Pop CD of the week: The divine secret of Jimmy Reed

A soundtrack album that should revive the reputation of at least one underrated blues master

VARIOUS

Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood OST (Sony CD86534)

The soundtrack to Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, a feelgood US hit released in Britain later this summer, contains no less than three compositions by the late American blues musician Jimmy Reed. The inclusion of 'Found Love', 'Little Rain' and 'Ain't That Lovin' You Baby?' on this soundtrack of obscure gems casts a brief but timely light on an underrated blues master.

Reed's simple, uncluttered songs are in sterling company alongside rare tracks by Jade Vincent, Ann Savoy, Macy Gray, Taj Mahal, and Ray Charles. In all, this album should do for the American blues what the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack album did for American bluegrass. Divine Secrets is funkier than O Brother , though, for along with the traditional gems, there are stunning new tracks by Lauryn Hill ('Selah') and Alison Krauss ('Sitting at the Window of My Room').

In the pre-integration America of the 1950s, at least a decade before B.B. King managed to reach both black and white audiences, Reed, succeeded in bridging the racial divide with 'Bright Lights, Big City' and 'Baby What You Want Me To Do', now, for the most part, lost classics.

Reed's story is typical of black musicians of his time. One of 10 children in a Mississippi sharecropping family, he migrated north in his twenties. Once in Chicago, Reed distinguished himself with a relaxed, almost freeze-framed rhythm and the most casual of vocal deliveries - he sounded like a man singing himself to sleep.

In 1953, Reed signed with a new record label, Vee-Jay Records. Two years later he distinguished himself in the R&B charts with 'You Don't Have to Go'. Other hits followed: between 1955 and 1961, Reed scored a remarkable 18 Top 20 hit singles.

Reed's crossover appeal, like Nat King Cole's, was immediately apparent. He played shows at the Carnegie Hall and the Apollo Theatre and later toured England. The Rolling Stones covered 'Honest I Do', Van Morrison recorded 'Bright Lights, Big City' with Them, and the Grateful Dead regularly performed his songs, while Reed's raunchy blues is still a clear influence on bands such as Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and the White Stripes.

Reed continued recording and performing well into the Seventies, despite serious health and drinking problems. He died in 1976 at the age of 51 following an epileptic seizure. His inclusion on this album is a tribute to his formidable legacy.

&#183 To order Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood OST for £14.99 incl p&p, call the Observer Music Service on 0870 066 7813

Contributor

Burhan Wazir

The GuardianTramp

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