 Various Artists In keeping with most of the CDs from Capitol's archival blues series, this one is overall quite solid and comes packed with built-in hipness. 23 tracks of smokin' Louisiana blues and zydeco from Guitar Slim, Clarence "Bon Ton" Garlow, Boo Breeding, Clifton Chenier, and Boo Zoo Chavis … all told, a nice little collection of early 50s "swamp blues." The downside is some truly pitiful sound quality throughout the second half of the disc (tape warps, distortions). Not that I'm such an audiophile, but this CD sounds like a cassette being eaten by a tape player. Sonically, not ideal. The first half of the disc is a bit more straight ahead than the second, which focuses on Cajun/zydeco blues. The first few tracks, in fact, don't bring Louisiana to mind at all, until Clarence "Bon Ton" Garlow comes in with his slick take on the real deal. Whether these performers are "authentic" or not is irrelevant, because Capitol seemed to strive as much for hit records as for preservation. Still, the music is damn good, highlights being Garlow's "New Bon Ton Roulay" and "Flip Flop," and Boo Breeding's "I Can't Fly." The performances are down and dirty, or whatever you blues fans call it. The tracks by Clifton Chenier and Boo Zoo Chavis, the big "names" on the CD, are certainly down and dirty, but more specifically, dirty. The performances here are awesome, and if they were any less tarnished sonically, they'd make this an essential zydeco disc. Unfortunately, the sound quality degenerates as the disc progresses, so Louisiana Swamp Blues will ultimately be appreciated more by the serious enthusiast than the casual blues fan. There's much to be said for a wild accordion mated with a fuzzy guitar (recent They Might Be Giants notwithstanding), but I'd have to say that this CD is better in presentation than execution. That said, it's still a million times better than, like, Five For Fighting and their pussy-ass bullshit.
Review by Sunni Smile |