AMG Review of Excello Singles Anthology

Steve Leggett
All Music Guide

Slim Harpo brought a good bit of the Louisiana swamp vibe with him when he recorded these immortal singles for Jay Miller's Nashville-based Excello Records in the early '60s, and the rustic, laconic way these recordings unfold, aided and abetted by Miller's trademark echo-laden production, makes them singular even inside the Excello stable. This two-disc set has everything essential that Harpo released, including his biggest songs "I'm a King Bee" (and its many variations like "Buzzin'"), the gorgeous "Rainin' in My Heart," "Baby Scratch My Back," the two-part "Tip on In," and "Te-Ni-Nee-Ni-Nu," as well as various B-sides and other ephemera that all add up to a complete look at this unique musician. By rolling country and swamp blues together up into a completely new place, then sprinkling in just a touch of Jimmy Reed, Harpo created a body of work that has been as impossible to re-create as it has been influential. All the proof is here.