Son's best collection from the 60's....... I kid you not!!!
If you buy one Son House, and I repeat if, then let it be this 1965 double disc session. I wont go over board here with dripping detail as to why you should own this album but if you acquire only one Son House album from his renewal period in the 60's let it be dis a one.....

The Father of the Delta Blues
I`ve written reviews for releases by Charley Patton and Robert Johnson,the importance of those recordings are well understood and that leads us to Edward"Son"House.Although others made their mark no one had more influence over the blues scene in the 30`s than this man.A combination of preacher and bluesman,Son was always in conflict because of his secular upbringing and the freedom and experiences that being a traveling blues singer could and did offer.
Although he only recorded a few sides in the early 30`s and then again in the early 40`s,that was it.Soon after he moved up north taking a job as a porter on the railways of the northeast.Fast forward to the early 60`s when he was tracked down and asked to perform,which he did,basically re-learning the guitar and then landing gigs at coffee houses and colleges then later festivals around the U.S. and Europe.In 1965 when he recorded these tracks he was at the height of his powers....with a hard often violent playing style and powerful voice he brought the delta blues style he helped create into the present with powerful performances of such classics as Death Letter,Grinnin in Your Face,Preachin Blues,Pony Blues and the list goes on.
With sound quality as an excuse for not wanting to listen to recordings of 78`s from 60 or 70 years ago,these discs are of the highest fidelity so the choice is yours.
Essential and worth every penny,you should make this part of your collection....the blues has never sounded better than this.

Desert Island CD of the first rank!
The Blues- either you get it or you don't. If you're one of the ones who does and you don't have this, then you need to stop whatever you're doing and get this. NOW. It's just that damn good. It's just that damn great! This is one of the CDs that gets me through the high times, the low times and all time in-between.

For me it ultimately comes down to two guys: Skip James and Son House. The two embody the differing poles of early blues aesthetic: James' eerie falsetto keen, odd/moribund lyrics (I'd rather be the Devil) minor key-tuned guitar and intricate finger work, under-stated and introspective; then you got House's deep and (utterly masculine) hollerin' vocals, his combative slide work on his National Steel resonator, his frenetic performances- visceral.

Both men had a deeply spiritual bent.

Now then, there are purists and then there are PURISTS. Some reviewers may say that the later Son House (these studio recordings) is lacking the ferocity and skill and power/delivery of his earlier self (the Lomax Library of Congress recordings and the Paramount recordings from the 30's). They may be right but I don't think so. I'm not knocking his earlier recordings- I swear by everything the man did. It's a tradeoff, basically- sound quality vs. intensity is one way of putting it, though, again I disagree: I think the man was just as gigantic on these two CDs as he was back in the day... And you can tell that his soul, his voice, his anima, had been tempered by the passing years. His intensity seems focused and buttressed to me, not worn out. He sounds like the most alive man I have ever heard.

These two CDs beyond are great, though I like the first better. The classic, "Preachin Blues," puts fire in your guts. "Death Letter," (maybe the best blues tune ever crafted) is jilting and hair-raising. Both takes. The same for "Levee camp Moan." The a capella versions of "John the Revelator" are marvelous. "Louise McGhee" is sublime.

Now- On some of the later alternate takes, House loses a bit of luster... The man coughs a little towards the end, but so what. Alan Wilson's harp never gets in the way, and works well. The Charley Patton cover is a fine time.

I've blathered about enough. I hope I've persuaded you a little- read on. My two cents: All of this is essential. ALL. You just don't hear stuff this good. It will have you humming along, singing at work, tapping your foot. It will make you want to learn to play the blues (and there's hope for you! Incidentally, House didn't learn guitar 'til he was 24- picked it up in a matter of weeks, so they say).

Pick this up.

HoosierDaddy
When it comes to the delta blues,this is it!Son House(Eddie James House Jr.)These recordings are a major plus for your collection.I'm trying too find the words to express this review but I can't, just buy it and injoy!

Son House is the real deal. Listen and learn
Son House taught Robert Johnson the slide blues. Son House taught Muddy Waters. When Son House started performing at Blues festivals again in the mid 1960s, some of Muddy's younger band members would start to go off for a smoke or whatever when the old man came on stage. Muddy wouldn't let them. Muddy Waters would tell all his band members to be quiet and pay attention when the man played because even compared with Muddy, this was the real deal.

Rediscovered in Rochester, New York, relearning to play the guitar, (how this country abuses the masters that come from its people, particularly its Black people), put back on the stage by the folk revival's blues section.

People outside of the blues life focus on the guitar playing or the rhythm of the singing, but where the power comes from is the feeling and the words that are put together, the life and the meaning of the blues. Son House in his youth and his old age, on this and his other sides, always gave it.

So Like Muddy Waters, I would like you to know that
Son House is the real deal.
Listen and learn