HUDIE LEADBETTER / Leadbelly:
Side 1:
Listen: Take This Hammer / Leadbelly
Take
Listen: Ella Speed / Leadbelly
Ella
Side 2:
Listen: Back Water Blues / Leadbelly
Back
Listen: Sweet Mary Blues / Leadbelly
Sweet
Like jazz or gospel singles, blues 7′s are pretty irresistable. For years, fairly abundant, it was a non stop 50ยข field day. I ended up with stacks, and occasionally spend several hours having a proper sift through them. ‘Take This Hammer’, like so many, found it’s way to me via a white 60′s English band, The Spencer Davis Group. Stevie Winwood unquestionably had the voice to pull off any of these standards, which was the case for ‘This Hammer’, as it was titled on their US GIMME SOME LOVIN’ album.
Good news. This stuff is still around if you look. I only just bought Leadbelly’s UK EP, HUDIE LEADBETTER while in London last month, for a few pounds. Lovingly played, I do believe original records like these would sound a bit naked without the surface noise.
