MATCHBOX BLUESMASTER SERIES

⬇️MATCHBOX BLUESMASTER⬇️

 SERIES 

COLLECTION (10x6LP)

 REVIEW 

From November 1982, Matchbox Records, an initiative of Austrian collector Johnny Parth and English historian Paul Oliver, began its famous Matchbox Bluesmaster Series, a series of reissues distributed by Saydisc, whose albums were often entitled “Complete Recordings In Chronological Order”. In so doing, they borrowed a formula also used by the Austrian label Document Records, founded by Johnny Parth...

Until June 1988, no fewer than 42 albums were released, mainly featuring recordings from the 1920s and 1930s. These veritable anthologies often featured the complete works of great bluesmen, as well as lesser-known artists whose songs had previously been scattered across various compilations. Blues takes the lion's share, alongside recordings of string bands, jug bands, ragtime, hokum and gospel.

In 2021, Saydisc and Matchbox are reissuing the 42 albums of the Matchbox Bluesmaster Series, as we mentioned in a November 11, 2021 article on the occasion of the release of the first two volumes. And these are indeed volumes (even if Matchbox uses the term “sets”), as each one includes 6 CDs! Mathematicians will have quickly worked out that 7 volumes would be needed for the 42 original albums. And this will be the case with a “Set 7” released in 2022. 

But the Matchbox Bluesmaster Series didn't stop there, and announced a major surprise with the release of 5 additional volumes, bringing the total to 72 albums! This time, these volumes focus on sides from the 1930s to the 1950s, on precious field recordings made by the Library of Congress (1930s and especially 1940s), and on others from the 1960s during the Blues Revival.