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2252 - TONY JOE WHITE - Swamp Music: The Complete Monument Recordings, Disc Three (2006)

TONY JOE WHITE
''SWAMP MUSIC: THE COMPLETE MONUMENT RECORDINGS, DISC THREE''
SEP 2006
RHINO HANDMADE
292:18

DISC ONE
1/Willie and Laura Mae Jones
Tony Joe White/4:56
2/Soul Francisco
Tony Joe White/1:57
3/Aspen Colorado
Tony Joe White/2:50
4/Whompt out on You
Tony Joe White/2:24
5/Don't Steal My Love
Tony Joe White/3:52
6/Polk Salad Annie
Tony Joe White/3:45
7/Who's Making Love
Homer Banks / Bettye Crutcher / Donald Davis/3:14
8/Scratch My Back/3:02
9/Little Green Apples
Bobby Russell/4:00
10/Wichita Lineman/2:53
11/The Look of Love
Burt Bacharach / Hal David/3:25
12/Willie and Laura Mae Jones
Tony Joe White/3:52
13/I Protest/3:08
14/A Man Can Only Stand Just So Much Pain/2:31
15/Toil & Trouble
Tony Joe White/3:50
16/Georgia Pines
John Rainey Adkins / Buddy Buie/2:55
17/It's Not What You Got/3:10
18/Prison Song
Tony Joe White/2:19
19/Hung Up on You/2:21
20/Ten More Miles to Louisiana
Tony Joe White/2:24
21/Let the Party Roll On
Joe South/2:29
22/Watching the Trains Go By
Dewey Oldham/2:48
23/Georgia Pines
John Rainey Adkins / Buddy Buie/2:57
24/Baby Please Don't Go/4:25

DISC TWO
1/Elements and Things
Tony Joe White/5:14
2/Roosevelt and Ira Lee (Night of the Mossacin)
Tony Joe White/3:06
3/Woodpecker
Tony Joe White/2:47
4/Rainy Night in Georgia
Tony Joe White/3:41
5/For le Ann
Tony Joe White/3:24
6/Old Man Willis
Tony Joe White/3:15
7/Woman with Soul
Tony Joe White/3:19
8/I Want You
Tony Joe White/5:22
9/I Thought I Knew You Well
Tony Joe White/4:16
10/The Migrant
Tony Joe White/3:31
11/Watching the Trains Go By
Dewey Oldham/3:08
12/Old Man Willis
Tony Joe White/3:09
13/Funky Fingers
Tony Joe White/4:13
14/Soul Britches
Tony Joe White/5:03
15/Dusty Marshmallow
Tony Joe White/3:11
16/Toil & Trouble
Tony Joe White/5:54
17/What Does It Take
Vernon Bullock / Harvey Fuqua/3:12
18/This Guy's in Love with You
Burt Bacharach / Hal David/2:57
19/Woodpecker
Tony Joe White/2:43
20/Laying out All Night
Tony Joe White/2:00
21/I Want Your Sweet Love
Tony Joe White/2:21
22/Keep a Movin' Train
Tony Joe White/2:36

DISC THREE
1/Stud Spider
Tony Joe White/5:39
2/High Sheriff of Calhoun Parrish
Tony Joe White/3:53
3/Widow Wimberly
Tony Joe White/3:41
4/Conjure Woman
Tony Joe White/3:58
5/Save Your Sugar for Me
Tony Joe White/2:20
6/Hard to Handle
Alvertis Isbell / Otis Redding/2:53
7/What Does It Take (To Win Your Love)
Johnny Bristol / Vernon Bullock / Harvey Fuqua/3:43
8/My Friend
Donnie Fritts / Dewey Oldham/3:11
9/Stockholm Blues
Tony Joe White/3:27
10/Boom Boom
John Lee Hooker/7:54
11/Groupy Girl
Tony Joe White/3:02
12/Prisoner/3:00
13/Do You Want My Love
Tony Joe White/5:03
14/Gospel Singer
Tony Joe White/3:21
15/I Hate to See You Cry
Tony Joe White/3:07
16/Dusty Marshmallow
Tony Joe White/3:41
17/I Can't Stand It/6:15
18/Mississippi River
Tony Joe White/5:13

DISC FOUR
1/Mississippi Delta
Bobbie Gentry/3:08
2/Chain of Fools
Don Covay/3:33
3/Woodpecker
Tony Joe White/2:32
4/The Ballad of Hollis Brown
Bob Dylan/3:29
5/Blue Monday
Tony Joe White/3:53
6/Tobacco Road/Dead End Street
John D. Loudermilk / Ben Raleigh / Lou Rawls/5:32
7/Caress Me Babe!/3:21
8/Dusty Marshmallow
Tony Joe White/1:42
9/Just Look at You
Tony Joe White/2:06
10/Skinny Legs & All
Joe Tex/3:22
11/Boom Boom
John Lee Hooker/4:06
12/Roosevelt and Ira Lee (Night of the Mossacin)
Tony Joe White/5:30
13/I Want You
Tony Joe White/5:21
14/Groupy Girl
Tony Joe White/5:16
15/Stud Spider
Tony Joe White/2:56
16/Polk Salad Annie
Tony Joe White/6:33
17/Save Your Sugar for Me
Tony Joe White/2:48


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.

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