Clifton Chenier, Mance Lipscomb, Lightning Hopkins – Live! At The 1966 Berkeley Blues Festival / Arhoolie CD-484

Description

Arhoolie CD 484

Rare, live performances by three legendary giants of roots music. Filled with incredible, raw talent and musicianship these performances harken back to an era when the originators of Blues and Zydeco were still with us to enjoy. With detailed, personal notes by the festival promoter, Chris Strachwitz.
This CD features 11 previously unreleased cuts!

“Once frowned upon as “alley music,” “low class” or worse, the Blues have in the past 40 years become one of the most widely loved and imitated forms of American popular music. None of this dawned on us in 1966 but I am glad that many of the legends of the Blues world did get heard outside their usual “chitlin’ circuit.” Today they are almost all gone but they have enriched our lives immeasurably. I know that Mance Lipscomb especially, not only enjoyed meeting new friends but also cherished the fact that his musical legacy and heritage was being passed on to future generations. Back home in their own communities the blues singers’ music and poetry were seldom still valued or appreciated but perhaps this new, outside attention will revive or awaken an interest among all young people and help them realize that there is priceless beauty not only in contemporary music but in the older traditions as well.”
(from the notes by Chris Strachwitz)

Mance Lipscomb

1. Stop Time

2. I Ain’t Got Nobody

3. Downtown Blues

4. Shake, Shake, Mama

5. Sinking Of The Titanic (God Moves On The Water), The

6. Take Your Arms From Around My Neck, Sugar Babe

7. When The Saints Go Marching In

Clifton Chenier
8. Intro & Louisiana Shuffle
9. French Zydeco
10. Clifton’s After Hours
11. Scratch My Back
12. Everybody Calls Me Crazy
13. What’d I Say
14. Old Country Waltz
15. Louisiana Waltz
16. Clifton’s Boogie Woogie

Lightning Hopkins

17. If You Don’t Want Me

18. I Feel So Good

19. Last Night

20. Goin’ To Louisiana

21. Black Cadillac

22. Short Haired Woman

23. Lightnin’s Boogie

REVIEW

“[Mance Lipscomb’s] style was direct and his repertoire immense… Every tune has strength and charm…. The voice is deep, moaning calmly like a warmer version of Lightnin’ Hopkins, who we hear later. Most tunes are familiar but not how he does them. A long, lanky ‘Ain’t Got Nobody,’ is his standout at this Blues Festival. He feeds off the crowd, knocks the guitar body, and keeps joking about loosing his dogs. His songs are friendly, but they have bite. As for the rest of the show, one sound is familiar, the other a thrilling surprise. Lightnin’ is relaxed, flashing big echoes and creeping with little notes. His sound is truly electric, and not bored like he can be sometimes. The crowd gets shakin’ on ‘Feel So Good,’ catches fire on ‘Mojo Hand’ and the stage is set for Clifton Chenier. He apologizes for not having his band, just his squeezebox and a drummer. Then he blares out ‘Scratch My Back,’ with bass, organ and harp all wrapped in one. Space was cleared for dancing; you hear ’em move as they give him the most applause. The fervor is great on ‘What’d I Say.’ For ‘Clifton’s Boogie’ they simply explode. You don’t hear that sound, you feel it.”

(John Barrett — Rootsworld)