55 f
unknown at the time of these recordings) and really strongly the ferocious Mississippi (later Chicago) bluesman Tommy McClennan. He’s got that fabulous driving pulse of McClennan (and McDowell), and the energy and clarity of a young man – he was after all much the same age as those ’20s/’30s legends were when they made their seminal recordings.
But how did he pick up those influences and mould them into his own personal style? Was it from live contact with other players or listening to records? Even Robert Johnson was clearly doing that back in the ’30s. There doesn’t seem to be much record of him play- ing live at all, but how does a singer / guitarist of such energy get – or need – such a large and well-formed repertoire if he was just a casual player. He sounds like somebody who has done a lot of playing. But these records were made over 50 years ago now, and he was last heard of in 1972: he’d be 87 if still alive. So unless this album excites a new gen- eration of blues Sherlocks into investigating the mysteries of artists from long ago – as happened with artists from a mere 35 years ago in the mid ’60s –we may never know.
And that would be a real shame because on the strength of this album Smoky Babe was a major find, and you’ll be lucky to hear a better ‘new’ country blues album this year. You can listen to the title track on this issue’s fRoots 50 Compilation.
www.arhoolie.com Ian Anderson
CUMBIA ALL STARS Tigres En FugaWorld Village 450028
We’re talking twangy guitar- driven Peruvian cumbia here, the kind that’s sometimes referred to as chicha, was originally made back in the 1960s and ’70s in the Ama- zon jungle by local kids hyped up on trad tropical rhythms, Colombian sounds
and US psychedelic rock, surf and soul, which has been more recently revived by New York’s Chicha Libre and London’s Los Chinches. Tigres En Fuga is however a whole different kettle of ceviche to the works of the afore- mentioned revivalists (fine though those are). This is a new recording by the originals.
Cumbia All Stars feature eight singers and musicians who were all part of the groundbreaking Peruvian cumbia wave, per- forming in bands such as Los Diablos Rojas, Los Hijos Del Sol, Papo Y Su Combo (names which should be familiar to all who’ve
Cumbia All Stars
enjoyed Barbes Records’ recent Roots Of Chicha compilations). By all accounts their showcase performance caused quite a stir at last year’s Womex and on the evidence of this album, it isn’t hard to see why. This is the real deal: eleven tracks of classic rolling cumbia, complete with call and response vocals, the hiss and scrape of tropical percussion and bucketloads of ringing guitar. People with deep roots playing them to perfection. They’re the Peruvian Watersons.
www.cumbiaallstars.com Jamie Renton
RICHARD THOMPSON Acoustic Classics Proper LC23498
Oi Richard! You know all those summer festi- vals you’re doing. We need something to flog to all those happy punters you’re going to thrill… why not knock out a quick solo acoustic album of your greatest hits? Won’t take a minute.
The cynical view is a cheap’n’cheerful cash-in job on RT’s vast catalogue and herit - age and there may be some truth in that. Except that nothing Richard Thompson touch- es ever sounds cheap… or cheerful, apart from I Want To See The Bright Lights tonight, of course, the marauding thrill-seeker, although in this rugged pared-down state it sounds more like threat than innocent desire.
The thing about Richard Thompson is
that… well, he’s enduringly brilliant. Look at the colourful, sympathetically-delivered tales of human drama encompassed here: there’s tender consternation on Persuasion; romantic violent death on 1952 Vincent Black Lightning; irrational obsessive behaviour on From Galway To Graceland; wanderlust and freedom on Beeswing; degradation and fantasy on Down Where The Drunkards Roll; life on the edge in Wall Of Death; a world of shadows and dark- ness on Shoot Out The Lights; distrust and dis- illusion on When The Spell Is Broken.
Lots of RT trademarks involving fair- grounds, shadowy anti-heroes and collapsing relations, then, on a series of wonderfully realised, graphic, cinematic songs by the man peerlessly accompanied on the acoustic gui- tar. And while you occasionally wistfully yearn for the voice of Linda Thompson or a blast of his sizzling electric guitar or the fiery rhythms that may have characterised the originals, this album is a seductive alternative and may even serve as a convincing introduc- tion to new listeners.
www.richardthompson-music.com Colin Irwin
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