Talk:Folk Singer (album)

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A couple of notes ...

Not much time, so I'll make this short:

• "Debut studio album" – What about Sings Big Bill Broonzy, released 1960.
  • I am not sure if that's a studio album, but rather a compilation album. I am not sure about this, so removed the "first"
    • SBBB was recorded in a studio in Chicago June–August 1959; although some songs were released as singles, it is not a compilation album.
      • Ok then.
• "First and last full instrumental album" – What do you mean, the songs have vocals.
  • Yes, but vocals are also a musical instrument, no? Actually, with "instrumental album" I meant "non-electric blues album".
    • Then say that or "his only all-acoustic album". "Instrumental" in music usually means without vocals.
      • Done
• "After his successful ... Chess decided to record ..." – Waters recorded several songs between At Newport 1960 and 1963. Wording suggests that Folk Singer came on the heels of At ...
  • I reworded it slightly; hopefully it is ok how it now stands
• Band personnel changes – Too much tangential info?
  • I don't think it is
    • Really? Listing all the intervening bassists since At Newport 1960 is excessive detail (Willie Dixon plays on the album); the bit about Cotton, Buford, et al. is off point (they don't play on the album), so why mention them?
      • I removed the bit about Cotton and Buford.
• "Another loss was guitarist Pat Hare ..." – Liner notes say "Shortly after playing the 1960 Newport festival, he [Hare] was fired for being drunk one too many times". Sorry to spoil your hook, but Hare had been gone awhile, so his conviction was not the primary reason he did not play.
  • Not the primary reason, but he might have join the band if not arrested
    • Yeah and his incarceration also prevented him from playing with the Rolling Stones. Leap of logic.
• "held the guitar backwards and stroke the guitar strings with his left hand" – Is this just an awkward way to say he was left handed?
  • That was stupid... lol. Removed
    • "Backwards"? Do you mean he played a right-handed guitar left-handed, making it appear up-side-down? (I don't know). Regardless, this is probably trivial – many lefties play this way.
• "narcolepsy" – according to Elvin Bishop, his problem may have been all those "half-pints".
  • Ah, yes, forgot to add.
• "Guy's arrival TO Louisiana..." – Should be "FROM Louisiana".
  • Are you sure? It is not clear from the book
    • "Buddy Guy had come to Muddy's attention shortly after his arrival FROM Louisiana" (Gordon my p. 183, emphasis added).
      • I found the passage, thanks. There was a second passage, but it was not clear if he arrived from or to Louisiana
• "untuned guitar" – Dubious, Waters & entourage certainly knew how to tune a guitar.
  • According to that book, Waters did not want to make the same mistake as last time, playing with a screeching guitar. However, I changed "untuned" -> to "screeching"
    • This section needs work. On Waters' first English tour (1958), he played his electric guitar, which the English trad jazz crowd, who favored acoustic music, found too noisy. For his second tour (1963), he used acoustic guitar to appease the critics, but by then the new fans wanted his electric guitar. His willingness to record an acoustic album may have been another attempt at misguided appeasement.
• "most of which has a low tempo, the only song which stands in tempo from other" – Strangled grammar, try "most of which are performed at a slower tempo, with the exception of the uptempo "Good Morning ..."
  • Reworded
• "Waters emphasized his singing with buzzings" – Buzzing is a bad choice of words, humming?.
  • Changed

Re: references if I have a particular book, I will say so, otherwise you won't hear from me. I'll take another look later. -Ojorojo (talk) 17:13, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

• • Thanks!--♫GoP♫_T^C_N 17:53, 31 January 2012 (UTC)
    • More notes. -Ojorojo (talk) 21:32, 31 January 2012 (UTC)
      • Thanks again!--♫GoP♫_T^C_N 16:02, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

