Consumer Guide Album

Jimmy Reed: I Ain't from Chicago [Bluesway, 1973]
At his best--on Vee-Jay in the '50s--Reed sang with the languid self-assurance of a man who never ran for the bus because he wanted to spend the fare on a glass of wine, and the unindustrious shuffle rhythms of the Vee-Jay band ambled right along behind. Great stuff. Evidence: The Ultimate Jimmy Reed, a new Bluesway collection of his best Vee-Jay performances that sounds crisper than the competitive Buddah pressing of several years ago. This more recent material, however, is busied up with Motown bass lines and soul drumming obviously provided by upstarts who believed they could do better than back this codger. A few cuts avoid the problem, but the material is spotty anyway. C+