New Breed Blues with Black Popcorn / Various

Tracks such as Marva Josie's You Lied, Sinner Strong's Don't Knock It and The Idols' Just A Little Bit More seem to have been around for an eternity without being responsibly comped to CD, whereas Why Oh Why by Austin Taylor, Well I Done Got Over It from Bobby Mitchell and Dolores Johnson What Kind Of Man Are You are currently raising eyebrows and overdrafts. J.J. Jackson's Oo Ma Liddy, Little Johnny Taylor's Somewhere Down The Line and Etta James' Nobody Loves You (Like Me) are perfect for this CD.

Kent's forte is the previously unissued humdinger and this CD has a handful of the best that will tempt even the most OVO (original vinyl only) of collectors to shell out for this piquant package. Two gems from earlier Ace CDs can be found in Art Wheeler's Downey side Baby We're Through and the Charmaines' Fraternity number Baby Please Don't Go, while more recently issued Double Locks by Johnny Gosey comes from last year's CD of Kent Harris' R&B productions.

Inevitably it is the debutantes that will steal the show and attract the more traditional R&B fan. There is a pounding blues by Freddie North from Bob Holmes' tapes, when he was working with Freddie along with Slim Harpo in Nashville in the late 60s. From Los Angeles there is an Adolph Jacobs unreleased Class recording Cannibal Stew that not only sounds like the Coasters but could possibly have them singing behind him: he was their guitarist at the time. Then we have a taster for the forthcoming Ace CD of Richard Stamz's Chicago blues productions, with a fine mover from Tony Gideon called So Strange.

Finally there is a track that put this compiler into a state of frenzy, When You See Me Hurt by Carl Lester & The Showstoppers: 2 minutes 30 secs of unadulterated hip-shaking heartbreak. I must have one now!