Leadbelly - Best of Lead Belly

leadbelly is the best

buy this. don't hesitate. it's necessary for you to own it and know it. otherwise you just don't know what you're missing. buy the robert johnson and hank williams complete recordings as well. then you're off to a good start. country blues, to me, is the direct predecessor to rock music, and it's some of the purest, most enjoyable music out there. October 6, 2008

A reasonable entry point into Leadbelly's body of work

Born Huddie Leadbetter, this singer was better known as Leadbelly. The liner notes clarify his role in music history: "It would be foolish to try and rank Leadbelly as an influential force on today's modern blues practice. . .[N]either his style of playing or singing is germane to how we do business on the bandstand these days. But Leadbelly was the first rural African-American musician to receive media exposure. . . ." This statement is perhaps overstated a bit. However, Leadbelly's almost primitive art (between vocals and guitar work) is still pretty compelling. One might also note that Pete Seeger spoke highly of him.

A look at a handful of the cuts here can provide a sense of his work.

One of my favorites is "The Bourgeois Blues." He has a rough, unpolished voice; his guitar playing is spare but effective. He sings of his bourgeois blues, facing racism. One nice line:

"Home of the brave, land of the free,
I don't want to be mistreated by no bourgeoisie."

Then, there is "In New Orleans (House of the Rising Sun)." An intriguing song. This is NOT the song made famous by the Animals, although some of the lines are similar. The song has a hypnotic feel. It is a tale of returning home to New Orleans, "'cuz my race is almost run."

"Goodnight Irene" is one of his best known works. A golden oldie. This presents an interesting contrast to some of the songs dealing with darker issues (e.g., "The Bourgeois Blues").

Finally, "Blue Tail Fly." Vocal only, no instrumentation. He begins with "Jimmy cracks corn and I don't care; Martha's gone away." A strange little song. It's pretty loosely sung with an improvisational feel to it.

This doesn't represent all of his best pieces, as some others have noted. But it does provide a nice entree into his body of work.
November 17, 2007

Pretty close.

This single-disc compilation makes a pretty good introduction to the legendary folk/ blues musician, Lead Belly. The sound quality is good and comparable to the more recent collection Absolutely the Best, and this CD contains many of the same standards as that album, including "The Bourgeois Blues," "In New Orleans," "Goodnight Irene" and "Where Did You Sleep Last Night," as well as additional classics such as "Yellow Gal," "Blue Tail Fly" and "The Boll Weevil Song." The only thing stopping this collection from being indisputably more definitive than Absolutely the Best is the unfortunate absence of "Midnight Special," a song famously covered by Creedence Clearwater Revival in the late 1960s, and probably one of Huddie's four or five most popular songs. My suggestion? If you're willing to shell out a bit more, then get this album along with Lead Belly Sings for Children, also available on Amazon. The latter contains the aformentioned "Midnight Special," as well as a number of wonderful children's songs, spirituals and medleys. September 9, 2005

Almost

You can't go wrong with this compilation. For a longer review, see the other reviewer's remarks. Remember no "best of" is best without "Midnight Special", recorded by a kajillion other artists. (Is there a Leadbelly estate?) Be prepared though for the sellers of any compilation including that song to stick a gun in your ribs for the CD(s). If you can afford more money, skip this one for the one with ...you get up in the mornin', you hear the ding dong ring... November 5, 2004

One of the very best single-disc Leadbelly compilations

This Cleopatra disc is a great place to start for those just getting acquainted with Huddie Ledbetter. It's not definitive, of course, but these fine transfers of Leadbelly's best-known songs will satisfy most casual fans, and while "Take This Hammer" (a part of the "When The Sun Goes Down"-series) is probably a little more accessible for the casual listener, you can't beat this disc as far as the song selection goes.

More serious fans will of course want "The Definitive Leadbelly" from the Catfish label, or the multi-volume "Leadbelly Legacy" series from Smithsonian/Folkways, but this is a terrific starting point for the curious. Huddie Ledbetter, who usually performed solo accompanied only by his own twelve-string guitar, was the first black musician to gain recognition amongst the white audiences of the 20s and 30s, and this is essential early American blues and folk music. August 16, 2004

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