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Product details
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Track Listings
| 1. Hound Dog | |||
| 2. Walking Blues | |||
| 3. My Man Called Me | |||
| 4. Cotton Picking Blues | |||
| 5. Willie Mae's Trouble | |||
| 6. The Big Change | |||
| 7. I Smell A Rat | |||
| 8. I Just Can't Help Myself | |||
| 9. They Call Me Big Mama | |||
| 10. Hard Times | |||
| 11. I Ain't No Fool Either | |||
| 12. You Don't Move Me No More | |||
| 13. Let Your Tears Fall Baby | |||
| 14. I've Searched The World Over | |||
| 15. Rock A Bye Baby | |||
| 16. How Come | |||
| 17. Nightmare | |||
| 18. Stop A-Hoppin On Me | |||
| 19. Laugh, Laugh, Laugh | |||
| 20. Just Like A Dog (Barking Up The Wrong Tree) | |||
See all 22 tracks on this disc
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Customer Reviews
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Willie Mae Thornton: A Great Blues Singer.,
This review is from: The Original Hound Dog (Audio CD)
Willlie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton was a superb blues shouter in the tradition of Bessie Smith and Memphis Minnie. When she sang blues she didn't need to pose, like Elvis and Janis Joplin. She was the real thing.
No one denies that Elvis could sing, and his version of 'Hound Dog' is exciting--but Willie Mae's version has bite, thrust, and a hard-won emotional truth. And the song only makes sense when sung by a woman; the hound dog is clearly a no-account male (dig Willie Mae's take on the line 'You can wag your tail'). The previous reviwer calls the original version 'comfy R and B.' Talk about (mental) Anarchy in the U.K.! For the record: Willie Mae Thornton died penniless in a Los Angeles rooming house in 1984, so it's hard to see how she 'is doing quite well' from Elvis. Forget the Elvis-idolatry and buy the genuine article.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
What's he on about?,
By
This review is from: The Original Hound Dog (Audio CD)
Like other readers, I was somewhat bemused to read the review by Mr O Buxton (Olly Buxton). Amazon is a commercial site that sells music and video products, rather than a platform for airing wide-ranging musical/cultural opinions. That is to say, the object of posting a review is to try to get the flavour of a particular product (in this case a Big Mama Thronton CD) that will help the reader to make a decision about whether or not to buy it.
Olly Buxton is perfectly entitled to his views of how Thornton and her version of Hound Dog is perceived, and that may or not coincide with those of myself or others. But this is not a CD review by any stretch of the imagination. Hound Dog is actually the only song on the album to which he refers - if his post was really a CD review, he might have mentioned one or two of the other 21 tracks here, and possibly give an evaluation of what Big Mama Thornton's talents or otherwise really were. As it is, the comments are out of place here and would more appropriately appear in some roots/blues magazine or other.
3 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
don't believe the hype - it doesn't hold a candle to Elvis.,
By
This review is from: The Original Hound Dog (Audio CD)
There is much mythology and fable in rock 'n' roll; that's partly what makes it so alluring - it's the only romantic tradition left. But, as in all other romantic traditions, there's a point where myth and fable disappear over the abyss into plain old fashioned codswallop, and it's pretty difficult to say where that point is. What you can say, I'm afraid, is that Big Mama Thornton's place in pop history is assured only courtesy of such a piece of codswallop. Big Mama's version of "Hound Dog", so the legend goes, puts the subsequent version by Elvis Presley into the shade (oddly, though, the legend doesn't say how, exactly). Had only Big Mama been white, and a man, and it would have been her on the Ed Sullivan show and not E. Big Mama, you see, is a victim of her own poor circumstance. Elvis was simply a lucky chancer. Thus are our political and mythical needs sated. No matter that it's utter nonsense. There's a simple experiment you can perform, in the comfort of your own home, which will demonstrate how patent this nonsense is. All you have to do is play the two artists' versions of "Hound Dog", one after another, on your stereo. Play Big Mama first, then Elvis. Then Big Mama again, to give her the benefit of any doubt. Big Mama's version is nice enough, in a comfy R+B sort of a way - no denying that. On the other hand, Elvis' version, from the very first snarled syllable, peels paint off your walls. To this very day, there has been barely a record released which captures the same sort of energy and potent exuberance of youth. In fact I can think of only one which compares: the Sex Pistols' Anarchy in the UK. So forget the notion that Big Mama outdid the king. The myth is more pernicious even than that, though, for not only did Elvis not unjustly deny Big Mama her rightful fame and fortune, but to the contrary, she's done quite OK out of Elvis. Can you imagine anyone buying her records now (um, care to mention any of her other top ten hits?) had Elvis not sung Hound Dog? She, er, ain't never caught a rabbit... Oh, never mind.
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