Big Joe Williams

Big Joe Williams

1972  ·  Storyville ST 21022  ·  Stereo  ·  France (pressed/distributed for the French market; recorded in Copenhagen)  ·  LP · 33 1/3 RPM

Pressing details

LabelStoryville
Catalogue numberST 21022
Year1972
Mono / StereoStereo
CountryFrance (pressed/distributed for the French market; recorded in Copenhagen)
FormatLP
Speed33 1/3 RPM
GenreBlues - Country Blues/Delta Blues
ProducerKarl Emil Knudsen
MusiciansBig Joe Williams (guitar, vocals)

Matrix / Runout

Side A:  MPO MU ST 21022 A DTV
Side B:  MPO MU ST 21022 B DTV

Condition

Cover
NM
Vinyl
NN/NM

Variant chronology

1972 - Denmark, Storyville SLP 224
1972 - France, Storyville ST 21022  <- this copy
1983 - Yugoslavia, Storyville/reissue SLP 224, 2221500
n.d. - Yugoslavia, PGP RTB 5721016

This Pressing

1972 French pressing (stereo) - Storyville label distributed by Musidisc-Europe, manufactured in France.

The Album

Big Joe Williams was one of the last great itinerant Delta bluesmen, a self-taught guitarist from Mississippi's Crawford community who built his signature nine-string guitar and spent decades riding the rails and playing wherever a job or a woman took him before settling into a long recording career from the 1930s onward. By the early 1970s, when this session was cut in Copenhagen, Williams was an old man still carrying the raw, hypnotic, one-man-band intensity that had made him a formative link between prewar country blues and the postwar electric tradition; younger blues and rock musicians on both sides of the Atlantic had already begun crediting him as an influence. The songs here are entirely his own compositions, following the loose, often improvised structure typical of his live performances - hard-luck laments about women leaving, wandering, and getting by, delivered with his droning, percussive guitar work and gruff, urgent vocal style. This kind of European field session was common for Williams and many of his generation, who found more consistent bookings and recording opportunities overseas than at home during the folk and blues revival years. The album stands as a late but vital document of a musician whose deceptively simple, idiosyncratic style shaped the sound of Delta and Chicago blues alike, and it has been valued by blues collectors and historians as a genuine, unvarnished performance from one of the music's foundational figures.

Tracklist

Side 1

1. Pretty Willie Done Me Wrong
2. I Want To Know What My Baby's Puttin' Down
3. Tell Me, Who's Been Telling You
4. A Change Gotta Be Made
5. My Baby Left Town
6. Miss Emma Lou Blues
7. My Baby Won't Be Back No More

Side 2

1. Turnroad Blues
2. Some Old Rainy Day
3. Pearly Mae Blues
4. Keep-A-Walkin' Little Girl
5. I Won't Do That No More
6. Quit Draggin'
7. Bringin' My Baby Back Home
8. Crazin' The Blues

The Label

The label is the grey/black Storyville design with the arched red-outlined "STORYVILLE" logo, a plain white centre field carrying only the artist name, and a red triangular base panel with the trumpet trademark; rim text reads "Distribution MUSIDISC-EUROPE" and "MADE IN FRANCE", with SACEM/SDRM rights-society boxes at the right. What is printed - the Musidisc-Europe distribution credit and French manufacture - places this copy as the French-distributed pressing of the catalogue number rather than the Danish (SLP 224) or later Yugoslav editions of the same recording. No deep groove is present on either label, and nothing beyond the country/distributor text distinguishes a first from a later Storyville pressing.

Fidelity

This is a straightforward field-style stereo recording of a solo performer, mastered for a small specialist blues label rather than for audiophile scrutiny; the French MPO pressing plant handled manufacture, and the source cut carries no notable stamped mastering engineer credit on the label or in the runout. Collectors of vintage Storyville blues LPs generally regard these European Storyville pressings as adequate, unfussy transfers rather than sonic showcases, valued more for the performances and rarity of the material than for hi-fi qualities. There is no audiophile reissue of this specific title to rank it against; it stands as the ordinary commercial pressing of its era.

Notes

This is the 1972 French-manufactured Storyville pressing of the album, distributed by Musidisc-Europe, as printed on the label and back cover. The runouts read MPO MU ST 21022 A/B DTV, carrying MPO (a French pressing plant) codes consistent with French manufacture rather than the Danish first pressing (Storyville SLP 224) or the later Yugoslav reissues of the same recording. No deep groove or other era-defining label design markers appear on the labels. The stereo designation and catalogue number ST 21022 match this copy's own labels and rim print.