Lonnie Donegan & His Skiffle Group - Showcase (Remastered) '1956; 2019

Tracks list

An exciting mix of styles, especially for a formative mid Fifties album -
several of the tracks are the typically energetic Skiffle songs that made Lonnie
a star in the first place and several others are much more downbeat and slower.
We see him even attempt a track with jazz backing in How Long, How Long Blues.
Honestly, its a little peculiar. Lonnie combines jazz and blues in such a
rickety and loose way that it almost falls apart at several moments. Thankfully,
the sheer bizarre nature of the track keeps it all together. The other weaker
moment is the short Im Alabammy Bound - too repetitive and bare to stir more
than brief notice from me, but still short enough to not become filler.

There are highlights aplenty on here - the unsurprisingly emotionally-sung
Nobodys Child is so convincing that you almost think that Lonnie wrote the
standard himself. Thats the testament of a good rendition. Possibly the most
surprising cut on here is Frankie and Johnny. An old folk song about a couple
who had sworn to be true to each other and, without fail, both cheat on each
other. Ive come to know this song as a little ditty from one of Johnny Cashs
many albums and I saw it merely as decent filler for the album. Yet, Lonnie has
it much significantly longer and expanded into something of an epic. Extra
verses and, thus, adds more meaning and significance to their relationship. Not
the better performance, but still worthwhile. 

The fast-paced songs are undeniably the most killer material here and justify
everything else. It sounds only moderately exciting now but imagine how
breath-taking these would have sounded at the time. Wabash Cannonball sounds
like a lost signature tune - it has everything you need from a Skiffle song from
Lonnie, speed, the urchin man of the people charm of Lonnies voice and the
unbeatable instrumentation. 

This sounds like a snapshot back in time. Jazz albums generally age better and
there are more timeless material from this era - this is more dated but that
only adds to the authenticity. If youre looking for a mix of styles from an era
not often explored, you could probably do much worse than this.

Tracklist:
2:16 | 01. Lonnie Donegan & His Skiffle Group - Midnight Special (Remastered)
3:55 | 02. Lonnie Donegan & His Skiffle Group - When The Sun Goes Down
(Remastered)
3:30 | 03. Lonnie Donegan & His Skiffle Group - New Burying Ground (Remastered)
2:12 | 04. Lonnie Donegan & His Skiffle Group - Worried Man Blues (Remastered)
2:31 | 05. Lonnie Donegan & His Skiffle Group - Harmonica Blues (Remastered)
2:40 | 06. Lonnie Donegan & His Skiffle Group - The Ballad Of Jesse James
(Remastered)
2:45 | 07. Lonnie Donegan & His Skiffle Group - Ol Riley (Remastered)
2:23 | 08. Lonnie Donegan & His Skiffle Group - Railroad Bill (Remastered)
3:15 | 09. Lonnie Donegan & His Skiffle Group - Stackalee (Stack OLee)
(Remastered)
2:44 | 10. Lonnie Donegan & His Skiffle Group - Lost John (Remastered)
2:11 | 11. Lonnie Donegan & His Skiffle Group - Stewball (Remastered)
2:28 | 12. Lonnie Donegan & His Skiffle Group - Bring A Little Water, Sylvie
(Remastered)
2:34 | 13. Lonnie Donegan & His Skiffle Group - Dead Or Alive (Remastered)
1:59 | 14. Lonnie Donegan & His Skiffle Group - Wabash Cannonball (Remastered)
2:35 | 15. Lonnie Donegan & His Skiffle Group - How Long, How Long Blues
(Remastered)
4:57 | 16. Lonnie Donegan & His Skiffle Group - Nobodys Child (Remastered)
2:24 | 17. Lonnie Donegan & His Skiffle Group - I Shall Not Be Moved
(Remastered)
1:52 | 18. Lonnie Donegan & His Skiffle Group - Im Alabammy Bound (Remastered)
4:56 | 19. Lonnie Donegan & His Skiffle Group - Im A Ramblin Man (Remastered)
2:30 | 20. Lonnie Donegan & His Skiffle Group - Wreck Of The Old 97 (Remastered)
5:24 | 21. Lonnie Donegan & His Skiffle Group - Frankie And Johnny (Remastered)
3:23 | 22. Lonnie Donegan & His Skiffle Group - Rock Island Line (Remastered)
3:54 | 23. Lonnie Donegan & His Skiffle Group - Ive Got Rocks In My Bed
(Remastered)
1:43 | 24. Lonnie Donegan & His Skiffle Group - Dont You Rock Me Daddy-O
(Remastered)
2:00 | 25. Lonnie Donegan & His Skiffle Group - Cumberland Gap (Remastered)
2:56 | 26. Lonnie Donegan & His Skiffle Group - Love Is Strange (Remastered)

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