'Lightnin' Strikes' from Lightnin' Hopkins was released in 1966, during (more or less) the peak of the blues revival. At that time, many pioneering blues musicians from the pre- and post-war era were being rediscovered by younger music fans.
This album often gets confused with a previous Lightnin' Hopkins album also called 'Lightnin' Strikes'. Its original reissue title was 'Nothin' But the Blues', and released in 1962 on Vee-Jay Records from recordings made in Texas of tracks different from those on today's freeload. Lightnin's discography (along with John Lee Hooker's) is a nightmare to navigate.
This Verve Folkways album features a band that includes the legendary Earl Palmer on drums, Jimmy Bond on bass, Don Crawford on harmonica, and Hopkins on electric guitar and vocals. This is the Lightnin' Hopkins album that was recorded and released after his legendary 1965 Newport Folk appearance. For a full electric band, the album has a minimalist, down home intimate feel.
The 2025 Verve/Acoustic Sounds Series edition features transfers from analog tapes, remastered and pressed 180-gram vinyl. It improves on the original album in just about every way. The album was originally well recorded by producer David Hubert, but it had heavy compression which is now stripped away, and now Lightnin's vocal track really stands out. Of course, the mix is the mix, so the bass is still fairly low, but it levels up in depth and detail. The reverb trail from each snare "thwack" is cleaner, throughout. To mention nothing of Hopkins’s liquid phrasing on guitar, where every finger of his sounds like a member of the band.
Because of the excellent original recording and even better remastering, it sounds like we're in the studio with Lightnin' and his band. You can almost smell the Devil's lettuce and stale odor of an ashtray that needs to be emptied, taste the Jim Beam, and feel the unspoken, relaxed interplay of these blues masters.
This is one of the most important albums of the blues revival period, and the cornerstone of any blues library for a fan who also appreciates exceptional sound.
For the freeload, tell us how much time a day, you spend listening to music?
At least 8 hours a day, if not more. This includes not only when my only focus is listening to music, but also when I am working at the computer, working out in my basement, doing cooking & other chores around the house (although obviously, not when I am using the vacuum). Gbrand
ReplyDeleteIf I'm at home, music is playing. If I'm at the gym, earbuds are in and music is playing. Hell, when we go out, typically its to go catch a group/musician. So, minimum 8 hours a day, but usually a bit more. My drug of choice.
ReplyDeleteWhat these guys said. I listen to music as much as possible, often 8 hours a day or more. Again, like them, music is playing everywhere, in the house, outside, during chores & for relaxation, while reading, exercising, standing around, cooking, driving (there was a cross country trip recently & part of that soundtrack was thanks to you Babs, Cow Cow & Bird outtakes + other stuff too. Love the Bird recording engineer whistles, he deserves a grammy for his whistles.) Lots & lots of music. Thanks Babs
ReplyDeleteDitto here. The only times music isn't on is during meals and on our daily walk up the mountain where we live. When I'm doing work needing focus, I rely on cooler, calmer sounds like West Coast jazz, turned down a bit. Soundtracks and certain classical music as well as Indian art music can serve as ambience, as does oddball stuff like Ituri Forest pygmy vocals.
ReplyDeleteProlly 10-12 hours a day. I'm a geeky academic, which makes it easy, and the woman to whom I am married is, among other things, a singer, so music is always on. Can't imagine elsewise.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous RF: Oh my good god, probably 5-6 hours? Which is quite a bit less than the pals above in this posting. When I'm not actively listening, there are songs spinning around my head for the remaining hours. Hopeless. And yet so happy.
ReplyDeleteAnon RF: By the way, has anyone seen The Blues Under The Skin? Bought it yesterday and yet to watch it, but the trailer looked amazing and BB, Lightnin, Sonny & Brownie etc all seem involved.
ReplyDeleteI first saw it at a midnight movie in the 70s. It's a little odd, in that it's a cross between a documentary and a fictional story. The performances are solid.
Deletei don't have time to listen to music, i'm too busy hunting for downloads. Ok, I listen to music a couple of hours a day, except for during the NBA playoffs.
ReplyDeleteI start listening to music on my morning walk with a DAP. Then at home pretty much all day into the night, mostly on CD and vinyl. Three days a week I have a steady stream of doctoral candidates visiting, it’s fun to see their reaction to some music by people like Ornette Coleman, Albert Ayler and other avant-gardists, especially the more nerdy ones (guys with pocket protectors and gals in what my mother called “sensible shoes”). If I’m watching sports, I mute the sound and play music. Sportscasters tend to get on my nerves, more times than not, they’re to journalism, what Dr. Seuss is to medicine.
ReplyDeleteUsually no more than 1-2 hours as I have so much else to do and I tend to have TV and current events shows on most of the time online
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately I listen less than I used to, & still have many of your freeloads still to unpack, let alone my collection. I often mute the TV for sports or nature stuff & play whatever. I think I'm getting old & lazy. Or is that old & in the way??
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ReplyDeletehttps://workupload.com/file/EYVCbDfeXHf
Mostly in the car these days. Our house is a Morrison-fest and I get bored. i drop usb sticks from the huge library of stuff I won't listen to before I die.
ReplyDeleteTo confuse the issue here's the 1962 Vee Jay Lightnin' Strikes, that I don't think I've ever listened to.
https://workupload.com/file/6ycb5QPV9Vx
Oh and you know years ago you asked for memorable lines, well from my car listening I picked a few more -
If I thought I knew what was best for you
I would have gone and done it for myself
I'll go to strangers if I want to
I'm a stranger too.
He knew what he was doing
So I gave him all the love that I had
points awarded for identifying sources.
I read this soon after it was posted, but it has taken me a while to respond. I was, for most of the time since Wednesday, listening to music ... but it was because I was ill, in bed, and trying like heck to get my mind off my discomfort. So, not as much fun as usual.
ReplyDeleteI get in a few hours a day, usually. I'm consistent about not having headphones on during dog walks (about 1.5 hours a day) so that I can be present, talk to neighbors and the g.d. dogs when they attempt to stray. It might be nice, but I've ratified that decision many times.
Where I count on listening is during the half-hour or more of cardio exercise I pursue three times a week (again, not during weights or yoga, to be sufficiently mindful not to injure myself), and during the times I'm going to - or going back to - sleep.
My life changed when I finally bought an iPod. I had clumsy ways of playing a tape to go to sleep, not always appreciated by my spouse. The DAPs I've had since the first (an 80GB iPod that still works when constantly plugged into a charger) have allowed me to drift off, and not fear awakening in the middle of the night. Before, I might begin to think of problems and be awake for an hour or more, fretting; now, I might still be awake for an hour or more, but I spend it with wonderful music!
Just last night, with my circadian rhythms totally screwed up by illness, I listened for over 2.5 hours (!!) and it was all right. (The coughing was unpleasant.) The listening matter was largely provided by music bloggers, and I owe thanks not only to Babs but to Butterboy (Psychedelic Country vol. 1 & 2) and Paul of Albums That Should Exist (Bonnie Raitt collected from 1997 to 2000 or so), and others.
I hope to reclaim normal life from this virus soon, but it is a great opportunity to catch up a little with Listening To Teh Downloads.
D in California
Hot enough.
ReplyDeleteI mean NOT enough.
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