An excellent collection from Fat Possum Records – and one that shows the label's ongoing commitment to blues that goes way past the mainstream! They definitely get the title right on this series – because the tracks here are far from the tourist blues and frat-based styles that the bigger artists were laying down by the time of the compilation – and the music is instead from the kind of underground southern artists who've still kept the older blues styles alive and well – and continually evolving into the 21st Century! Some tracks are from Fat Possum's 90s recordings that finally gave some of these musicians exposure outside the south – others are from rare recordings of late 60s/early 70s that only saw limited vinyl release. Titles include "Black Mattie" by Robert Belfour, "Goin Back Home" and "I'm Gonna Leave" by Paul Jones, "Please Tell Me You Love Me" by Asie Payton, "Easy Rider" by Scott Dunbar, "Walkin Blues" and "Goin Down South" by RL Burnside, "Meet Me In The City" and "I Feel Good Again" by Junior Kimbrough, and "Sail On" by T Model Ford. CD

Astoundingly strong early recordings by Mississippi blues hero RL Burnside – with violence-tinged songs performed with a clearer, though no less tough voice than we heard on the songs that made him a bit more famous in 1990s! Includes RL's takes on traditionals played on acoustic guitar and accompanied by little more than foot stomps and handclaps! Really vital stuff, whether you're hearing RL Burnside for the first time, and finding this after more famous later recordings. Includes "Just Like A Bird Without A Feather", "Goin' Down South", "Come On In", "Rollin' And Tumblin'", "Jumper On The Line", "Hobo Blues", "Sat Down On My Bnd And Cried" and more, LP, Vinyl record album

An album recorded in the Netherlands, but a set that hits right to the heart of RL Burnside's Mississippi roots – thanks to a beautifully spare, careful presentation of the music! Most numbers feature just Burnside on vocals and guitar – with a vibe that's similar to the field recordings that first introduced the world to his talents – those delta-raised styles that have an immediate tie back to the early years of blues on 78rpm discs, especially in this session – where RL seems to almost be reaching back further than the style of some of his other recordings of the same period. Titles include "Skinny Woman", "See What My Buddy Done", "Shake Em On Down", "Don't Care How Long You're Gone", "Jumper On The Line", "Long Haired Doney", and "Greyhound Bus Station". LP, Vinyl record album

A totally great album from the early years of the New York punk scene – and a set that will be remembered as the moment of musical glory for the legendary Jim Carroll! As with Tom Verlaine, Richard Hell, and Patti Smith – Carroll has roots in writing, but energy that needs music to really set it on fire – sounds that explode here with the intensity of the generation who lived through the city on fire, the garbage strike, and all the other tumult of NYC in the late 70s – an experience that's also added to Jim's young struggles with addiction. The music is every bit as sharp as Carroll's lyrics – and in addition to the seminal "People Who Died", the record sparkles with tunes that include "Three Sisters", "Nothing Is True", "Wicket Gravity", "City Drops Into Night"< "Crow", "I Want The Angel", and "Catholic Boy". LP, Vinyl record album

The last studio album from the Reverend Gary Davis – and a set that was a great attempt to finally capture his talents in a well-recorded setting! Despite that fact, the presentation here is mostly in the spirit of Davis' roots – mostly with the man himself on vocals, guitar, banjo, and harmonica – the last of which is often overdubbed, given the 12 track recording – with some occasional added vocals from Sister Annie Davis. Most tracks were recorded in 1969, but the set also features two numbers recorded five years before – and titles include "Let's Get Together", "Sun Goin Down", "Lol I'll Be With You Always", "Out On The Ocean Sailing", "Birmingham Special", "Soon My Work Will All Be Done", and "There's A Destruction In That Land". LP, Vinyl record album

Rare work from the legendary Honeyboy Edwards – a blues guitarist who was a key force in helping the music make the transition to an electric mode in the 40s – but an artist whose talents were eclipsed by so many others he worked with at the time! This set's got a real back-to-basics vibe – Edwards captured in a spare setting, in a series of revival recordings done by Adelphi – with a focus on his vocals and guitar that take us right back to his early years working street corners and juke joints. Titles include "Bull Cow Blues 2", "Little Boy Blue", "Love Honeyboy Slow", "Don't Mistreat A Fool", "Howlin Wind", "Meet The Mornin Train", and "Hot Springs Blues". LP, Vinyl record album

