Hubert Sumlin Blues Anytime

A remarkable 1964 session produced by Horst Lippmann behind the Iron Curtain in East Germany that found Sumlin trying for the first time on record to sing. He played both electric and acoustic axe on the historic date, sharing the singing with more experienced hands Willie Dixon and Sunnyland Slim (Clifton James is on drums). All three Chicago legends acquit themselves well.

The soundtrack to an obscure movie. "What I have tried to explain for years I've been able to express through this score". So says the Blues master and composer of this album in his sleeve notes.

This is a good collection of hard-to-find and previously unreleased Dixon sides, although there are several Chess tracks that were left off that would have made it much more valuable. The title track is especially worthwhile, as is "Tail Dragger," but it is also easy to see from this collection why Dixon was never quite a star in his own right as a performer - he has a good voice, but not a very memorable or powerful one, compared with Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf et al.