Essential

Product Details

Artist : Bessie Smith
Format : Best of
Binding : Audio CD
EAN : 0746464922228
Label : Sony Imports
Number of Discs : 2
Product Group : Music
Release Date : 2006-04-03
UPC : 746464922228

ASIN : B000002ADO

Track Listings for

Disc-1
1. Aggravatin' Papa
2. Baby Won't You Please Come Home
3. 'Tain't Nobody's Bizness If I Do
4. Jail-House Blues
5. Graveyard Dream Blues
6. Ticket Agent, Ease Your Window Down
7. Boweavil Blues
8. Weeping Willow Blues
9. Dying Gambler's Blues
10. St. Louis Blues
11. You've Been a Good Ole Wagon
12. Cake Walkin' Babies (From Home)
13. Careless Love Blues
14. I Ain't Goin' to Play Second Fiddle
15. At the Christmas Ball
16. Jazzbo Brown from Memphis Town
17. Backwater Blues
18. After You've Gone

Disc-2
1. Alexander's Ragtime Band
2. There'll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight
3. Trombone Cholly
4. Send Me to the 'Lectric Chair
5. Good Man Is Hard to Find
6. Dyin' by the Hour
7. Me and My Gin
8. Kitchen Man
9. Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out
10. On Revival Day (A Rhythmic Spiritual)
11. Moan, You Moaners
12. Black Mountain Blues
13. Shipwreck Blues
14. Need a Little Sugar in My Bowl
15. Do Your Duty
16. Gimme a Pigfoot (And a Bottle of Beer)
17. Take Me for a Buggy Ride
18. Down in the Dumps

Editorial Reviews

Bessie Smith was crowned the Empress of the Blues, and, while this moniker was well deserved, she was much more. A prolific recording artist, Smith was quite an eclectic performer. In fact, she may have been one of the first true crossover artists. This neat two-disc set gives the listener a good sampling of her wide repertoire. Smith is backed up by some of the best jazz musicians of her era. Her rendition of "St Louis Blues" for example, features the horn work of a young Louis Armstrong. Smith was not above doing such suggestive material as "Kitchen Man" or "Need a Little Sugar in My Bowl" and could breath new life into a pop chestnut like "Alexander's Ragtime Band." And when Smith sang "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out," she knew what she was talking about. The title of this album says it all. --Lars Gandil

Customer Reviews

Overrated singer (2004-06-30)

Bessie Smith is victim of a great deal of overheated praise by a small circle of devoted fans. When enough people yell, "Fire!" I want to check it out to see if I am missing out on some great music. Well, I have listened to these recordings and was unmoved. I find the blues musically repetitious - three chords, a seventh chord here and there, the same structure over and over and over. This pattern becomes easy to mock because every blues song sounds like every other blues song. The complex innovations and inventiveness of Jazz and better rock melody composers (Lennon/McCartney, etc) are totally missing here. Bessie could sing loudly but I don't think that she could sing well. Her brassiness and vulgarity might be appropriate in a brothel but I am not interested in hearing a woman singing how she wants a "hot dog in her roll." Keep your urges in the bedroom, Ms. Smith, if you please. Sex is the absolute lowest common denominator in humanity and unless you can present it in a refreshingly witty and elegant way (Hello, Cole Porter), I don't want to hear or see you in heat. I can watch my dog act the same way for free. Monotonic, dreary, wailing and screeching: welcome to Bessie Smith.

A TRUE EMPRESS (2004-05-28)

This album is a good foundation for anyone who is falling under the "Bessie Smith" spell. All of the songs display a different aspect of her true style. From spiritual, to coy, to soulfull... Bessie is a true Diva!!!

Look for similar items by category

• Styles > Blues
• Styles > Jazz
• Styles > Jazz > Traditional Jazz & Ragtime
• Styles > Jazz > Vocal Jazz
• Styles > Pop > Vocal Pop
• Styles > Broadway & Vocalists

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