Various Artists: Saturday Night In Shankletown

Saturday Night In Shankletown is the second release from MVD Entertainment/Catbone UnReleased Music, aiming to highlight the differing vibes of traditional Blues music. Saturday Night... aims to delve into the "feel-good" side of this genre, with a further two releases (Belly Full Of Blues and Mean Street - reviewed elsewhere) covering "up-tempo" and "mean".

What this series does extremely well is to gather together eclectic styles of music that are all still undoubtedly Blues, while at times adding Soul, Funk and Jazz to the pot. What however it doesn't do so well is to put meat on the bones, with generic booklets with identical liner notes – none of which relate directly to the songs on the discs themselves. Unfortunately that leaves the uninformed like myself unable to impart which of these tracks are exclusives to this release and which have featured elsewhere. What makes this doubly frustrating is that some of these songs have been rescued from a set of Berkley College Radio tapes and lovingly restored, something which has been done very well indeed. I am however unable to even guess at which fall into this category.

However with a cast list including Billy Boy Arnold, Howlin' Wolf and James Cotton, you know that these songs are going to be dripping with a rootsy feel that can't be replicated and if unadulterated Blues is for you, there is much to satisfy here. For a less dyed in the wool follower of the genre, there are also more eclectic selections that add variation and interest, with George Cummings "Gumbo Man" bringing things more up to date, Peter Frampton and Nanette Workman's "Lovin' Cup" providing a warm Soulful feel and "I Know I'm Losing You" showing that The Commodores weren't just a chart friendly Soul/Funk act.

There is much to admire about this series of Blues compilations and while the issues such as the liner notes and the odd clumsy song fade-out do detract from this album, in terms of the music this is a great introduction to the Blues which should still be able to provide interest for those with a long term understanding of the genre.

Track Listing
1. I Wish I Could - Billy Boy Arnold
2. El Dorado - Billy Boy Arnold
3. Forty Days & Forty Nights - Muddy Waters
4. Jelly Jelly - James Cotton
5. Gumbo Man - George Cummings
6. Diggin' Potatoes - James Cotton
7. Going Home - Muddy Waters
8. I Know I'm Losing You - Commodores
9. Woody 'N You - Jack Millman
10. Lovin' Cup - Peter Frampton / Nanette Workman
11. Rock Me - Muddy Waters
12. You Know It Ain't Right - James Cotton
13. Going Down Slow - Howlin Wolf
14. Sand Mountain Boogey - George Cummings
15. Fore Days - James Cotton
16. Cherry Red - Mike Bloomfield
17. Saturday Night In Shankletown - Ken Hatley

Added: November 28th 2011
Reviewer: Steven Reid
Score:
Related Link: Belly Full Of Blues MySpace
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Language: english

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