by Stewart Mason
First released in 1969, after guitarist Jimmy Dawkins had served a long apprenticeship as a sideman in the Chicago electric blues scene, Fast Fingers remains one of the finest pure electric blues albums of its era. Dawkins proves to be a solid songwriter and an able singer, although the best moments on the album invariably come when he tears off a casually perfect, deeply soulful, but never showy electric solo. Highlights include the stomping instrumental &Triple Trebles,& featuring an outstanding Dawkins solo over a funky horn-driven rhythm, and the mellow, laid-back opener, &It Serves Me Right to Suffer.& The album was finally reissued on CD in 1998 with a new cover and two fine outtakes from the original sessions, &Sad and Blues& (which features an exceptional extended solo by Dawkins) and &Back Home Blues,& which is a 1969 recording with a new (1998) vocal by Dawkins.