10670 - TONY JOE WHITE - THE COMPLETE WARNER BROS. RECORDINGS, DISC TWO (2015)
TONY JOE WHITE
''THE COMPLETE WARNER BROS. RECORDINGS, DISC TWO''
FEBRUARY 3 2015
143:49
**********
DISC ONE (76:27)
1 They Caught The Devil And Put Him In Jail In Eudora, Arkansas 03:49
2 The Change 05:51
3 My Kind Of Woman 03:43
4 The Daddy 04:43
5 Black Panther Swamps 03:03
6 Five Summers For Jimmy 03:44
7 A Night In The Life Of A Swamp Fox 04:39
8 Traveling Bone 02:52
9 I Just Walked Away 04:41
10 Copper Kettle 04:12
11 Voodoo Village 03:05
12 Lustful Earl And The Married Woman 03:18
13 Delta Love 03:22
14 That On The Road Look 04:18
15 I've Got A Thing About You Baby 02:42
16 The Family 03:30 (John Hurley, Ronnie Wilkins)
17 If I Ever Saw A Good Thing 03:21
18 Beoul River Road 03:20
19 The Train I'm On 03:09
20 Even Trolls Love Rock And Roll 04:56
Tracks By White, Except 16
*****
DISC TWO (67:22)
1 As The Crow Flies 03:50
2 Take Time To Love 03:02
3 300 Pounds Of Hongry 02:44 (Donnie Fritts, Eddie Hinton)
4 The Migrant 04:00
5 Sidewalk Hobo 03:54
6 The Gospel Singer 03:31
7 Saturday Night In Oak Grove Louisiana 02:13
8 For Ol' Times Sake 03:48
9 I Want Love ('tween You And Me) 02:43
10 Homemade Ice Cream 03:13
11 Ol' Mother Earth 03:09
12 Lazy 03:50
13 California On My Mind 03:46
14 Backwoods Preacher Pan 02:48
15 Talkin' The Midnight Train 04:08
16 No News Is Good News 03:04
17 Did Somebody Make A Fool Out Of You 04:17
18 Sign Of The Lion 03:04
19 Don't Let The Door (Hit You In The Butt) 03:07
20 Wishful Thinking 03:03
Tracks By White, Except 3
**********
REVIEW/AMG
Mark Demig
When the definitive swamp rocker Tony Joe White signed with Warner Bros. in 1971, it sure seemed like a good idea -- while White seemed like an anomaly at Nashville's Monument Records, WB was a label with a reputation for nurturing creative mavericks with a taste for stylistic crossbreeding, and with his soulful, organic fusion of rock, blues, and country sounds, White was as individual as they came in the late '60s and early '70s. From a creative standpoint, Tony Joe White had a fruitful relationship with Warner Bros., as he cut three fine albums for the label, but commercially, things were not so rosy, as none of his WB releases fared well on the charts, and they soon fell out of print. The Complete Warner Bros. Recordings is a two-disc set that includes White's three WB albums in full -- 1971's Tony Joe White, 1972's The Train I'm On, and 1973's Homemade Ice Cream -- along with six tunes that only appeared on singles. Tony Joe White found White paired up in the studio with Peter Asher, who at the time had produced a handful of hits for James Taylor and would later work extensively with Linda Ronstadt, and if it seems like a curious match, the album was the hardest rocking set in White's WB repertoire; White's band (reinforced on several cuts by the Memphis Horns) cuts a solid and soulful groove, and "They Caught the Devil and Put Him in Jail in Eudora, Arkansas," "A Night in the Life of a Swamp Fox," and "Black Panther Swamps" all capture him in tough, funky form, and "Copper Kettle" and "The Daddy" show he could also deliver with more contemplative material. With Jerry Wexler and Tom Dowd at the controls and most of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section backing him up, The Train I'm On feels looser and more laid-back than Tony Joe White, with an easygoing, Sunday afternoon feel permeating these sessions; even rockers like "Even Trolls Love Rock and Roll" and "300 Pounds of Hongry" have a greasy vibe that puts the focus on the roll, not the rock, and the closer, "The Gospel Singer," sounds as richly Southern as anything White ever released. And Homemade Ice Cream is the most casual-sounding LP featured here, with White co-producing with Tom Dowd and Norbert Putnam and David Briggs anchoring the studio band. Some of the tracks sound more like demos than polished final tracks, though that's also part of their appeal; there's plenty of late-night soul in these performances, and they're intimate in a way the funky swamp fox couldn't always manage in the studio. With excellent liner notes from Ben Edmonds, this is a superb overview of an underappreciated period in the career of an often underrated artist, and anyone interested in Tony Joe White would do well to pick this up.
