SKIP JAMES Schallplatten & CDs

Review: ***B-STOCK: Record slightly warped, creasing to corner of outer sleeve***


Today! is Skip James' second album, originally released in 1966. Now reissued via Craft Recordings over half a century later, this 180-gram LP comes pressed onto heavyweight vinyl with proper retrospective care and attention. An almost entirely solo effort from the blues master, the likes of 'Hard Time Killing Floor Blues' and 'How Long' give atmospheric takes on hard times, amounting to a haunting account of cross-desert drives, driftings, and down-on-one's-luck limit-experiences. This 180-gram LP pressed at QRP includes an obi with notes by Scott Billington, a paper-wrapped jacket and (AAA) lacquers cut from the original master tapes by Matthew Lutthans at The Mastering Lab.

Review: Now considered a genuine legend of delta blues, Skip James spent much of his career in obscurity. He was finally tracked down and 'rediscovered' in the early 1960s, some 30 years after his only recordings were made, and promptly sent back into the studio. Today, officially his third studio album, was made and released in 1964 and shows the iconic bluesman at his very best. The 12 acoustic recordings on show brilliantly showcase his superbly soulful falsetto voice and incredible finger-picking guitar skills, with James providing awe-inspiring renditions of traditional blues numbers and his own compositions - many of which became staples in folk and blues clubs worldwide in the years that followed the album's release. An essential reissue of a genuinely important and iconic album.

Review: Today! is Skip James' second album, originally released in 1966. Now reissued via Craft Recordings over half a century later, this 180-gram LP comes pressed onto heavyweight vinyl with proper retrospective care and attention. An almost entirely solo effort from the blues master, the likes of 'Hard Time Killing Floor Blues' and 'How Long' give atmospheric takes on hard times, amounting to a haunting account of cross-desert drives, driftings, and down-on-one's-luck limit-experiences. This 180-gram LP pressed at QRP includes an obi with notes by Scott Billington, a paper-wrapped jacket and (AAA) lacquers cut from the original master tapes by Matthew Lutthans at The Mastering Lab.