Lightnin' Hopkins
The Complete Aladdin Recordings
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Lightnin' Hopkins is one of the most prolific artists in Blues history, with over eighty-five albums published, and choosing a landmark album by this artist is impossible. "The Complete Aladdin Recordings" are a double-disc set, containing Hopkins' first works for a record label. The 43 tracks on the two CDs were all recorded between 1946 and 1948 for Aladdin. The Texan guitarist performs alone or in tandem with pianist Wilson "Thunder" Smith (who also handles the vocals on a few songs). The songs presented here, among which "Katie May", "Short Haired Woman", "Abilene" and "Shotgun Blues", are playful and melancholic, and mainly acoustic. An electric guitar, however is used on some tracks. These songs represent Lightnin' Hopkins' first years of recording, and his works from the latter Blues Revival period are not shown here. After the Aladdin years did Hopkins record for numerous labels (Arhoolie, Verve, Vee-Jay, Prestige, Bluesville, etc.) ; he evolved with the genre, started playing with electric guitar, having rhythm sections - or entire bands - backing him up. However, his first years of plain, acoustic playing represent him best, as well as Texas Country-Blues in general. |
TRACKS - CD 1
| 1. | Katie May (Hopkins) - 3:00 |
| 2. | Feel So Bad (Hopkins) - 2:05 |
| 3. | Blues (That Mean Old Twister) (Hopkins/McCormick) - 3:09 |
| 4. | I Can't Stay Here in Your Town (Hopkins) - 2:46 |
| 5. | Can't Do Like You Used To (Smith) - 2:35 |
| 6. | West Coast Blues (Smith) - 2:40 |
| 7. | Short Haired Woman (Hopkins) - 2:25 |
| 8. | L.A. Blues (Smith) - 2:51 |
| 9. | Big Mama Jump (Little Mama Blues) (Hopkins) - 2:40 |
| 10. | Down Baby (Hopkins) - 2:15 |
| 11. | Let Me Play With Your Poodle (Whittaker) - 2:31 |
| 12. | Fast Mail Rambler (Hopkins) - 2:43 |
| 13. | Thinkin' and Worryin' (Hopkins) - 2:56 |
| 14. | Can't Get that Woman Off My Mind (Hopkins) - 2:37 |
| 15. | Woman Woman (Change Your Way) (Hopkins) - 2:48 |
| 16. | Picture on the Wall (Hopkins) - 2:47 |
| 17. | You're not Goin' to Worry My Life Anymore (Hopkins) - 2:53 |
| 18. | You're Gonna Miss Me (Hopkins) - 2:16 |
| 19. | Sugar on My Mind (Hopkins) - 2:38 |
| 20. | Nightmare Blues (Hopkins) - 2:45 |
| 21. | Someday Baby (Hopkins) - 2:37 |
| 22. | Come Back Baby (Hopkins) - 2:37 |
TRACKS - CD 2
| 1. | Lightnin's Boogie (Hopkins) - 2:19 |
| 2. | Baby You're not Going to Make a Fool Out of Me (Hopkins) - 2:28 |
| 3. | Daddy Will Be Home One Day (Hopkins) - 2:24 |
| 4. | Moon Rise Blues (Hopkins) - 2:55 |
| 5. | Howling Wolf (Hopkins) - 2:40 |
| 6. | Morning Blues (Hopkins) - 2:44 |
| 7. | Have to Let You Go (Hopkins) - 2:36 |
| 8. | Mama's Baby Child (Hopkins) - 2:42 |
| 9. | Mistreated Blues (Hopkins) - 2:35 |
| 10. | My California (Hopkins) - 2:30 |
| 11. | Honey Babe (Steiner/Webster) - 2:30 |
| 12. | So Long (Hopkins) - 2:40 |
| 13. | See See Rider (Rainey) - 2:35 |
| 14. | Unpredictable Woman (Hopkins) - 2:58 |
| 15. | I Just Don't Care (Hopkins) - 2:45 |
| 16. | Drinkin' Woman (Hopkins) - 3:02 |
| 17. | Abilene (Hopkins) - 2:25 |
| 18. | Shotgun (Hopkins) - 2:36 |
| 19. | Rollin' and Rollin' (Hopkins) - 2:40 |
| 20. | Tell it Like it Is (Hopkins) - 2:30 |
| 21. | Miss Loretta (Hopkins) - 2:40 |
(Audio snippets in Windows Media format)