S&D: Yazoo blues comps

"if you don't believe I love you look what a fool I been
if you don't believe I'm sinkin look what a hole I'm in"

--- they do a Cocaine blues too.

revive! i'm reading ted gioia's new-ish book Delta Blues, and it's getting me interested in digging up some of the more obscure people he's mentioned thus far -- mainly people who didn't record enough for an entire CD/LP to be devoted to them, so they've been consigned to comps. as for a Yazoo comp I've loved, try Friends of Charley Patton -- a lot of marvelous stuff from Patton's circle of friends/influences ...

so this label is completely defunct now? a shame.

no kidding? bummer.

http://www.yazoorecords.com/

Did Shanachie which bought Yazoo kill it?

Pro-Yazoo, anti-Shanachie blogpost
http://record-fiend.blogspot.com/2009/10/memphis-jamboree-1927-1936-yazoo-1970.html

and a different view:

After the death of Yazoo owner Perls in 1986, much of his large collection of 78's was purchased by Richard Nevins and Don Kent, who today operate the imprint for Shanachie Records in New York.
Nevins, who describes himself as a "maniacal collector," says Yazoo has shifted its focus in recent years from strictly blues to compilations of what he calls "early American rural music" by both black and white artists of the 20's and 30's. The label is also issuing new, upgraded packages devoted to such acts as Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Blake, the Memphis Jug Band, and Cannon's Jug Stompers.
"A lot of the old [Yazoo titles] were pretty shaky in a lot of ways," Nevins says. "They weren't really well-conceived, and they had pretty mediocre sound quality. Then they only had 12 or 14 tracks, and people don't exactly want to buy a CD with 12 or 14 tracks. All the ones in the past eight or nine years have had around 23 tracks."

http://www.bubbaguitar.com/articles/indies.html

It's my understanding that Scorpio is going to be reissuing 20 of the original yazoo LPs on vinyl. So far they've done the early Willie McTell and "Frank Stokes Dream: The Memphis Blues."

huh! scorpio, the bootleg label?

Mentioned some of the Yazoo CD comps I like here (along with similar comps on other labels):

TS: Dillinger Escape Plan vs. Converge

Vinylwise, I've always sworn by Memphis Jug Band's Double Album - 28 Songs! (or self-titled, if you go by what its spine says -- five more songs than their 2001 Yazoo Best Of CD, though go for that one if you can't find the vinyl); Charley Patton's Founder Of The Delta Blues (again, 28 songs, more than either the 2003 The Best Of or 2005 Primeval Blues, Rags, and Gospel Songs CDs, though there's obviously plenty of overlap); and the Various Artists collection Roots Of Rock, which is old blues versions of songs like "When The Levee Breaks," "A Spoonful Blues," etc., later made famous by rock people.

What the hell? Okay, I'll try that link again (I have no opinion about either Dillinger Escape Plan or Converge, honest):

S/D: Old-Timey Music (e.g., Prewar Gospel Blues, Bluegrass, Mountain Music)

huh! scorpio, the bootleg label?

― tylerw, Wednesday, February 9, 2011 8:16 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

i almost bought one of these online thinking it was an original pressing, but figured it out in time.

I tried to start a Scorpio thread over on ILV but there wasn't much discussion. Concensus seems to be that their shady bootleg past is behind them and that the LPs they reissue now are licensed. Many of them now come with stickers saying "Mfd by Rhino Records, Exclusively Distributed through Scorpio Music."

whoa went looking to see if scorpio had a website and ... http://www.scorpiorecords.com/page-1 (not the scorpio we're talking about, but so weird!)

but that's interesting that they've gone "legit" -- last i heard of 'em it was this article: http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2010/01/cd_bootleg_going_out_of_busine.html

is it possible there are TWO scorpios? cuz i was buying legit scorpio reissues on vinyl in the 90's. they are in new jersey and have been selling budget and cut-out vinyl to record stores for decades. my brother used to get big boxes of cut-outs from them in the late 70's at his record store job. is that the guy who is now working in construction? seems unlikely. the one still going now has a HUGE catalog of very high profile vinyl reissue releases. and new stuff on big labels. not dodgy cd boots of live concerts.

guess there's scorpio music distributors and scorpio records (the bootleg label)?

http://www.prex.com/visit/scorpio-music.html

yeah, it makes sense. but when you say scorpio everyone just thinks of the bootlegger. the distributor should change their name!

yeah, there was a Scorpio bootleg label, which i know mainly becuz they did awesome stuff like this

http://www.dylanradio.com/pictures/g-09f.JPG

and this

http://theband.hiof.no/band_pictures/66bootbox/66boxfront.jpg

and this

http://www.willamette.edu/~rloftus/ChangingTimes/BobPics/roots.JPG

pretty much american heroes for those sets

my brother used to have the ten of swords set on tape!

i mean, i'm glad that the bootleg biz is more or less kaputt and that i can get all of this stuff for free on the internet, but those kinds of labors of love are fantastic.

my brother always had stuff like this lying around:

http://www.popsike.com/pix/20061014/220037515850.jpg

pink floyd's management booted one of my boots from ebay last year. bastards. the thing was 30 years old!

Need some quick feedback! At $20 each, which of these should I get from the record store I used to work at:

Lonesome Road Blues (red label)
Naptown Blues (red)
Come On Mama Do That Dance (red)
Favorite Country Blues Guitar + Piano Duets (black)
Mama Let Me Lay It On You (red)
East Coast Blues (black)
Georgia Blues (black)
Bo Carter Greatest Hits (black)
Cripple Clarence/Walter Davis (black) <- This one is actually $15

just posting, for the record, these words (linked upthread) from the now-defunct record-fiend.blogspot:

You've probably figured out by now that I have a bit of a fetish for the original Yazoo LPs from the 1960s and 1970s. In my estimation, the label had no equals when it came to reissuing prewar blues recordings, especially when founder Nick Perls was running the show with the able assistance of fellow 78 collectors Stephen Calt, Bernard Klatzko, Gayle Dean Wardlow, Don Kent, et al. That's not to say that Shanachie has done a bad job with this material since acquiring Yazoo in 1989. However, since all but phasing out the CD reissues of the original LPs and replacing them with their own newly compiled releases, the modern-day collector is stuck with having to purchase titles that lack the imaginative (and sometimes controversial) cover artwork and the detail-laden as well as quirky liner notes that helped make Yazoo popular with prewar blues cognoscenti.

The title of Memphis Jamboree 1927-1936 should give you a pretty good idea about the focus of this particular compilation. Although these tracks have probably found their way onto numerous Shanachie/Yazoo releases since the CD version of this album went out of print in the early 1990s, you will be hard pressed to find them as thoughtfully sequenced as they are here. (Another thing that Yazoo did very well was to place the songs in a compelling order, ensuring that the tracks complemented each other effectively and providing albums that flowed gracefully without any filler or dead spots, unlike the more completist-oriented Document, for example.)

always been intrigued by nick perls' signature 78 record transfer style, which i believe has been discussed here, supposedly guiding the needle along the less-diminished side of the groove in an attempt to create a superior recording for LP reissue.

btw those are the opening paragraphs to a review of Memphis Jamboree 1927-1936 (Yazoo, 1970)

Does anyone here have Yazoo's Charlie Patton CD, Primeval Blues Rags? I just noticed that they've switched from jewel cases and booklets to cardboard sleeves with no booklets. Instead there's fine print that says you need to email a request for liner notes and they'll email you back a copy. However, the label's apparently not responsive to these email requests anymore for reasons not given.

Does anyone have a copy of the liner notes they're willing to share? I'll even take a photo of the liner notes.