Junior Wells: Hoodoo Man Blues [DELMARK]

Why you'll love it

This Delmark pressing carries the album's stereo mix, from the Chicago label that recorded it. It became Delmark's best-selling record and is regularly counted among the greatest blues albums ever made.

This edition

• Stereo mix

About the album

Most blues records in 1965 came with three-minute songs and a hired band. Bob Koester of Delmark worried about the cost and the audience, then liked Junior Wells' music too much to resist, and gave him the keys: his own sidemen, his own song choices and as much room on each tune as he wanted. The result made Wells' name and gave the label a record it would be selling for decades.

Wells leads on voice and harmonica with his Chicago Blues Band, and Buddy Guy's guitar is right there with him, tight and loose-limbed at once. "Snatch It Back And Hold It" opens with a funky strut, "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl" and "Hound Dog" get a fresh shake, and the title track and "Yonder Wall" show off Wells' tough, swinging harp. For part of the session Guy's amplifier gave out, so his guitar was wired through the studio Hammond organ's Leslie speaker instead, which explains that lovely shimmering tone.

It still sounds like a great band in a small room on a good night. The original sleeve credited Guy as "Friendly Chap," on the logic that a buddy is a friend and a guy is a chap; as disguises go, it's roughly on a par with a false moustache.

Also at Kops: more Junior Wells on vinyl · browse Blues

Tracklist

Listen

On Delmark (cat# DS-612), a reissue of the 1965 album.