**********
BIOGRAPHY/AMG
John Bush
Tony Joe White has parlayed his songwriting talent into a modestly successful country and rock career in Europe as well as America. Born July 23, 1943, in Goodwill, Louisiana, White was born into a part-Cherokee family. He began working clubs in Texas during the mid-'60s and moved to Nashville by 1968. White's 1969 debut album for Monument, Black and White, featured his Top Ten pop hit "Polk Salad Annie" and another charting single, "Roosevelt and Ira Lee (Night of the Moccasin)." That same year, Dusty Springfield reached the charts with White's "Willie and Laura Mae Jones." Brook Benton recorded a version of White's "Rainy Night in Georgia" that hit number four early in 1970; the song has since become a near-standard with more than 100 credits. White's own "Groupie Girl" began his European success with a short stay on the British charts in 1970.
White moved to Warner Bros. in 1971, but success eluded him on his three albums: Tony Joe White, The Train I'm On, and Homemade Ice Cream. Other stars, however, continued to keep his name on the charts during the '70s: Elvis charted with "For Ol' Times Sake" and "I've Got a Thing About You Baby" (Top Five on the country charts), and Hank Williams, Jr. took "Rainy Night in Georgia" to number 13 on the country charts. White himself recorded Eyes for 20th Century Fox in 1976, but then disappeared for four years. He signed to Casablanca for 1980's The Real Thang but moved to Columbia in 1983 for Dangerous, which included the modest country hits "The Lady in My Life" and "We Belong Together."
White was inactive through much of the '80s, but worked with Tina Turner on her 1989 Foreign Affair album, writing four songs and playing guitar and harmonica. He released Closer to the Truth a year later for his own Swamp label and toured with Eric Clapton and Joe Cocker to very receptive French crowds (Closer to the Truth has sold 100,000 copies in that country alone). His 1993 album Path of a Decent Groove was released only in France, though Warner's The Best of Tony Joe White earned an American release the same year. Lake Placid Blues (1995) and One Hot July (1998) were Europe-only efforts until 2000, when Hip-O Records brought out One Hot July in the U.S., giving White his first new major-label domestic release in 17 years. But White was just beginning to roll, or re-roll, as the case may be. The critically acclaimed The Beginning appeared from Swamp Records in 2001, followed by Heroines, featuring several duets with female vocalists, from Sanctuary in 2004, and a live Austin City Limits concert, Live from Austin, TX, from New West Records in 2006. In 2007 White released another live recording, Take Home the Swamp, as well as the compilation Introduction to Tony Joe White. In the summer of 2010 Rhino Handmade released a previously unissued live date from 1971 entitled That On the Road Look; later that fall, White's latest studio offering, The Shine, appeared through his Swamp Records imprint. The Shine gained enough attention that he then made the leap to the high-profile roots rock indie Yep Roc, which released Hoodoo in the fall of 2013.
**********
WEBSITE
**********
TO THE TOP
**********
''THE COMPLETE WARNER BROS. RECORDINGS, DISC TWO''
FEBRUARY 3 2015
143:49
**********
DISC ONE (76:27)
1 They Caught The Devil And Put Him In Jail In Eudora, Arkansas 03:49
2 The Change 05:51
3 My Kind Of Woman 03:43
4 The Daddy 04:43
5 Black Panther Swamps 03:03
6 Five Summers For Jimmy 03:44
7 A Night In The Life Of A Swamp Fox 04:39
8 Traveling Bone 02:52
9 I Just Walked Away 04:41
10 Copper Kettle 04:12
11 Voodoo Village 03:05
12 Lustful Earl And The Married Woman 03:18
13 Delta Love 03:22
14 That On The Road Look 04:18
15 I've Got A Thing About You Baby 02:42
16 The Family 03:30 (John Hurley, Ronnie Wilkins)
17 If I Ever Saw A Good Thing 03:21
18 Beoul River Road 03:20
19 The Train I'm On 03:09
20 Even Trolls Love Rock And Roll 04:56
Tracks By White, Except 16
*****
DISC TWO (67:22)
1 As The Crow Flies 03:50
2 Take Time To Love 03:02
3 300 Pounds Of Hongry 02:44 (Donnie Fritts, Eddie Hinton)
4 The Migrant 04:00
5 Sidewalk Hobo 03:54
6 The Gospel Singer 03:31
7 Saturday Night In Oak Grove Louisiana 02:13
8 For Ol' Times Sake 03:48
9 I Want Love ('tween You And Me) 02:43
10 Homemade Ice Cream 03:13
11 Ol' Mother Earth 03:09
12 Lazy 03:50
13 California On My Mind 03:46
14 Backwoods Preacher Pan 02:48
15 Talkin' The Midnight Train 04:08
16 No News Is Good News 03:04
17 Did Somebody Make A Fool Out Of You 04:17
18 Sign Of The Lion 03:04
19 Don't Let The Door (Hit You In The Butt) 03:07
20 Wishful Thinking 03:03
Tracks By White, Except 3
**********
REVIEW/AMG
Mark Demig
