Message Board Archive: Thread Number 85

...I have my virtuosic favorites. Guys like Gary Davis, Charley Patton
(in his own weird way), Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Blake but there are
times when I just _love_ Blind Boy Fuller. Yeah, yeah, I know. Sometimes
he outsmarts himself trying to do clever stuff with timing. Sometimes
his songs are Frankenstein's Monster-like creations and occasionally his
right hand touch is so lazy you can hear his fingerpicks d r a g g i n g
across the strings. But when he's on, man, he's _ON_!
I've been listening to volumes 3 and 4 of his complete recorded works on
Document. These CDs span parts of 1936 and 1937. This is Fuller's most
interesting period, IMO. This period produced:
Weeping Willow
Jivin' Woman Blues
New Louise Louise Blues
Shaggy Like a Bear
Throw Your Yas Yas Back in Jail
What's That Smells Like Fish (Wahooo! What a title!)
Too Many Women Blues
Pistol Slapper Blues
Corrine, What Makes You Treat Me So?
Careless Love
Piccolo Rag
Mojo Hidin' Woman
Oozin' You Off My Mind
among others...
In fact, The only truly great Fuller song of this period missing from
these two CDs is Untrue Blues. The low spots aren't really all that low,
especially when compared to some of the cuts that Columbia decided to
release (Rattlesnakin' Daddy and You've Got Something There....
phooey!).
Whew. I feel better now that I've come clean.
I like Blind Boy Fuller and I'm OK. ;)
Frank Basile

Date: Thu, 14 May 1998 14:04:34 -0400 (EDT)
From: andrewm@martlet1.lan.mcgill.ca (Andrew Mullins)
Subject: Question: Document vs. Yazoo vs. Columbia
Message Number: 85.1

I'm curious, as I've just started listening to Fuller more, how much
overlap there is between the 2 Document CDs you refer to and the Yazoo
and Columbia Fuller discs. I only noticed a couple in your list (though
I'm not very familiar with my Fuller song titles yet).

Andrew

Date: Thu, 14 May 1998 21:08:38 -0400 (EDT)
From: zeppa@earthlink.net (Frank Basile)
Subject: More: Re: Document vs. Yazoo vs. Columbia
Message Number: 85.1.1

I _think_ that Yazoo has two BBF CDs (I may be wrong). The only one I
have is Truckin' My Blues Away. The most overlap is between the two
Documents and the Yazoo and consists of four songs:
Jivin' Woman Blues
Weeping Willow
Funny Feeling Blues
Corrine What Makes You Treat Me So
The Yazoo and Columbia's East Coast Piedmont Style overlap on Untrue
Blues and Sweet Honey Hole and the Documents and the Columbia don't
overlap at all.
Generally speaking, I care for the Columbia release the least although
there are a couple of memorable numbers: Untrue Blues, Cat Man Blues and
I'm A Stranger Here. Most of the others seem kind of lackluster, IMO.
Frank Basile

Date: Thu, 14 May 1998 21:20:16 -0400 (EDT)
From: ari@secondmind.com (Ari Eisinger)
Subject: More: Re: Document vs. Yazoo vs. Columbia
Message Number: 85.1.2

Actually there's only one Fuller album on Yazoo: Truckin' My Blues Away.