Elmore James – History of Elmore James Volume 2

This was a nice little pickup from 2023 – and I frequently have to remind myself, there was a lot more to Elmore James than that one slide riff that everyone copies and I therefore think of as the Elmore James sound. It’s not his fault that Fleetwood Mac used it three times on Mr. Wonderful alone. It’s also not his fault that four of the songs on this collection aren’t by Elmore James at all – but they’ve been credited as his work on other compilations, and cheap compilation labels don’t worry too much about getting things right.

There’s actually less overlap with this than my other Elmore James records, but I’ll admit it hasn’t seen as much play as “Blues After Hours,” since that one is pristine and this is not. Nothing wrong with it, just a little rougher. Apparently this bare bones compilation was released in 1981, but it sure looks older than that to me.