Mercy (2000)

Big Bad Smitty, whose real name is John Henry Smith, is a Mississippi guitarist in the style of Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters. During his youth, Smitty played in the region of Greenville with Roosevelt "Booba" Barnes, a friend from school. The pair established a band and also played gigs in Arkansas. Smitty settled in Jackson, MS, and drove a truck for a living when he was in his twenties. The local blues scene afforded him the opportunity to play with musicians such as King Mose, Sam Myers, King Edward, and John Littlejohn…….

A limited-edition, 6-CD box set of 90 tracks including 78 previously unreleased in the US and 48 previously unreleased anywhere. All tracks are studio (not live) recordings and include all studio B sides, the full Peace album (aka the "Manor Sessions"), complete radio sessions, 12" mixes, alternate versions and out-takes, unreleased masters and work-in-progress demos. The box also includes an 80-page booklet. Some copies include a bonus 7th CD of additonal mixes and extended versions released on the original singles.

Various Artists - The Chess Story: 1947-1975 (2000) {14CD Box Set, MCA–Universal 3805962}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 4.61 Gb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 178 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1947-75, 2000 MCA / Universal | 3805962
Blues / Chicago Blues / Electric Blues / Regional Blues

First the good news, which is really good: the sound on this 340-song set is about as good as one ever fantasized it could be, and that means it runs circles around any prior reissues; from the earliest Aristocrat sides by the Five Blazers and Jump Jackson & His Orchestra right up through Muddy Waters' "Going Down to Main Street," it doesn't get any better than this set. The clarity pays a lot of bonuses, beginning with the impression that it gives of various artists' instrumental prowess. In sharp contrast to the past efforts in this direction by MCA, however, the producers of this set have not emasculated the sound in the course of cleaning it up, as was the case with the Chuck Berry box, in particular.

South African expatriate Jonathan Butler isn't really a jazz artist, but his laid-back, slightly jazz-tinged approach to R&B/pop has earned the singer/guitarist/songwriter/producer a lot of supporters in the urban contemporary, adult contemporary, quiet storm, and smooth jazz/NAC markets. Butler has enjoyed a following since the late '70s, although he reached his commercial peak in the late '80s, and he continues to tour and record in the 21st century. Born in Cape Town, South Africa in October 1961, Butler was only a child when he started singing and playing acoustic guitar.

Hell Awaits is a huge leap forward from Slayer’s debut album, Show No Mercy. It's fully immersed in the band’s signature style of hellish thrash. The opening song begins as a descent into Hades: deranged guitar fades in as the listener is greeted with a backwards recording of a demonic voice repeating the phrase “join us.” Like a locomotive picking up steam, “Hell Awaits” starts out as a steady punching riff before exploding into a torrent of bliztkrieg guitar. Brian Slagel’s production style is deeper and sludgier than Show No Mercy. “At Dawn They Sleep” and “Praise of Death” shift between chugging rhythms and breakneck assaults, while the punishing “Crypts of Eternity” culminates in a torrent of guitar and a blood-curdling scream from Tom Araya. The album goes out as it came in. “Hardening of the Arteries” fades out on the tribal pounding of Dave Lombardo’s drums, as the guitar writhes and claws like a body submerged in lava. For a moment it feels like the listener is being pulled back from a scene of carnage — or else being completed overtaken by the band’s violent onslaught.

This 22-track compilation neatly gathers everything Lil Greenwood recorded for Modern and Federal in the early '50s, though it doesn't have anything from her brief run with Specialty. It also contains four demo-sounding Modern sides, with piano serving as the only accompaniment, which haven't been issued until now. On some of this disc, Greenwood sings somewhere between jazz and blues-R&B: her earthy tone is more blues, yet her phrasing and sometimes the arrangements can owe a lot to the likes of Bessie Smith and Billie Holiday. It's respectable stuff, though to be frank it's not a surprise that she didn't take off as a huge hitmaker, since many of the songs stick to generic chord progressions and standard R&B-blues melodic and lyrical ideas…