Lightnin' Hopkins Goin' Away 180g LP (Stereo)

Named a Top Ten Vinyl Reissue of 2016 by The Absolute Sound!

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Sam "Lightnin'" Hopkins, a true poet who invented most of his lyrics on the spot and never seemed to run out of new ideas, was a blues giant of post-war blues whose style was rooted in pre-war Texas traditions. While he cranked up his amp to fierce proportions when performing for his friends at Houston juke joints, producers who recorded him for the so-called folk-blues market usually insisted that he use an acoustic guitar for more "authentic" results. Either way, Lightnin' seldom made a bad record, and this June 4, 1963, session on which he played acoustic was among his finest, thanks much to the sensitive support of bassist Leonard Gaskin and drummer Herbie Lovelle, who did a remarkable job of following his irregular bar patterns and abrupt song endings.

At times the guitar seems a bit low in the mix, but on this remastered Analogue Productions LP, cut from the original master tapes by Kevin Gray, it sounds warm and natural while the boisterous vocals have a commanding presence; the recording also does a fine job of capturing Leonard Gaskin's deep bass tones and the timbre of Herbie Lovelle's brushes.