AMG Review of Best of the Vanguard Years

Steve Huey
All Music Guide

Best of the Vanguard Years collects Junior Wells' material from the Chicago! The Blues! Today! various-artists series, live and studio tracks from the albums It's My Life, Baby! and Comin' at You, and a smattering of rare and/or unreleased cuts. As a Wells retrospective, it's irredeemably incomplete, covering as it does his output for only one label, but the fine-quality material does make it an engaging listen, and it may be a good way for some collectors to plug holes in their Wells discographies.