Goin' Away Explained

Goin' Away
Type:Album
Artist:Lightnin' Hopkins
Cover:Goin' Away.jpg
Released:1963
Recorded:June 4, 1963
Studio:Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ
Genre:Blues
Length:36:24
Label:Bluesville
Producer:Ozzie Cadena
Chronology:Lightnin' Hopkins
Prev Title:Hootin' the Blues
Prev Year:1962
Next Title:The Swarthmore Concert
Next Year:1993

Goin' Away is an album by the blues musician Lightnin' Hopkins, recorded in 1963 and released on the Bluesville label.[1] [2] [3]

Reception

The Penguin Guide to Blues Recordings wrote: "The high points of this session are the title track, suffused with rural quiet, and 'Business You're Doin' ', an old rag song similar to 'Take Me Back' which Lightnin' plays as if he's been listening to John Hurt ... Gaskin and Lovelle show up some of the rhythm sections Lightnin' used in later years: though their touch is light, they are propulsive rather than responsive and never allow the music to drag".[4] AllMusic reviewer Stephen Thomas Erlewine stated: "For the 1963 album Goin' Away, Lightnin' Hopkins was backed by a spare rhythm section who managed to follow his ramshackle, instinctual sense of rhythm quite dexterously, giving Hopkins' skeletal guitar playing some muscle. Still, the spotlight remains Hopkins, who is in fine form here. There are no real classics here, but everything is solid".

Track listing

All compositions by Sam "Lightnin'" Hopkins

  1. "Wake Up Old Lady" – 4:24
  2. "Don't Embarrass Me, Baby" – 3:20
  3. "Stranger Here" – 5:49
  4. "Little Sister's Boogie" – 3:30
  5. "Goin' Away" – 5:45
  6. "You Better Stop Her" – 4:39
  7. "Business You're Doin'" – 3:18
  8. "I'm Wit' It" – 3:58

Personnel

Performance

Production

Notes and References

  1. https://www.jazzdisco.org/prestige-records/catalog-bluesville-1000-series/#bvlp-1073 Jazzdisco: Prestige Records Catalog: Bluesville 1000 series
  2. https://www.bsnpubs.com/fantasy/bluesville/bluesville.html Both Sides Now: Prestige/Bluesville Album Discography
  3. https://www.wirz.de/music/hopkins.htm Wirz' American Music: Sam "Lightnin'" Hopkins discography
  4. Book: Russell, Tony. Smith, Chris. The Penguin Guide to Blues Recordings. 2006. Penguin. London. 978-0-140-51384-4. 280.