Customer Reviews

Best of Vanguard Years

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"Best of the Vanguard Years" by Junior Wells is filled with personal, political and romantic tunes. Essentially a sampler album, you are treated to the best of Wells. Every original song is now a standard, and every standard he plays became his.

Upbeat in many places, but firmly rooted in soul and classic blues, Wells steers the vocals and his harp firmly through Buddy Guy's guitar. Born Amos Blackmore, you'll see that Wells wrote most of the tracks, with Guy pitching in on "Slow, Slow" and "Shake It Baby."

His tribute to John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson, considered the first great blues harmonica player, is four minutes of a passionate, prayer-like call to a lover while he honors his mentor.

Wells' rendition of Willie Dixon's "I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man," could've been sung back in the 40s. He rips the lyrics so well that you forget Dixon isn't there. When George Thoroughgood sang "Bad to the Bone," I'm certain he used this as a template for both the riffs and words.

"(I Got A) Stomach Ache," is one of the standouts on the CD. Sung playfully, Wells has the vocal meter perfectly in line with Guy's picking.

"Rock Me Baby" will be familiar. BB King made his signature, but you can hear Wells' harp-intense original. BB does it well, but don't miss this one.

"Slow, Slow" is just that. He takes us down long, stretched notes, with a gentle drum providing the background. Turn it up to get the nuances, especially some of the guitar picked behind the song.

In his 1966 release "Vietcong Blues," Wells makes a statement against the way America was treating soldiers and their families in the early 60s.

"My landlady said you got a letter here
And I began to sing the blues
It was from my brother
Don't you know the boy's laying down in Vietnam
Lord they say, you don't have no reason to fight baby but
Lord knows you think you're right"

I fully recommend "Best of the Vanguard Years" Junior Wells.

Anthony Trendl
editor, HungarianBookstore.com

Junior Wells was one of the greatest harp players ever and is often underrated because he had some problems with alcohol and kind of lost it near the end of his life. However, this disc displays his distinctive harp work as well as emotional vocals complemented by Buddy Guy's guitar. There are two previously unreleased cuts which I think are the best cuts on the CD. Slow, Slow is also one of the greatest chromatic harmonica minor blues I've heard.

If you liked Hoodoo Man Blues or Southside Jam on Delmark, buy this CD. The two Delmark recordings are among the best blues ever recorded by anyone anytime. I understand that Junior moved to Vanguard immediately after the Delmark recordings. Buddy Guy came with him on most of the cuts and this is all great music.

this guy is one of my favorite blues singers, maybe just a notch below Howlin' Wolf and Rice Miller. his voice is saturated with goosebump-raising otherworldly emotion, with a weeping/laughing sound constantly bobbing around in his throat. he is endlessly playful and unpredictable, with impeccable timing. a generation younger than the Chess giants, he has some R&B flavor in his singing--maybe a bridge between the 2 styles? I don't know if there was any influence between the two singers, but his voice has a raspy percussive snap similar to James Brown's style at times... great harp player too, although there's not a lot of it on this CD-- his solos are usually pretty short and simple, but with a wonderful juicy tone. anyway, great CD, plenty of stuff, git it!

Junior Wells was one of the greatest harp players ever and is often underrated because he had some problems with alcohol and kind of lost it near the end of his life. However, this disc displays his distinctive harp work as well as emotional vocals complemented by Buddy Guy's guitar. There are two previously unreleased cuts which I think are the best cuts on the CD. Slow, Slow is also one of the greatest chromatic harmonica minor blues I've heard.

If you like Junior Wells then this is the disc for you , the majority of his more popular tunes and hits are right here on this particular disc so if you've been hunting , search no further , buy this disc !!! LOVE IT

I bought hoodoo man blues CD because it was once rated top 10 blues albums. I was hooked on Junior Wells after I heard it HooDoo Man bought two more Junior Wells CDs. This CD does not disappoint. Classic blues, classic Junior Wells.