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LOUIS ARMSTRONG
Golden Greats (Disky)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson
If you're looking for a stack o' early Satch without having to shell out your grocery money, how does 72 songs for a ten-spot strike you? No, you're not going to get any extras. ANY. No fancy sound enhancement, no classy graphics, not even the simplest liner notes to let you know that's Billie Holiday singing "You Can't Lose a Broken Heart" with Satch, or that the woman singing "You Won't Be Satisfied (Until You Break My Heart)" is Ella Fitzgerald. I guess they expect you to recognize those voices, and some are obvious. I mean you can't miss Bing Crosby, can you? But there are several here that I, as a fan but no Leonard Feather, can't name for you, and I'd sure like to be able to. At least there's a track list on the back, and they even managed to give the discs simple black and white labels with a picture of Satch playing his trumpet. None of that matters, though, because everything that does matter was written in the first sentence and the track list. 72 songs for ten bucks. These songs aren't from the "I'll record anything for a dollar" years toward the end of his life, nor are they Hot Five and Seven classics. They're tweeners. Good, solid tweeners with plenty of jazz, juke 'n' jive, all the sass that was Satch at his best and all the best that he brought out of his guests. Nobody brought in hi-tech sound gear to make this stuff sound like it was recorded yesterday in your living room, but that cost would have been passed on to you instead of the pure joy of this music that you can dig while putting away your groceries.
Track List:
Disc One:
Where the Blues Were Born in New Orleans * Gone Fishin' * Blueberry Hill * You Won't Be Satisfied * You Don't Learn That at School * A Song Was Born * Whatta You Gonna Do * That Lucky Old Sun * You Can't Lose a Broken Heart * Jodie Man * I Wonder * Dream a Little Dream of Me * Joseph N' His Brudders * Among My Souvenirs * Coquette * I Want a Little Girl * Blues in the South * Endie * Linger in My Arms a Little Longer Baby * I Believe * It Takes Time * The Firm Fram Sauce * My Sweet Hunk O'Trash * Ain't Misbehavin * Black and Blue
Disc Two:
When It's Sleepy Time Down South * Struttin' With Some Barbecue * Wolverine Blues * Perdido Street Blues * Down in Honky Tonky Town * Dipper Mouth Blues * High Society * Tight Like This * Mahogany Hall Stomp * St. Louis Blues * Savoy Blues * Wild Man Blues * Willie the Weeper * Potato Head Blues * Muskrat Ramble * Cornet Chop Suey * Weary Blues * Melancholy Blues * Alligator Crawl * Twelfth Street Rag * Ory's Creole Trombone * New Tiger Rag * I Got Rhythm
Disc Three:
Jeepers Creepers * That's My Home * You Rascal You * I Can't Give You Anything But Love * I'm Confession' * Save It, Pretty Mama * Swing That Music * I Ain't Got Nobody * I'm a Ding Dong Daddy * Blue Turning Grey over You * Basin Street Blues * St. James Infirmary Blues * Baby Won't You Please Come Home * Walkin' My Baby Back Home * Stardust * Rockin' Chair * Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea * Lazy River * I've Got a Pocketful of Dreams * Lazybones * Sugar * When the Saints Go Marching In * Yes, Suh! * Do You Know What I Means to Miss New Orleans?
© 2002 - DJ Johnson