Description
The Original King Bee (The Best of Slim Harpo) — on 180-gram LP from Analogue Productions!
Mastered by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio from the original analog tapes
Plated and pressed at Quality Record Pressings
Old-style tip-on jacket by Stoughton Printing
Slim Harpo died in 1970. Better known by his stage name than his given, James Isaac Moore, he epitomized the swamp blues style, and at the time of his passing he was at the brink of enjoying the kind of fame he'd deserved since the release of his first single, the infectious "King Bee" 13 years earlier.
Harpo was just beginning to play for urban, white audiences when he succumbed to an unexpected heart attack. There were plenty of people who were aware of Slim and not all of them were young British musicians who knew a good tune when they heard it. Pete Welding, writing in Rolling Stone, described Harpo as "a stylist who's carved out his own niche, and within the relatively narrow confines of that approach he's unbeatable — and of course, immediately recognizable … the emphasis is on forceful, direct rhythm, tight and simple arrangements (even when horns are used) that work beautifully with Slim's sly, laconic singing and harmonica playing and, above else, feeling."
