LIGHTNIN' HOPKINS: Four Classic Albums (THE ROOSTER CROWED IN ENGLAND / LIGHTNIN’ (THE BLUES OF LIGHTNIN’ HOPKINS) / LAST NIGHT BLUES / LIGHTNIN’ STRIKES) (2 CDS)

AVID Roots continues with its Four Classic Roots Album, series with a re-mastered 2CD third release from Sam “Lightnin’” Hopkins, complete with original artwork, liner notes and personnel details
“The Rooster Crowed In England”; “Lightnin’-The Blues Of Lightnin’ Hopkins”; “Last Night Blues” with Sonny Terry and “Lightnin’ Strikes’”
One of the absolute delights to witness as we have grown our blues catalogue has been the success of all the titles we have released so far. It’s been very exciting and rewarding to know that there are still music lovers out there who continue to honour and enjoy the music of a bygone era, whether it be blues, jazz. folk or country. We believe it’s because this music is timeless, but above all else it is just great music. Music that still needs to be heard as we move into the 21st century digital age. Music that is becoming harder and more expensive to find in its original format of vinyl and later even on CD. Maybe as we advance into this new digital age we will begin to long for the true sound of music coming at us not in some compressed digital form? We will long for the honesty and simplicity of what has gone before……before it is gone forever. The blues has been with us now for well over a century, it has influenced and changed popular music in so many ways it’s hard to keep count. But at its core it is still about life and love and the struggle of the human condition and the chance to have a damn good time on a saturday night. Our first two Lightnin’ Hopkins releases have both been gratifyingly successful to date. We hadn’t planned on a third release just yet, but when we got the chance to feature a very rare, expensive and hard to find Hopkins album, we felt we just had to fit that third set in. This set opens with the album in question “The Rooster Crowed In England”, recorded in 1959 with a couple of tracks from 1954. Our liner notes indicate we could not find the original composers of the songs so we have listed them as unknown, we think there’s a fair chance they are all by the great man himself. We believe this is the first time this album has appeared on CD.
Check out:- Howlin’ Wolf / Muddy Waters (AMSC1162); Lightnin’ Hopkins (AMSC1225 & 1254); Jimmy Reed (AMSC1214); John Lee Hooker (AMSC1234); B.B. King (AMSC1203); (Lonnie Johnson AMSC1207); Freddie King/Albert King (AMSC1229); Rev. Gary Davis (AMSC1271); Josh White / Jesse Fuller (AMSC1344); Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee (AMSC1361); T Bone Walker (AMSC1359); Big Bill Broonzy (AMSC 1001 & 1159); Champion Jack Dupree (AMSC 1006); Memphis Slim (AMSC1148); Rural Blues (AVC942)

CD1
1-14: ‘The Rooster Crowed In England’
1. Hello England
2. Beggin’ Up And Down The Streets
3. When The Saints Go Marching In
4. Hard Headed Children
5. Dig Me In The Morning
6. Have You Ever Seen A One-Eyed Woman Cry?
7. Black Snake
8. Met The Blues At The Corner
9. How Many Days Must I Wait
10. If You Ever Been Mistreated
11. Back To Arkansas
12. Children’s Boogie
13. Blues For Queen Elizabeth
14. Goin’ To Galveston
15-24: ‘Lightnin’ (The Blues Of Lightnin’ Hopkins)’
15. Automobile Blues
16. You Better Watch Yourself
17. Mean Old Frisco
18. Shinin’ Moon
19. Come Back Baby
20. Thinkin’ ‘Bout An Old Friend
21. The Walkin’ Blues
22. Back To New Orleans
23. Katie Mae
24. Down There Baby

CD2
1-8: ‘Last Night Blues’
1. Rocky Mountain
2. Got To Move Your Baby
3. So Sorry To Leave You
4. Take A Trip With Me
5. Last Night Blues
6. Lightnin’s Stroke
7. Hard To Love A Woman
8. Conversation Blues
9-18: ‘Lightnin’ Strikes’
9. Got Me A Louisiana Woman
10. Want To Come Home
11. Please Don’t Quit Me
12. Devil Is Watching You
13. Rolling And Rolling
14. War Is Starting Again
15. Walkin’ ‘Round In Circles
16. Mary Lou
17. Heavy Snow
18. Coon Is Hard To Catch