The Sky Is Crying: The History of Elmore James (CD - 1993)

Personnel includes: Elmore James (vocals, guitar); Big Joe Turner (vocals); Willie Johnson, Jimmy Spruill, Wayne Bennett, Eddie Taylor, Riff Ruffin (guitar); Ike Turner (guitar, piano); Homesick James (guitar, bass); Sam Myers (harmonica, drums); Sonny Boy Williamson (harmonica); J.T. Brown, Grady Jackson (tenor saxophone); Mark Easton, Paul Williams (baritone saxophone); Sonny Cohn (trumpet); Johnny Jones, Willard McDaniel, Johnny "Big Moose" Walker, Johnny Acey, Danny Moore (piano); Willie Dixon, Leonard Ware, Ransom Knowling, Jimmy Richardson, Chuck Hamilton, Sammy Lee Bully, Eddie Taylor (bass); Frock O'Dell, Henry "Sneaky Joe" Harris, Odie Payne, Red Saunders, Fred Below, Jesse Sailes, King Mose, Belton Evans, Johnny Williams (drums).

Producers: Bobby Robinson, Lilian McMurry, Ike Turner, The Bihari Brothers.

Compilation producers: Robert Palmer, James Austin.

Digitally remastered by Bob Fisher.

THE SKY IS CRYING: THE HISTORY OF ELMORE JAMES compiles recordings James made between 1951 and 1961 for a variety of labels including the Mississippi-based Trumpet, Chicago-based Chess/Chief as well as Bobby Robinson's Fire/Fury/Enjoy and the Bihari Brother's Flair/Meteor labels.

This set includes a 14-page booklet with a discography, black and white photogrpaphs, background information about the sessions by Steve Franz and a biographical essay by Robert Palmer.

Rhino's superlative Elmore James retrospective is essential, not only because it brings together 21 of the artist's finest sides, but because it collects those tracks from various periods (1951-1969) and labels (Trumpet, Chess, Flair, Fire, Chief, and Flashback). James's erratic recording history makes a representative one-stop compilation difficult, but from "Dust My Broom," James's signature tune and the set's opener, to "Standing at the Crossroads, " the raw 1960 single that brings the disc to a close, THE SKY IS CRYING serves as both a career overview and a greatest-hits collection.

Whether on slow blues (the title track) or boogie-woogie grooves ("Shake Your Moneymaker"), the slide master's slashing technique and feral tenor voice are on full display. James's slide work is justifiably exalted--though there have been slide players more technically advanced, James's wild, wiry leads have indelibly influenced nearly all blues players that followed him. James's singing, too, is ferocious and marked by extraordinary intensity (he has what can be known in the blues as a "crying" voice). This is electric Chicago blues of the first order, and a finer compilation of this blues-guitar master is difficult to imagine. minimize