Exactly the kind of a record to show why Skip James was really a cut above most of his contemporaries – a bluesman who works here with a sense of darkness and foreboding that really sets a chill to most of his tunes! There's less of the usual short-term sadness and smaller complaints of other records of this vintage – and instead, James creates this overwhelming sense of melancholy that comes through not just in the lyrics of the tunes, nor his mournful way of singing – but also in the eerie chords he chooses for his work on guitar. The package features a great number of songs played with cross-note tuning – and titles include "How Long Buck", "Devil Got My Woman", "Hard Luck Child", "Drunken Spree", "Be Ready When He Comes", "Yola My Blues Away", "What Am I To Do Blues", and "Illinois Blues". LP, Vinyl record album