Tony Joe White - Swamp Music The Complete Monument Recordings (@320)

 

Tony Joe White - Swamp Music The Complete Monument Recordings

Swamp Music: The Complete Monument Recordings Review by Hal Horowitz.

This overstuffed box not only includes all three of Tony Joe White's initial albums for Monument, but adds dozens of extra songs and outtakes, most of which have never been heard before, and includes a fourth disc of previously unreleased live and studio tracks. It's a cornucopia of material, nearly all of it worth hearing, but due to its near obsessive vault clearing, the hefty list price, and its limited-edition status (only 5000 were pressed), it is clearly geared to the obsessive White enthusiast. Even though the singer/songwriter/guitarist was signed to Monument in 1966 (both sides of his rare debut single appear as extras on this set's version of Black and White), his first album was not recorded until 1969. By that time White had pretty much nailed the distinctive and ultimately trademark swamp sound that he mined for the rest of his career. The musky yet melodic songs, evocative lyrics and mid-tempo rhythms married to White's baritone voice reveled in his scrappy Louisiana roots. His first disc kicks off with "Willie and Laura Mae Jones," a steaming slice of the backwoods pop that, like most of his finest work, effortlessly combined blues, country and folk. While others had worked similar territory previously, in particular Bobbie Gentry (her "Ode to Billy Joe" was a major inspiration for White), he infused a rock and R&B sensibility that drove the music with gritty authenticity and his "whomper stomper" wah-wah pedal. Most impressive is the amount of material recorded during the period 1969-1971, the three years covered here. Of these 64 studio tracks and outtakes, all but approximately 20 are originals and most are well worth hearing. Billy Swan remained White's producer throughout these albums, and even though some critics find his strings and horns to be unnecessary embellishments, the sweetening seldom overwhelms the music. White rather reluctantly agrees in his interview available in the informative 36-page book that brings additional value to this compilation. The fourth disc features his entire seven-song performance at 1970s Isle of Wight concert. White is joined by Jeff Beck's drummer Cozy Powell, who he had first met earlier that day, and the duo burn through a sizzling set highlighted by a six-minute version of his biggest hit, "Polk Salad Annie." The compilers also unearth a previously unreleased, solo, ten track studio session recorded in Paris in March of 1969 where White covers Gentry's "Mississippi Delta" along with Bob Dylan, Don Covay and Joe Tex, along with a few originals. Not quite essential, it's still more than worthwhile and fans will enjoy experiencing White in his most stripped down format. It's a fitting coda for a long overdue and neatly packaged appreciation of Tony Joe White's significant influence on American roots music.

Tracklist:

Disc 1: Black And White

 

1. Tony Joe White - Willie and Laura Mae Jones

2. Tony Joe White - Soul Francisco

3. Tony Joe White - Aspen Colorado

4. Tony Joe White - Whompt out on You

5. Tony Joe White - Don't Steal My Love

6. Tony Joe White - Polk Salad Annie

7. Tony Joe White - Who's Making Love

8. Tony Joe White - Scratch My Back

9. Tony Joe White - Little Green Apples

10. Tony Joe White - Wichita Lineman

11. Tony Joe White - Look of Love

12. Tony Joe White - Willie and Laura Mae Jones

13. Tony Joe White - I Protest

14. Tony Joe White - Man Can Only Stand Just So Much Pain

15. Tony Joe White - Toil & Trouble

16. Tony Joe White - Georgia Pines

17. Tony Joe White - It's Not What You Got

18. Tony Joe White - Prison Song

19. Tony Joe White - Hung Up on You

20. Tony Joe White - Ten More Miles to Louisiana

21. Tony Joe White - Let the Party Roll On

22. Tony Joe White - Watching the Trains Go By

23. Tony Joe White - Georgia Pines

24. Tony Joe White - Baby Please Don’t Go

 

Disc 2: Continued

 

1. Tony Joe White - Elements and Things

2. Tony Joe White - Roosevelt and Ira Lee (Night of the Mossacin)

3. Tony Joe White - Woodpecker

4. Tony Joe White - Rainy Night in Georgia

5. Tony Joe White - For le Ann

6. Tony Joe White - Old Man Willis

7. Tony Joe White - Woman with Soul

8. Tony Joe White - I Want You

9. Tony Joe White - I Thought I Knew You Well

10. Tony Joe White - Migrant

11. Tony Joe White - Watching the Trains Go By

12. Tony Joe White - Old Man Willis

13. Tony Joe White - Funky Fingers

14. Tony Joe White - Soul Britches

15. Tony Joe White - Dusty Marshmallow

16. Tony Joe White - Toil & Trouble

17. Tony Joe White - What Does It Take

18. Tony Joe White - This Guy's in Love with You

19. Tony Joe White - Woodpecker

20. Tony Joe White - Laying out All Night

21. Tony Joe White - I Want Your Sweet Love

22. Tony Joe White - Keep a Movin' Train

 

Disc 3: Tony Joe

 

1. Tony Joe White - Stud Spider

2. Tony Joe White - High Sheriff of Calhoun Parrish

3. Tony Joe White - Widow Wimberly

4. Tony Joe White - Conjure Woman

5. Tony Joe White - Save Your Sugar for Me

6. Tony Joe White - Hard to Handle

7. Tony Joe White - What Does It Take (To Win Your Love)

8. Tony Joe White - My Friend

9. Tony Joe White - Stockholm Blues

10. Tony Joe White - Boom Boom

11. Tony Joe White - Groupy Girl

12. Tony Joe White - Prisoner

13. Tony Joe White - Do You Want My Love

14. Tony Joe White - Gospel Singer

15. Tony Joe White - I Hate to See You Cry

16. Tony Joe White - Dusty Marshmallow

17. Tony Joe White - I Can't Stand It

18. Tony Joe White - Mississippi River

 

Disc 4: Swamp Music

 

1. Tony Joe White - Mississippi Delta

2. Tony Joe White - Chain of Fools

3. Tony Joe White - Woodpecker

4. Tony Joe White - Ballad of Hollis Brown

5. Tony Joe White - Blue Monday

6. Tony Joe White - Tobacco Road/Dead End Street

7. Tony Joe White - Caress Me Babe!

8. Tony Joe White - Dusty Marshmallow

9. Tony Joe White - Just Look at You

10. Tony Joe White - Skinny Legs & All

11. Tony Joe White - Boom Boom

12. Tony Joe White - Roosevelt and Ira Lee (Night of the Mossacin)

13. Tony Joe White - I Want You

14. Tony Joe White - Groupy Girl

15. Tony Joe White - Stud Spider

16. Tony Joe White - Polk Salad Annie

17. Tony Joe White - Save Your Sugar for Me

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