A straight-up incredible batch of recordings by the Austin singer-songwriter ghost of a legend that is Blaze Foley – a self-destructive character better known to the stars he influenced than he is to the masses (he is the "Drunken Angel" who Lucinda Williams wrote and sang about) – material from the mid-to-late 70s when he was billed as Deputy Dawg and put together here for one of the best compilations on Fat Possum in years! What makes this set so wonderful is the cohesive flow of it. It's solo folk country material recorded in a trio of intimate sessions from February of '76, November of that same year, and September of '78. Plaintive in presentation, with a passion that both soars to the heavens and plunges the depths. Bruised and totally beautiful! Titles include "You'll Get Yours Aplenty", "I Should Have Been Home", "Let Me Ride In Your Big Cadillac", "Big Chief Hightower", "Blaze Foley's 113th Wet Dream", "Rudee Down In New Orleans", "New Wave Blues", "Fat Boy", "Cosmic Doo Doo", "Cold, Cold World", "Crawl Back To You" and more. 20 in all. LP, Vinyl record album

What can we say? Most of the biggest hits, and many of the very best tracks cut in the prime of Al Green's career – which is to say some of the very best Memphis soul ever recorded! 10 essential tracks in all, and it's just one of these Greatest Hits packages of pure, inarguable perfection – with "Call Me", "Let's Stay Together", "Tired Of Being Alone", "I'm Still In Love With You", "Here I Am (Come & Take Me)", "How Can You Mend A Broken Heart", "I Can't Get Next To You", "You Ought To Be With Me", "Look What You Done For Me" and "Let's Get Married". LP, Vinyl record album

Al Green, 1973 – what could be better? The king of Memphis soul is at the height of his powers here – working in a setting that yielded less chart hits than some of his other albums for Hi Records, but which is still as sublime as the rest – thanks to an undeniable studio magic guided by Willie Mitchell! The sound is full, but never slick or smooth – and Al's vocals are tremendous throughout (but honestly, did you expect anything less?) Titles include "Call Me (Come Back Home)", "Here I Am (Come & Take Me)", "Funny How Time Slips Away", and the beautiful "Have You Been Making Out OK?" CD

Warm wonderfulness from the great Al Green – a record that may have a pale-looking cover, but a set that's one of Green's most deeply soulful albums ever! There's a grace and a glow to the set right from the very first note – that really unique presentation and performance that makes these early 70s Green albums such enduring treasures – and so unlike anything else that's ever come since, no matter how many folks were influenced by Al's sound! The production is perfect – with Al helping Willie Mitchell at the helm, as they balance together the richness of the instrumentation with core elements in the rhythms – on titles that include Al's stone classic "Love & Happiness", plus "I'm Still In Love With You", "I'm Glad You're Mine", "What A Wonderful Thing Love Is", "Look What You Done For Me", and his great remake of Kris Kristofferson's "For The Good Times" – a country/soul classic if there ever was one! LP, Vinyl record album

A damn great bit of work from the legendary Al Green – maybe one of his best records ever – and in fact, maybe one of greatest soul albums of all time! The set's got a style that's really genre-defining – not the previous southern soul of a few years before, but also not the modes that were happening up north either. Instead, Al lays things out with this stunningly mature style – sexy, but never overdone – confident, but never in a swaggering way – with a really special flow that comes from the great Willie Mitchell's talents in the studio, but an edge that's Green at his secular best. The album's got a lasting appeal that's made it a favorite for generations – both a key introduction to soul, but also a treasured favorite for longtime collectors – and never every track's a gem – from the classic "Let's Stay Together", through a set list that includes "I've Never Found A Girl", "La La For You", "How Can You Mend A Broken Heart", "So You're Leaving", and "What Is This Feeling". LP, Vinyl record album

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Jessie Mae Hemphill might look like an 80s blues artist on the cover, but the record's got a much more vintage vibe – as the set features field recordings done on New Years Eve in 1989, with Jessie Mae singing in a style that seems geared to ring in the year with the ghosts of the past! The music has this really dark, moody vibe – guitar progressions that are cyclical and downturning – almost the sort of energy that Nick Cave was trying to put in his music at the time, but could never do this well – especially when topped with the raw, raspy vocals of Hemphill. Titles include "Holy Ghost", "DC9", "Run Get My Shotgun", "Married Man Blues", "Train Train", and "Nothing That You Say". LP, Vinyl record album

The debut EP from Human Switchboard – and a legendary slice of late 70s punk from Cleveland! Includes "Fly-In", "Distemper", "Shake It Boys" and "San Francisco Nights" in comes in zine-like booklet with old show flyers, club listings an more! 7-inch, Vinyl record

