Penguin Guide to Blues Recordings

[Larry Kart]

...much more so than by any other Penguin Guide to recordings of any sort, let along by the increasingly vile Gramophone Guides to classical recordings, which are far beyond parody now. I'm not a blues expert by any means, but the apparent savvy and lucidity of the main authors, Tony Russell and Chris Smith, make this a pleasure to read as well as, as far as I can tell from my own tastes and experince, sound in its judgments. Any thoughts?

[JSngry]

Any thoughts?

Yeah man - Penguins got it goin' on:

[AllenLowe]

haven't seen it - is it a recent edition? I will say that Tony Russell is one of the best people in the field, and has done some particularly good work in the area of early hillbilly music -

[Larry Kart]

haven't seen it - is it a recent edition? I will say that Tony Russell is one of the best people in the field, and has done some particularly good work in the area of early hillbilly music -

Copyright 2006.

[John L]

haven't seen it - is it a recent edition? I will say that Tony Russell is one of the best people in the field, and has done some particularly good work in the area of early hillbilly music -

Chris Smith is also good. Between the two of them, it should be a good volume. I haven't seen it yet.

[paul secor]

I've seen it and I highly recommend it very highly to anyone with an interest in blues. Russell and Smith know their stuff and make excellent judgments - by that I suppose I mean that I agree with them at least 95% of the time . Anyone who wants to get started collecting blues recordings can use this as a reference to get started, even though it may seem a bit overwhelming at first, and anyone who has a blues collection can use it to add to that collection. It's a much better reference than the Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings.

[Big Beat Steve]

Got my copy a LONG time after ordering it (due to circumstances beyond my control) so browsed through it all the more extensively.

I agree with the positive comments by everybody here, and my only (minor to most, a bit major to me) quibbles are not in what is in there but what isn't.

While the sectarianism between "blues" (of the more downhome or urban quality) and "Rhythm&Blues" (with a BIG "R") no longer seems to exist to the extent it did when Messrs. Leadbitter/Slaven looked down on the oh so commercial R&B artists in their earlier discography editions, I feel that there still is a slant towards more "downhome" blues (even of the electrified variety) which is a pity in today's reissue market. Or to put it another way, when it comes to minor artists (who still are essential to diehard collectors), the Guide tends to dig deeper in more traditional fields than it does in R&B. Pity ...

Another minor quibble is the arrangement of the "compilation/various artists" section. The categories that this compilation is broken down into appear a bit odd to me. Inclusion/exclusion in certain categories does seem a bit arbitrary at times and I've had a hard time finding certain compilations that normally still ought to be in print and that I felt sure must have been in there (and often weren't - but then again most of them were R&B compilations ).

And finally, seeing the huge number of really odd small labels not likely to be distributed widely, what would be the best one-stop mail order shop for EUROPEAN buyers? I haven't dealt with Red Lick Records in a very long time; would they still be No. 1 for us in Yurp??

Edited April 8, 2008 by Big Beat Steve

[paul secor]

Red Lick is evidently inactive. When you go to their website, there's a message - "Red Lick Records is currently not trading and the order system is offline."

[paul secor]

Got my copy a LONG time after ordering it (due to circumstances beyond my control) so browsed through it all the more extensively.

I agree with the positive comments by everybody here, and my only (minor to most, a bit major to me) quibbles are not in what is in there but what isn't.

While the sectarianism between "blues" (of the more downhome or urban quality) and "Rhythm&Blues" (with a BIG "R") no longer seems to exist to the extent it did when Messrs. Leadbitter/Slaven looked down on the oh so commercial R&B artists in their earlier discography editions, I feel that there still is a slant towards more "downhome" blues (even of the electrified variety) which is a pity in today's reissue market. Or to put it another way, when it comes to minor artists (who still are essential to diehard collectors), the Guide tends to dig deeper in more traditional fields than it does in R&B. Pity ...

Another minor quibble is the arrangement of the "compilation/various artists" section. The categories that this compilation is broken down into appear a bit odd to me. Inclusion/exclusion in certain categories does seem a bit arbitrary at times and I've had a hard time finding certain compilations that normally still ought to be in print and that I felt sure must have been in there (and often weren't - but then again most of them were R&B compilations ).

And finally, seeing the huge number of really odd small labels not likely to be distributed widely, what would be the best one-stop mail order shop for EUROPEAN buyers? I haven't dealt with Red Lick Records in a very long time; would they still be No. 1 for us in Yurp??

