Alberta Hunter: Complete Recorded Works Vol. 2

ALBERTA HUNTER: COMPLETE RECORDED WORKS VOL. 2 (1923-1924)

1) Someone Else Will Take Your Place; 2) Vamping Brown; 3) You Can Have My Man If He Comes To See You Too; 4) Aggravatin' Papa; 5) I'm Going Away To Wear You Off My Mind; 6) Loveless Love; 7) You Can Take My Man But You Can't Keep Him Long; 8) Bring It With You When You Come; 9) Mistreated Blues; 10) Michigan Water Blues (take 2); 11) Down South Blues; 12) Michigan Water Blues (take 4); 13) Stingaree Blues; 14) You Can't Do What My Last Man Did; 15) Experience Blues; 16) Sad 'n' Lonely Blues; 17) Miss Anna Brown; 18) Maybe Some­day (take 1); 19) Maybe Someday (take 2); 20) Old Fashioned Love; 21) If The Rest Of The World Don't Want You; 22) It's Gonna Be A Cold, Cold Winter; 23) Parlor Social De Luxe.

The second volume is somewhat less exciting than the first (if the term «exciting» is at all appli­cable to these discs); it has a notably lower proportion of «classic» numbers — 'Aggravatin' Papa', perhaps, and 'Down South Blues', it has a notably higher proportion of awfully sounding tracks, especially at the beginning — hold on to your ears, it does get better as it goes along; and it cer­tainly does not contain any unexpected surprises. Peculiarities that catch the ear a little firmer in­clude the unusually strongly delivered 'Bring It With You When You Come' and a silly comic dialog with jazz drummer Sonny Greer on the last track.

Covered material is also generally quite light here: even a song like 'Sad 'n' Lonely Blues' is de­livered with enough gaiety to make you forget about its title and return to its deep-hidden mea­ning only when the hangover sets in. But then, with all due respect, Alberta ain't no Bessie, and these early tracks ain't nothing but gallant, high-class entertainment.