Found Love

Album review

There isn't a bad track on Found Love. Not only are some of Jimmy Reed's biggest hits included -- "Baby What You Want Me to Do," "Big Boss Man," and "Hush Hush" -- but the title track is particularly notable, as it contains a one-note harp wail that proves to be vibrant, heartfelt, and timeless. As with most of Reed's albums of this period -- and most blues albums of this era -- the album contains material from across over a year's worth of sessions, from the spring of 1959 through the summer of 1960, with one track ("I Ain't Got You") pulled from a 1955 session. Eddie Taylor is playing a lot of the lead guitar, but Lefty Bates is also heard on many of the cuts, and Willie Dixon, no less, is playing bass on "Meet Me," "Big Boss Man," and "Come Love." Earl Phillips is responsible for all of the drumming, and Mary Lee "Mama" Reed is heard on the backing vocals of "Baby What You Want Me to Do." Reed's catalog has seen numerous reissues of varying quality across the decades, but the Collectables label did an admirable job in 2000, reissuing both Reed's library and that of John Lee Hooker from the same label with great sound quality and original packaging at a budget price. [Koch re-released Found Love in 2000 and added four bonus tracks.]

© Al Campbell & Bruce Eder /TiVo