The only full album from Human Switchboard – one of the leading lights of the Cleveland scene during that city's heady late 70s years – and a group whose mix of quirk and tunefulness would have made them huge, had they been working on the coasts! There's a great sound going on here – the tightness of the power pop generation, which you might guess from the trio lineup – mixed with some of the weirder strains that were coming out of the Midwest underground – sometimes coming through in the Farfisa organ work of Myrna Marcarian, sometimes in the Feelies-like guitar jams of Robert Pfeifer, which are only urged on more by the complex mix of drums and percussion by Ron Metz! Song structures really open up, too – the record revels in the unexpected – and although some folks might make comparisons between the group and The Velvet Underground, they're much more their own sort of thing – with the individuality and earnestness of the early CBGB scene at its best. Titles include "Refrigerator Door", "In This Town", "Who's Landing In My Hangar", "Say No To Saturday's Girl", "Don't Follow Me Home", "Book On Looks", "Where The Light Breaks", and "I Can Walk Alone". LP, Vinyl record album

Rare recordings of delta blues legend Mississippi John Hurt – captured solo and beautifully well on 3 dates in late 1964, recorded by Gene Rosenthal – with Hurt's distinctive way of a somehow gentle melodic acoustic blues guitar sound, coming from hard-strummed and plucked strings as unvarnished and amazing as can be – and a way with vocals that's just as unique and wonderful! It's got the intimacy of the best field recordings, but the sound quality and John's voice and guitar are in such fine form here, it feels "big" despite being as raw and real as can be. Includes "Slidin' Delta", "Louis Collins", "Staggerlee", "Monday Mornin' Blues", "Comin' Home", "Make Me A Pallet On Your Floor", "You Can't Come In", "Joe Turner", "Lonesome Am I", "Trouble Blues", "Nobody's Dirty Business", "Lovin' Spoonful", "Worried Blues" and "Avalon Blues". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the most legendary bluesmen of the early 78rpm generation – heard here in a wonderfully-recorded set from 1964! The session came at a time when Skip James was hardly getting any mainstream attention, but had been rediscovered by a younger generation – which led to the fledgling Adelphi Records bringing him into the studio and really letting him do his thing! There's no attempt at commercialism here at all – as the tracks are spare, of varying length, and have James letting that amazing vocal style loose – soaring out with a heavenly sound at some moments, and hewing to the rhythms of his guitar at others – given reverent production treatment by the young John Fahey. Titles include "Broke & Hungry", "Crow Jane", "Cypress Grove Blues", "Black Gal", "Drunken Spree", "Illinois Blues", "Look Down The Road", and "Bad Whiskey". LP, Vinyl record album

Wicked early work from Junior Kimbrough – sides that are quite different than some of his better-known recordings over the years! The material was cut in Memphis in 1966 by producer Quinton Claunch – and it's got a spare, rootsy quality that's totally great – slow moving drums underneath some echoey guitar – and great flat-nosed vocals from Junior that really send the tunes home – almost with a quality that makes you feel like he's humming the lyrics instead of singing them! Titles include two versions of "Feels So Good", plus "Meet Me In The City", "Lonesome In My Home", "Done Got Old", and "Feels So Bad". Very cool 10" LP package too! LP, Vinyl record album

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It's Dance Time, Memphis style – thanks to a hip album of instrumentals from the great Willie Mitchell! This one's actually a bit rougher around the edges than some of Willie's other work, with strong guitar and groovy organ, very much in a Booker T & The MGs mode! The tracks groove along with a sound that's more Stax than Hi – which is ok by us, as the feel is nicely raw and raunchy! Titles include "Morning After", "Buster Browne", "Poinciana", "Twine Time", "Apple Jack", and "Wiggle Rock", "Fever", "Woodchopper's Bal" and more. CD

Raw Memphis style soul instrumentals from trumpeter/arranger Willie Mitchell and the Hi Records crew – a pretty fascinating chapter in the prime Hi Records story! Ooh Baby, You Turn Me On was also released under the title Soul Serenede at one point, and it's really a showcase for some tight, short instrumental tracks, with a groove that's a lot rawer than the Hi material that Willie would produce later in the 70s. In fact, the album overall is a righteous batch of Memphis funk – with a sound that would make Stax pretty darn proud! Titles include "Ooh Baby, You Turn Me On", "Soul Finger", "Slippin & Sliddin", "Willie's Mood", "Sunny", "Pearl Time", "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag", "Pearl Time", "Toddlin" and more. CD

A great little album of southern funk from the 70s – cut by the team that provided musical backing on many of the classic Hi Records sessions from the time! The groove is a bit different than usual for Hi – not compressed, burning deep soul – but tight, funky, and flanged-out – a bit like what classic P-Funk might have been like, had it been recorded in Memphis! The group's super sharp in their playing – with great bass and electric keyboards – but they've also got kind of a trippy feel that's very surprising, given the more restrained soul quality of much of the stuff on Hi. The album's all original material, and most cuts have cool vocals slinking in and out of the funk – and titles include "On The Loose", "Skinny Dippin'", "Superstar", "Purple Raindrops", and "You Got Me Comin". LP, Vinyl record album