Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Big Mama THORNTON - The Original Hound Dog 1990


Big Mama THORNTON - The Original Hound Dog  1990  

Blues

Big Mama Thornton boasted one of the most electrifying voices in the history of recorded music, and this CD is the perfect introduction. Hound Dog - The Peacock Recordings is cheaper easier to find, but this collection has seventeen of Hound Dog's eighteen tracks plus five more essential ones.
Tracks such as Hound Dog, I Ain't a Fool Either and I Smell a Rat show off Big Mama's marvelously fierce, attitudinal side. She was probably the one 50s singer as fiery as Howlin' Wolf, and her work predicts all of the "Angry Woman" singers of the past several decades. Nightmare and How Come reveal an aching vulnerability. I can't recommend this CD any higher. Big Mama deserves to be far better known than she is.
By  Michael Russell.
**
This British import compilation of Peacock sides is a bit more comprehensive than the domestic Hound Dog anthology, including a few more tracks (22 in all, some previously unreleased). The MCA collection, more readily available for most North American consumers, should suffice for most listeners. If you come across this one first, though, it's certainly an equal or greater value, highlighted by "Hound Dog" and "I Smell a Rat" (both written by the Leiber-Stoller songwriting team in their early days).
By Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide.
**
Yes, Big Mama sang the original Hound Dog well before Elvis made it a classic rock and roll hit. Yes, he went on to make millions (although not off of that song as such but as a fresh sex symbol at a time when the youth of my generation were in desperate need of our own icons) while she made about five hundred dollars off of it. But that is not the whole story. Big Mama had a career of her own beyond that song that while not as financially rewarding (due in part to race but also her drinking problem) as Elvis's nevertheless placed her in the pantheon of female blue singers like Bessie Smith and Memphis Minnie- no little accomplishment in itself. That is what is being celebrated here. Other classics in this CD include How Come, Nightmare, They Call Me Big Mama and I Smell a Rat. Is this her best compilation. No, I believe that Ball and Chain is but this has a nice selection. Big Mama belts out the tunes but, as a rule, does not try to overpower them with that big voice. But big or small Mama means the electric blues raw and unchained and that ain't no lie.
By  Alfred Johnson.
**
01. Hound Dog 2:52
02. Walking Blues 3:01
03. My Man Called Me 2:39
04. Cotton Picking Blues 2:49
05. Willie Mae's Trouble 2:42
06. The Big Change 2:44
07. I Smell a Rat 1:43
08. I Just Can't Help Myself 2:56
09. They Call Me Big Mama 2:05
10. Hard Times 2:14
11. I Ain't No Fool Either 2:22
12. You Don't Move Me No More 2:44
13. Let Your Tears Fall Baby 2:47
14. I've Searched The World Over 2:38
15. Rock-A-Bye Baby 2:36
16. How Come 2:36
17. Nightmare 2:53
18. Stop A-Hoppin' on Me 2:27
19. Laugh, Laugh, Laugh 2:44
20. Just Like A Dog 2:47
21. The Fish 2:43
22. Mischievous Boogie 2:31
**
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