Sounds like there should be an R&B Guide. If the Blues Guide included all the r&b that's out there, it would truly be unwieldly.

[Big Beat Steve]

That's bad news about Red Lick.

Any suggestions for a good online mail-order substitute that carries a similarly wide range of collector blues/R&B labels?

I agree about the unwieldiness. It just struck me that the Penguin guide does include a fair share of 40s/50s R&B but this part is far less comprehensive than their more "traditional" entries, and the exclusions seem a bit arbitrary to me (and this cannot possibly just be due to the fact that all the missing entries happen to be OOP).

But its a VERY useful guide anyhow.

[paul secor]

That's bad news about Red Lick.

Any suggestions for a good online mail-order substitute that carries a similarly wide range of collector blues/R&B labels?

Roots & Rhythm is a very good mail order + internet source, but it's located in the U.S. - not so useful for European buyers.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Got my copy a LONG time after ordering it (due to circumstances beyond my control) so browsed through it all the more extensively.

I agree with the positive comments by everybody here, and my only (minor to most, a bit major to me) quibbles are not in what is in there but what isn't.

While the sectarianism between "blues" (of the more downhome or urban quality) and "Rhythm&Blues" (with a BIG "R") no longer seems to exist to the extent it did when Messrs. Leadbitter/Slaven looked down on the oh so commercial R&B artists in their earlier discography editions, I feel that there still is a slant towards more "downhome" blues (even of the electrified variety) which is a pity in today's reissue market. Or to put it another way, when it comes to minor artists (who still are essential to diehard collectors), the Guide tends to dig deeper in more traditional fields than it does in R&B. Pity ...

Another minor quibble is the arrangement of the "compilation/various artists" section. The categories that this compilation is broken down into appear a bit odd to me. Inclusion/exclusion in certain categories does seem a bit arbitrary at times and I've had a hard time finding certain compilations that normally still ought to be in print and that I felt sure must have been in there (and often weren't - but then again most of them were R&B compilations ).

And finally, seeing the huge number of really odd small labels not likely to be distributed widely, what would be the best one-stop mail order shop for EUROPEAN buyers? I haven't dealt with Red Lick Records in a very long time; would they still be No. 1 for us in Yurp??

Sounds like there should be an R&B Guide. If the Blues Guide included all the r&b that's out there, it would truly be unwieldly.

Looks like I should go for this Penguin guide.

Whatever you do in relation to a guide to R&B, you're going to run into definition problems. Basically, R&B is black pop music and, like any kind of pop music, it absorbs stuff like crazy. And it changes like the wind. So you have problems about what is blues/R&B, what is Ska/R&B, what is jazz/R&B, what is R&R/R&B, what is Soul/R&B, what is Funk/R&B, what is Disco/R&B, and what is R&B (now)/R&B?

MG

[A Lark Ascending]

I've had it since it appeared (2006 if I remember correctly!). Blues is a minor sideline rather than a major interest for me - this book does what I need with yards to spare.

[king ubu]

I've had it since it appeared (2006 if I remember correctly!). Blues is a minor sideline rather than a major interest for me - this book does what I need with yards to spare.

Sounds just like it would suit me well, then...

[A Lark Ascending]

I know Tony Russell from radio broadcasts - he comes across as a real enthusiast who has done his homework.

In a genre with oodles of recordings where I'm pretty adrift, I've found this very helpful when wanting to locate something suitable.

But then, I find most guides useful as a starting point - I quickly learn what to pay attention to and what to ignore.

I really liked Charles Shaar Murray's blues guide - like the Penguin jazz guide, it's idiosyncratic but the humour and tastes of the writer come through. Makes an entertaining as well as useful guide.

[johnlitweiler]

haven't seen it - is it a recent edition? I will say that Tony Russell is one of the best people in the field, and has done some particularly good work in the area of early hillbilly music -

Tony Russell's little book "Blacks Whites and Blues" (Stein & Day was the US publisher, 1970) is quite valuable re the connections between early blues and hillbilly.

[johnlitweiler]

haven't seen it - is it a recent edition? I will say that Tony Russell is one of the best people in the field, and has done some particularly good work in the area of early hillbilly music -

Tony Russell's little book "Blacks Whites and Blues" (Stein & Day was the US publisher, 1970) is quite valuable re the connections between early blues and hillbilly.