirty No-Gooder's Blues 05 - Blue Spirit Blues 06 - Worn Out Papa Blues 07 - You Don't Understand 08 - Don't Cry Baby 09 - Keep It To Yourself 10 - New Orleans Hop Scop Blues 11 - See If I'll Care 12 - Baby Have Pity On Me 13 - On Revival day (A Rhythmic Spiritual) 14 - Moan, You Moaners 15 - Hustlin' Dan 16 - Black Mountain Blues 17 - In The House Blues 18 - Long Old Road 19 - Blue Blues 20 - Shipwreck Volume 5 - Disc 1 01 - Need A Little Sugar In My Bowl 02 - Safety Mama 03 - Do Your Duty 04 - Gimme A Pigfoot 05 - Take Me For A Buggy Ride 06 - I'm Down In The Dumps 07 - The Yellow Dog Blues 08 - Soft Pedal Blues 09 - Nashville Women's Blues 10 - Careless Love Blues 11 - Muddy Water (A Mississippi Moan) 12 - St. Louis Blues Soundtrack - Band Intro 13 - St. Louis Blues Soundtrack - Crap Game 14 - St. Louis Blues Soundtrack - St. Louis Blues Volume 5 - Disc 2 01 - Smith, Bessie & Ruby Smith , Bessie Disappears 02 - Smith, Bessie & Ruby Smith , Waldorf-Astoria Party 03 - Smith, Bessie & Ruby Smith , Bessie & Jack, I 04 - Smith, Bessie & Ruby Smith Bessie & Jack II , Bessie & The Ladies 05 - Smith, Bessie & Ruby Smith , Life On The Road, I 06 - Smith, Bessie & Ruby Smith , Life On The Road, II 07 - Smith, Bessie & Ruby Smith Bessie & Gertrude Saunders , Life On The Road, III Booklet scans (included in torrent): http://img.cx/g/1810 http://img.cx/g/D9NY http://img.cx/g/FJ2S http://img.cx/g/HF0S http://img.cx/g/39GR

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gordykw (2010-02-07)

This looks fantastic!! Thank you for your efforts.

mjs820 (2010-02-11)

Thanks for the upload, but why one long track per disc???

 ill88eagle (2010-02-11)

mjs820: Max compression and less of a mess on my harddrive - if you load the .cue file with vlc or winamp you get the entire tracklist just as if you put a cd in your drive.
If you prefer separate files there are several free flac tools that can split the flac img's for you. I can higly recommend cuetools:

texxas (2011-01-21)

Perfect. Thanks!

bigboxes1 (2012-12-21)

@mjs820, you can use Medieval CUE Splitter can split the discs into individual tracks.

mabritta (2013-07-17)

I could not hear the track I wanted to hear (volume 4 - track 19 - Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out) (used Foobar2000, Winamp, Audacity) and noticed jumps in the execution of several tracks. Took the loss of time and gave up. What a pity.

rafaelmac (2014-09-11)

Thank you ill88eagle - your hard work gives pleasure and uplift to many. Such superb music.
To mabritta - maybe a defect in your download. Frustrating, but try again. If you've been seeding, it shouldn't take so long this time.

zemenwambuis2015 (2015-06-17)

Thank you!!! Janis Joplin's main inspiration, I loves me some Bessie...