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Average: 4.0 (17 ratings)
- Date Released: October 16, 2007
- Genre: Blues
- Style: Contemporary Blues
- Label: Vee-Jay Ltd. Partnership / The Orchard
The most accessible of the master Chicago bluesmen.
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We Say...
There was a time during the great folk scare of the early 1960s when if you saw this record in someone's record collection, you knew they'd been enlightened, and cast off the dogmatic fear of electricity. Jimmy Reed, unlike the triumvirate of Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf and Sonny Boy Williamson on Chess, had a light touch on both guitar and harmonica, and was instantly accessible to people who'd been listening to country blues, although he was no country bluesman himself. Starting in 1957, he started showing up on the lower reaches of the pop charts, but this, his first album, shows that his style and songwriting abilities were with him from his first Vee-Jay hits, "You Don't Have to Go" and "Ain't That Lovin' You Baby," (1954-5), both included here. Unlike the Chess guys, he had fans in the north and the south, and until the road and constant drinking got the better of him, he made a kind of blues nobody else could imitate or equal.
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They Say...
In deciding where to start listening to Jimmy Reed, the man and his record label made it easy -- at the beginning. His debut LP release, I'm Jimmy Reed, was about as strong a first album as was heard in Chicago blues, but also no stronger (relatively speaking) than the first long-players issued of Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf and co. As was the case with most bluesmen of his generation, Reed's debut LP was really a collection of single sides than an actual album of new material (though some of it did hail from its year of release), consisting of tracks he'd recorded from June 1953 ("Roll & Rhumba") through March 1958 ("You Got Me Crying" etc.). So it's no surprise that it rivals The Best of Muddy Waters or any of the other 12" platters that were showing up from Reed's rivals at the end of the 1950s -- most of the blues labels put together their LPs the same way at first. But that also turns I'm Jimmy Reed into a treasure-trove of prime material from his repertory, including the songs on which he'd built his reputation over the previous five years, key among them "Honest I Do," "Ain't That Lovin' You Baby," "You Got Me Dizzy," and "You Don't Have to Go," plus their highly relevant B-sides, which help give this album more depth and breadth than a formal hits collection would have had. And in addition to Reed's singing and harp work, the album is also a superb showcase for guitarists Eddie Taylor and John Brim (the latter on the earliest material here), and drummer Earl Palmer.
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You Say...
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| 01. |  |
Honest I Do |
2:40 |  |
| 02. | |
Goin On To School |
2:47 | |
| 03. | |
My First Plea |
2:45 | |
| 04. | |
Boogie In The Dark (Instrumental) |
2:34 | |
| 05. | |
You Got Me Cryin' |
2:35 | |
| 06. | |
Ain't That Lovin You Baby |
2:15 | |
| 07. | |
You Got Me Dizzy |
2:53 | |
| 08. | |
Little Rain |
2:45 | |
| 09. | |
Can't Stand To See You Go |
2:50 | |
| 10. | |
Roll & Rhumba |
2:46 | |
| 11. | |
You're Something Else |
2:35 | |
| 12. | |
You Don't Have To Go |
3:04 | |
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Credits
- Henry Gray - Piano // Jimmy Reed - Guitar // Jimmy Reed - Guitar // Jimmy Reed - Harmonica // Jimmy Reed - Harmonica // Jimmy Reed - Vocals // Jimmy Reed - Vocals // Jimmy Reed - Main Performer // Jimmy Reed - Main Performer // Eddie Taylor - Guitar // John Littlejohn - ? // Remo Biondi - Guitar // John Brim - Guitar // W.C. Dalton - Guitar // Vernell Fournier - Drums // Albert King - Drums // Albert King - Drums // Albert King - Drums // Albert King - Drums // Albert King - Drums // Albert King - Drums // Sid McCoy - Liner Notes // Earl Phillips - Drums // Milton Rector - Bass // Jimmy Reed - Guitar // Jimmy Reed - Harmonica // Jimmy Reed - Vocals // Morris Wilkerson - Drums // Les Fancourt - Liner Notes // Matt Robin - Reissue Producer
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