Customer Reviews

Jimmy Reed at Carnegie Hall

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This CD was originally issued as a double LP by Vee-Jay in the early '60s, and the title is decidedly odd considering that none of these songs are recorded live, or at Carnegie Hall for that matter.
The first dozen tracks, which made up the first of the two original vinyl LPs, are some nice middle-period studio tracks, while the following dozen constitutes a "reissue" of sorts of the Vee-Jay label's "Best Of Jimmy Reed album.

If you're looking for a live document of Jimmy Reed, this ain't it, but stereophiles will love this as the sound is Mobile Fidelity impeccable, even on the mono masters, while stereo masters of such classics as "Baby What You Want Me To Do" and "Big Boss Man" sound almost revelatory.
The various musicians include Reed's lead guitarist and childhood friend, the great Eddie Taylor, as well as Willie Dixon, Curtis Mayfield and Phil Upchurch on bass, pianist Henry Gray, and guitarists Lee Baker and William "Lefty" Bates (who was indeed lefthanded and played his instrument upside down).

In addition to the eleven "Carnegie Hall" tracks, which are supposed to recreate the track list from an actual concert at that venue, the second half of the album features most (but not quite all) of Reed's classic blues shuffles, including crisp renditions of "You Got Me Dizzy", "You Don't Have To Go", "Honest I Do", "Ain't That Lovin' You Baby", and the wrongly titled "Baby What You Want Me To Do" (Jimmy Reed sings, and always did sing, "baby why you wanna let go?").

Critics hated Mathis James Reed's nasal, badly articulated vocal delivery, simple, two-string boogie patterns, and virtual inability on the harmonica, but the record buying public loved him, and he frequently crossed over to the pop charts, an amazing feat for a black blues singer in the 1950s. And Reed outsold everybody from Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf to Little Walter and Elmore James in the process.

The story of Jimmy Reed is a tragic one, really. Illiterate, alcoholic and stricken with undiagnosed epilepsy, Reed was ill equipped to handle fame and fortune, and even though his faithful wife Mary (known to fans as "Mama" Reed) did everything she could to keep him functioning, he ended up slowly falling apart, finally dying at age 50 in 1976. His epilepsy had been diagnosed by then, and he had managed to quit the bottle and was receiving medical treatment, but too late, and he died while trying to make a comeback to the blues circuit.

Rhino's "Blues Masters: The Very Best Of Jimmy Reed" remains the best introduction to Reed's music, and this is not an ideal starting point for newcomers (even with most of the hits aboard), but if you have to have some classic Jimmy Reed in clean stereo, this is the place to go.

Collectable Records recently reissued JIMMMY REED AT CARNEGIE HALL a Vee-Jay album(VJLP 1035) originally released in 1961. The first eleven songs are a recreation of performance Jimmy Reed gave at the "Blues at Carnegie" series(per the liner notes). The liner notes state that the reason the recording could not be done at Carnegie Hall was due to "technical and contractural problems" so the album ended up being recorded at New York City's Bell Sound Studios. Some new tunes, at the time, were written for the Carnegie performance such as "Blue Carnegie"(instrumental) and "Blue, blue, blue." It also includes such Reed classics such as "Ah Shucks,Hush Your Mouth" and "Bright Lights Big City", the first song on the album. The twelve remaining cuts is a best of Jimmy Reed songsfest which are faithful rerecordings of his best known songs. "Take Out Some Insurance" is the only song not written by Jimmy Reed. Although it has the same feel as a Jimmy Reed song the liner notes state that he hated it. Though his singing is sometimes slurred and out of tune, the sound of the blows on his harmonica and his guitar, sometimes accompanied by Eddie Taylor on bass guitar, make his blues songs shine. This cd is a faithul reproduction of the lp including the ever present oval Vee-Jay oval on the front cover along with the original liner notes.

This was Jimmy's best selling album ever but the title is very misleading in that these are all studio recordings, not live recordings, which means they weren't recorded at Carnegie Hall, but the tracks are in the order he performed them at a Carnegie Hall concert one week prior to recording the first dozen in the studio of this double album. This is actually the first time all of the original master tapes of this album were used as the songs recorded in mono were on all previous issues in rechanneled stereo while the true stereo tracks on this disc have always been in true stereo on every release. Steve Hoffman searched high and low for the first generation tapes of each song on the album in the Vee Jay vaults and as a result, Audio Fidelity has issued the definitive release of the album. Audiophiles and casual blues fans who like quality sound must pick up this issue of Jimmy Reed At Carnegie Hall as it contains most of his biggest hits in the best possible quality sound due to the work of Steve Hoffman.

Jimmy Reed recorded for the Vee-Jay label for most of his career. Vee-Jay has been out of business since the mid-1960's, and Jimmy Reed's catalogue has been in disrepair for years. This CD represents a great chance to hear Jimmy Reed at his wonderful best. Jimmy Reed was an established artist at the peak of his powers when this album was recorded. Another good choice would be "The Best Of Jimmy Reed" on the GNP label I believe.

"Carnegie Hall" is not a recording of a live performance. Jimmy Reed is playing previously recorded material in a recording studio. Jimmy Reed appeared at Carnegie Hall, and Vee-Jay wanted to capitalize on the prestigious name association. Amazon describes Jimmy Reed as selling more records than B. B. King in the 1950's. This is surely incorrect, even considering the unreliable accounting practices of independent record companies of the era. Don't be deterred. Jimmy Reed was a great artist, and this is a great album!

I had this double LP album years ago, as Jimmy Reed has always been a favorite. It has long since been lost in several moves, and many years. When I saw the CD on Amazon, I was elated to find that the original had been digitilized. However,the disappointing aspect of the CD product is that whomever remastered the original works, cut off some of the length of the different tracks....not all, but several, thus, cutting the songs short. I was very disappointed with this, but I'm assuming that because there were so many tracks on the double album, the engineers cut short these tracks in order to accomodate them on only one CD. Reed's work was fabulous, along with Mama Reed, his wife who harmonized with him, so I'm very happy to have this music back in my life. If you are a Reed fan, and familiar with the early works, just realize that not all of the original tracks contain their original length.

I first had this album when I was in high school...60's. I loved it then and love it even more now. His music still speaks of love lost, love gained, life's trials and triumphs as it did when it was recorded. Jimmy Reed is a blues great and this album is perhaps his greatest legacy.

I think if people could hear this disc on SACD, they would buy a player before track three.
It sounds as though Jimmy is sitting right in front of you. When you realize how old these tapes are, it makes it even more amazing.
The first time I played this disc I could not move from out of in front of the speakers. It is simply mind blowing how great this sounds.

If you have an SACD player, there is no question here. This is a must own. Even at the high prices this is going for, it is worth every penny. Worth more, actually.

this is an album my mom and i used to listen a lot, i did say album, now i have the CD i can take wiith me and think of our times together

Please note that this reissue of a release only attempts to recreate Mr. Reed's appearance at Carnegie Hall. There is no actual recording of that event. Amazon's description of the product as "live" is incorrect and represents inacurate or no research.

I bought this for a friend and she loves it she plays it almost every day, it's really cool music when you want to just chill super fast delivery quality item highly recommend this sellers items