Various Artists: Murder. Songs From The Dark Side Of The Soul

Sonny Boy Williamson II's "Your Funeral My Trial" is still as irresistible as ever; the intro, in particular, is the kind of thing from which The Rolling Stones took countless cues when its time was high. Williamson's delivery is that of a storyteller, and his way with a harmonica is to this day as singular as it's always been.

Bessie Smith remains her imperious self on "Send Me To The 'lectric Chair," despite her contrition. The plea of the title is delivered with more than a sense of remorse, but also the thought of a ninety-nine year jail sentence holds no appeal.

Comparison between Smith's performance recorded on March 3, 1937 and Memphis Minnie's reading of "Biting Bug Blues" from two years earlier amounts to a case against the idea that the blues in that decade was already in a state of perpetual development. Of the two it's Minnie's performance that by present day standing is the more contemporary sounding, for all of its adherence to the traditional form.

Louis Armstrong first cut "I'll Be Glad When You're Dead, You Rascal You" in the company of a largely anonymous big band in April of 1931. On the version here he's alongside Louis Jordan and His Tympani Five for a reading which, whilst it has its merits—not the least of them being the good-natured joshing between the two principals—doesn't possess the joy of spontaneity that the earlier recording does.

Champion Jack Dupree was, in all likelihood, not a man for such reflection, but that's of no relevance to the life-affirming quality of his music. From April 18, 1945, "I'm Going Down With You" is a stately roll enlivened further by the man's self-deprecating humor.

Blind Boy Fuller also knew a thing or two about that same attribute, and he proves it here on "Pistol Slapper Blues." Unusually for the artists on this compilation, Fuller actually served time in prison for shooting his wife—in the leg, as opposed to fatally—but this did not hinder him from being one of the most prolifically recorded pre-World War Two bluesmen; between 1935 and 1950 he cut approximately 120 sides.

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