Combining sessions that blues pianist
Sunnyland Slim and blues guitarist
Johnny Shines recorded separately on the same day in Chicago in 1968 for the Blue Horizon imprint, this interesting little set shows two blues veterans doing what it was they did, which was, in part, to push and pull the Delta blues one small step closer to being in the modern urban world. The
Slim sides, several of which are new to digital disc, are a bit more interesting than the
Shines sides, but only by degree.
Slim's songs can appear on the surface to be tossed-off exercises in the usual blues clichés, but they were actually carefully written, while
Shines worked similar territory, giving old blues figures a slightly ironic twist. Since both played at one time or another with
Robert Johnson, and both straddle the old and new worlds of the blues as it transfigured into an electric and urban form, it makes perfect sense to stick these two sessions together in one package.
–
Steve Leggett, Rovi