Jimmy Reed I'M JIMMY REED / ROCKIN WITH REED

ROCKIN' WITH REED is a CD Digipak containing 4 bonus tracks.Originally released on Vee-Jay (1008).Jimmy Reed's second album was a little bit different from his first, but not in a way that detracted from its value. Oh, as with most blues albums of the period, it consisted mostly of previously released single sides, in this case that he'd recorded and released over the prior seven years; but three of the dozen songs here were new to listeners when they showed up on Rockin' with Reed. And, of course, that opens several possible lines of inquiry -- were the later tracks held back for an anticipated second (or third) Reed LP, or were they just not deemed suitable for singles or B-sides? And what of the 1953 vintage "Rockin' with Reed"? One suspects that the latter, given the slang of the period, might have been considered too raunchy as a title to release in 1953, whereas in 1960 it sounded like it could "pass" for something more innocent. But as the material here came from the very same s