Various - Meaning In The Blues

n his 1960 book blues fell this morning, paul oliver relates the growth of the blues to the history of the black man in america, and reveals the meaning and significance which the music holds for him. a social study alone can't explain the blues: one has to try and enter his world and explore the background of his themes in order to understand the singer. this is 4 cd set that ties in with the book (but not the original album). the compiler of this 4cd box set, max haymes captures the essence of oliver's ground breaking research as he re-examines some of the themes from the original book in his 80 page, 21,000 word essay presenting lengthy chapters to accompany the music on each of the cds. the songs have been carefully chosen to emphasise max's deliberations on, amongst others, the caste system among blacks (yellow girl blues by texas alexander), sexual themes (sissy man blues by kokomo arnold and my pencil won't work no more by bo carter), hoodoo and superstition (mojo hand blues by ida cox), gambling (four eleven forty four by papa charlie jackson and policy dream blues by bumble bee slim) and bad luck and trouble (gravel camp blues by lewis black and no place to go by walter davis). aside from these tracks, he also includes mouth watering rarities like three sixty nine blues by buddy doyle, black cat blues by the old pal smoke shop four, kitchen mechanic blues by the excelsior quartette and black cat makes thunder by rudy foster