More comments

• "first recordings ... 'I Can't Be Satisfied' ... 1943" – This early version was titled "I Be's Troubled" (Gordon p. 43). Waters recorded again in 1942, not 1943.
• "released on Testament Records" – True, but not in reference given. The Complete Plantation Recordings, which received a Blues Hall of Fame award in 2001, was released by MCA/Chess in 1993.
• "After his successful performance at Newport ... tours though Europe ..." – After At Newport 1960 and prior to recording Folk Singer, Waters had not toured Europe (he had only toured England once in 1958). He embarked on a European tour after recording in October 1963.
• "replaced in the following years by ..." – Again, why all the bassists?
• "held the guitar backwards" – As I suspected, he's just left-handed playing a right-handed guitar "upside down" (not backwards) (Gordon p. 175). Anyway, this is still trivial.
• "Waters accepted the proposal to be backed by a second guitarist" – Waters nearly always toured and recorded with a second guitarist; this wording gives the impression that this was unusual or special.
• "his latest panned perfomance in London, when he played on a screeching guitar" – This needs some context. Waters performed with his normal electric guitar, which an English critic wrote up as "screaming guitar" (Gordon p. 159). If you want to flesh out this article, a discussion of "folk blues" versus "electric blues" and the differing expectations between the record company, the musicians and the audiences and how that changed over time, would be useful (all discussed by Gordon and others).

-Ojorojo (talk) 17:43, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

Several problems with article

• "the debut studio album" – Sings Big Bill Broonzy was his debut studio album (see notes above).
  • Sings Big Bill Broonzy is a compilation of Broonzy songs -> compilation album.
    • SBBB is not a compilation album – it was recorded with the same musicians over a three-month period specifically for release as an album. Removed "debut".
• "Background" section – Most blues bands from this era were essentially pickup bands, with large frequently changing rosters. Discussing intermediate changes is unnecessary excessive detail.
  • It is interesting for the reader; that's what the background section is for.--GoP_T^C_N 09:02, 3 April 2012 (UTC)
• "Hare was replaced with James "Pee Wee" Madison" – Several guitarists recorded and toured with Waters between Hare's departure in 1960 and Madison's first recordings in 1964, including Luther Tucker and Matt Murphy. It is sufficient to say that Madison played on some of the Folk Singer reissue bonus tracks.
• "held the guitar backwards" – Madison did not hold the guitar backwards (see notes above).
  • • Reworded.
• "Sammy Lawton joined Waters' band" – Again, it is sufficient to say that he played on some bonus tracks.
  • I can't see any Lawton.--GoP_T^C_N 09:02, 3 April 2012 (UTC)
    • Lawhorn that is. Changed.
• "recorded Blues From Big Bill's ..." – Worth mentioning that this was a live Waters album recorded in 1963.
  • Self-evident (Blues from... are typical live albums phrases.)--GoP_T^C_N 09:02, 3 April 2012 (UTC)
    • Added.
• "firstly ... he played on an electric 'screeching' guitar" – Not in reference given. This section needs work (see notes above). Recordings by Waters during the 1963 AFMF include Matt Murphy on guitar.
  • I don't have the book anymore, so if you want to do that then do. --GoP_T^C_N 09:02, 3 April 2012 (UTC)
    • OK then, removed until adequate sources can be found.
• "to restore his reputation" – According to At Newport 1960, "Many future musicians and bands, such as The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, AC/DC and Led Zeppelin, were influenced by his [Waters'] electric sound and used this and his greatest hits album as templates to create a hard rock sound." Apparently, one critic's comment about a "screaming guitar" (a loud electric guitar) was ignored by these musicians. When Waters performed acoustically in 1963, the fans wanted to hear electric guitar.
  • • As above, removed until adequate sources are found.
• "The remaining songs ... were slower in tempo." – Not in reference given; Gordon says "quiet versions", not slower versions.
  • • Changed.

-Ojorojo (talk) 16:34, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

• As per your suggestion, I went ahead and made some changes. -Ojorojo (talk) 15:52, 3 April 2012 (UTC)

Release date

In this article we have two different release dates. In the box it says January 1964 and in the text April 1964. Which is the right date? --Manuel Funk (talk) 11:09, 17 November 2014 (UTC)