This release is a little confusing, coming out as it does more than a year after the release of
MCA-Chess
'
Little Walter
rarities collection
Blues with a Feeling
, and two years after the double-CD anthology set that contains most of the best parts of this collection. Still, for those who can't afford either of those pricey sets, this disc, coupled with the two best-of volumes, and the other
Walter
compilations, fills in some holes that are well worth filling. Made up of songs cut between 1953 and 1959 -- none of which had ever appeared on LP before the original 1974 release of this collection -- the selection features
in his prime, playing alongside
Robert Lockwood, Jr.
and
Louis Myers
or
Luther Tucker
on guitar (with
Muddy Waters
present on slide on one indispensable track,
"Rock Bottom"
), mostly
Willie Dixon
on bass, and
Fred Below
on the drums, with
Lafayette Leake
Otis Spann
on piano. His harp work was never than first rate during the era covered by this collection, and there are some top flight instrumentals featured, but the material (check out
"Crazy Legs,"
with its dazzling interplay between
on harp and
Louis
Dave Myers
on guitars) here also features some of
's best singing, including the romantic
"One More Chance with You,"
the quietly raunchy
"Temperature,"
"Confessin' the Blues."
The sound, as is usual on these
reissues, is superb, although certain tracks, such as
"I Got to Go,"
seem slightly compressed. [A Japanese version released in 2004 includes bonus tracks.] ~ Bruce Eder