When the definitive swamp rocker Tony Joe White signed with Warner Bros. in 1971, it sure seemed like a good idea -- while White seemed like an anomaly at Nashville's Monument Records, WB was a label with a reputation for nurturing creative mavericks with a taste for stylistic crossbreeding, and with his soulful, organic fusion of rock, blues, and country sounds, White was as individual as they came in the late '60s and early '70s. From a creative standpoint, Tony Joe White had a fruitful relationship with Warner Bros., as he cut three fine albums for the label, but commercially, things were not so rosy, as none of his WB releases fared well on the charts, and they soon fell out of print. The Complete Warner Bros. Recordings is a two-disc set that includes White's three WB albums in full -- 1971's Tony Joe White, 1972's The Train I'm On, and 1973's Homemade Ice Cream -- along with six tunes that only appeared on singles. Tony Joe White found White paired up in the studio with Peter Asher, who at the time had produced a handful of hits for James Taylor and would later work extensively with Linda Ronstadt, and if it seems like a curious match, the album was the hardest rocking set in White's WB repertoire; White's band (reinforced on several cuts by the Memphis Horns) cuts a solid and soulful groove, and "They Caught the Devil and Put Him in Jail in Eudora, Arkansas," "A Night in the Life of a Swamp Fox," and "Black Panther Swamps" all capture him in tough, funky form, and "Copper Kettle" and "The Daddy" show he could also deliver with more contemplative material. With Jerry Wexler and Tom Dowd at the controls and most of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section backing him up, The Train I'm On feels looser and more laid-back than Tony Joe White, with an easygoing, Sunday afternoon feel permeating these sessions; even rockers like "Even Trolls Love Rock and Roll" and "300 Pounds of Hongry" have a greasy vibe that puts the focus on the roll, not the rock, and the closer, "The Gospel Singer," sounds as richly Southern as anything White ever released. And Homemade Ice Cream is the most casual-sounding LP featured here, with White co-producing with Tom Dowd and Norbert Putnam and David Briggs anchoring the studio band. Some of the tracks sound more like demos than polished final tracks, though that's also part of their appeal; there's plenty of late-night soul in these performances, and they're intimate in a way the funky swamp fox couldn't always manage in the studio. With excellent liner notes from Ben Edmonds, this is a superb overview of an underappreciated period in the career of an often underrated artist, and anyone interested in Tony Joe White would do well to pick this up.
**********
BIOGRAPHY/AMG
John Bush
Tony Joe White has parlayed his songwriting talent into a modestly successful country and rock career in Europe as well as America. Born July 23, 1943, in Goodwill, Louisiana, White was born into a part-Cherokee family. He began working clubs in Texas during the mid-'60s and moved to Nashville by 1968. White's 1969 debut album for Monument, Black and White, featured his Top Ten pop hit "Polk Salad Annie" and another charting single, "Roosevelt and Ira Lee (Night of the Moccasin)." That same year, Dusty Springfield reached the charts with White's "Willie and Laura Mae Jones." Brook Benton recorded a version of White's "Rainy Night in Georgia" that hit number four early in 1970; the song has since become a near-standard with more than 100 credits. White's own "Groupie Girl" began his European success with a short stay on the British charts in 1970.
White moved to Warner Bros. in 1971, but success eluded him on his three albums: Tony Joe White, The Train I'm On, and Homemade Ice Cream. Other stars, however, continued to keep his name on the charts during the '70s: Elvis charted with "For Ol' Times Sake" and "I've Got a Thing About You Baby" (Top Five on the country charts), and Hank Williams, Jr. took "Rainy Night in Georgia" to number 13 on the country charts. White himself recorded Eyes for 20th Century Fox in 1976, but then disappeared for four years. He signed to Casablanca for 1980's The Real Thang but moved to Columbia in 1983 for Dangerous, which included the modest country hits "The Lady in My Life" and "We Belong Together."
White was inactive through much of the '80s, but worked with Tina Turner on her 1989 Foreign Affair album, writing four songs and playing guitar and harmonica. He released Closer to the Truth a year later for his own Swamp label and toured with Eric Clapton and Joe Cocker to very receptive French crowds (Closer to the Truth has sold 100,000 copies in that country alone). His 1993 album Path of a Decent Groove was released only in France, though Warner's The Best of Tony Joe White earned an American release the same year. Lake Placid Blues (1995) and One Hot July (1998) were Europe-only efforts until 2000, when Hip-O Records brought out One Hot July in the U.S., giving White his first new major-label domestic release in 17 years. But White was just beginning to roll, or re-roll, as the case may be. The critically acclaimed The Beginning appeared from Swamp Records in 2001, followed by Heroines, featuring several duets with female vocalists, from Sanctuary in 2004, and a live Austin City Limits concert, Live from Austin, TX, from New West Records in 2006. In 2007 White released another live recording, Take Home the Swamp, as well as the compilation Introduction to Tony Joe White. In the summer of 2010 Rhino Handmade released a previously unissued live date from 1971 entitled That On the Road Look; later that fall, White's latest studio offering, The Shine, appeared through his Swamp Records imprint. The Shine gained enough attention that he then made the leap to the high-profile roots rock indie Yep Roc, which released Hoodoo in the fall of 2013.
**********
WEBSITE
**********
TO THE TOP
**********
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