Junior+wells

After a long hiatus, Chicago blues harpist Junior Wells has recorded two studio albums in rapid succession-and, if not for the inclusion of three painfully overworked standards, this Japanese import might earn a marginal nod over Wells' slicker recent album for Telarc. Certainly this set, cut with Wells' own band, better captures his irrepressible persona. The storming "What My Ma Told Me" and a downbeat "Don't Nobody Know" (with Wells on chromatic harp) are offset by pointless marathon revivals of "Sweet Home Chicago," "Help Me," and "Little Red Rooster" that would try the patience of the staunchest clubgoer. But an intimate rendition of Tampa Red's "When Things Go Wrong," with only pianist John Kattke in supple support, is one of the best things the harpist has done in ages.

Culled from various live recordings Junior Wells made in his final year or so, Live Around the World: The Best Of is not a "best-of." Instead, it intends to present the legendary Chicago bluesman in a late-career renaissance - or, as Donald E. Wilcock says in his affectionate liner notes, "This album is not the last gasps of a dying legend." To a certain extent that's true, because Wells does not sound tired, weary, or disengaged. He turns in spirited, energetic performances throughout and his harp playing remains a marvel, never following expected routes, always melodic and invigorating. That doesn't mean the album itself is invigorating, something that is a worthy bookend to Hoodoo Man Blues, since it suffers from the problem that plagues so many contemporary blues albums - clean, precise production with perfectly separated instruments, plus the band's tendency to veer into funk vamps instead of dirty grooves…