That Harmonica brings back memories from the 1950s - Jimmy Reed is the first blues artist I ever heard. When I heard this cat playin on the A.M. dial (man there was no F.M. then) and I heard Hush, Hush, Big Boss Man, and Bright Lights, Big City, I was hooked on the blues forever. Harmonica and Jimmy Reed are synomymous in my opinion. In this compilation he plays a lot but when he gets down on The Sun Is Shining, Let s Get It Together, Ain t That Loving You Baby, the three I mentioned above and many others, I close my eyes and am young again. I am a BIG Jimmy Reed fan..buy this one and I think you will be also be a BIG fan of Jimmy Harmonica Reed.
Caution: Mistake - I got this CD specifically for the song I m Going Upside Your Head, which is listed as track #15 on CD 2. This song by Jimmy Reed is hard to find except on multi-disc boxes, which are generally more JR than anyone needs, since JR s sound and songs really do become quite repetitive from one track to another. Only problem is that track #15 on CD 2 is NOT I m Going Upside Your Head -- it s something else, not very good. A major disappointment! The rest of the 2 CDs are as listed, and do include most of JR s best known numbers. So if you don t particularly mind not having I m Going Upside Your Head, this collection is really pretty good (4 stars). Again, if you don t mind not having the song mentioned here, the single disc collection on Rhino (Blues Masters: The Very Best of Jimmy Reed) is really your best bet (5 stars).
Jimmy Reed Boss Man - Took my way back to a happier time. Jimmy Reed just as I remembered him.
Boss Man: Best of Jimmy Reed - I had tried for years to find a Jimmy Reed CD. He was one of my favorite blues artists in the 50 s. My favorite was Ain t That Lovin You Baby which is on this album along with many other great songs. I have just about worn it out already.
A Significant Man of the Blues--How Did He Manage? - When white folks used to say that they couldn t understand the words of a blues song, they might well have been talking about Mathis James Reed born in the 1920s in Mississippi. Also Jimmy Reed did not have nearly the musical ability on the tools of the trade, guitar and harmonica, that his contemporaries had. And he suffered from epilepsy but was such an unabashed drunk that his malady was not diagnosed for years as he seemed just to have the predictable DTs(delirium tremens) from his excessive use of alcohol. It s said that his friend and collaborator Eddie Playboy Taylor used to nudge him when it was time for him to sing or to play his blues harp. Reed s own wife (Mama Reed) can be heard singing along with him on some recordings as he would often forget the words. So how did he put a dozen or more songs on the Top 100 (more than any of the other arguably more talented bluesmen of the time?) Simple beats, easy-to-remember words and it was clearly the heartfelt blues. His Big Boss Man is a classic and was appropriated successfully by Charlie Rich to the point it was almost Rich s theme song. Bright Lights, Big City was another heartfelt tune. Elvis Presley recorded Jimmy s Ain t That Lovin You, Baby as well as others. More good ones by JR include Baby, What You Want Me to Do? and Take Out Some Insurance. They are all included in this package. Pay the fair price for those named tunes and the rest is gravy, a kind of easy listening blues. You won t think it s anybody but Jimmy Reed. Mama Reed was still with him when he died in 1976 in his early 50s. This is his legacy.