Disco de Jerry Reed: “Essential Jerry Reed”

Of all the words in the English language which can be used to sum up Jerry Reed's remarkable career, both as a musician and as an actor, perhaps these four words can best apply: "Been there, done that". These four words are most apropos, due to Jerry's longevity in the entertainment industry, which spans upwards of almost five decades. It is because of the many different musical styles displayed on "The Essential Jerry Reed" (ranging from country to swamp rock), why Mr. Reed has paved the way for many a future artist, including the likes of Creedence Clearwater Revival, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Allman Brothers, Charlie Daniels, etc. - each a successful artist/group in their own right. Therefore, Jerry is credited with starting the swamp rock/southern rock genre, and some of the songs featured in this collection ("Amos Moses", "When You're Hot, You're Hot", "The Uptown Poker Club" and "Ko-Ko Joe") contain a healthy dose of this well-crafted style of music. The lyrical homespun humor Jerry brings to many of the songs in this rather "definitive" collection adds profound depth to the music, as is the case in such numbers as "The Uptown Poker Club" and in "She Got The Goldmine (I Got The Shaft)", where the latter selection finds Jerry once again in hot water with the same judge in a kangaroo court of law filled with mayhem and hijinks, a recipe which is also the order of the day in the up-tempo "When You're Hot, You're Hot" (poor, poor Jerry!). Jerry Reed shows that he's quite the balladeer, as he croons with an unmistakeable vocal depth and precision, found in such tender moments that are nicely supplied in the compromising "A Thing Called Love", "A Good Woman's Love" and in "Smell The Flowers" as well. The latter title pretty much sums up Jerry's philsophy in life - in just taking things as they come, letting the chips fall where they may, complete with a touch of "happy-go-luckiness" present in a majority of the songs in this "almost" well put together collection of Jerry's credible compositions. However, "The Essential Jerry Reed" contains some major-minor flaws, none of which are contained in the movie music selections found in the first two "Smokey And The Bandit" pictures ("East Bound And Down" [from "SATB"] and "Texas Bound And Flyin'" [from "SATB 2"] - both of which are marvellous and are fine, upstanding numbers, no doubt). One big mistake RCA made in preparing this compilation, was omitting "Smokie's" other songs, such as both "The Legend" and "The Bandit", also performed amicably by the talented Jerry Reed. Some other important cuts RCA left behind, are the untamed "Alabama Wild Man" and "U.S. Male". It is due to these aforementioned omissions the reason why "The Essential Jerry Reed" gets only a four-star rating. But, nevertheless, it is a worthwhile body of "The Alabama Wild Man"'s guitar pickin' delights, and is thus worthy of being in any music collector's CD library. So, it all adds up to more of an "essential", rather than a "definitive" purchase!

A killer songwriter, amazingly skilled guitar player, and a charismatic singer and performer, Jerry Reed is sickenly underappreciated. This is a great collection to use to acquaint yourself with this no-nonsense classic awesome musician. From the country funk of "Ko Ko Joe", and the beauty of the ballad "A Thing Called Love", to the unbeleivable acoustic guitar work on the instrumental "The Claw" or the groovy "Guitar Man", hear Jerry do it all with style and originality. This is a must have CD that will have you digging around for Jerry's LP's in old record shops (which all fully deserve to get reissued on CD!)

Jerry Reed deserves much more credit than he receives. Some people consider him a country/comedy novelty act, which is a tragedy. As an aspiring guitarist (aren't we all?), I'm simply in awe of Jerry's fingerpicking ability and I defy anyone to not smile while listening to his version of "Alabama Jubilee."

If you're even remotely considering this CD, I urge you to buy it. You won't be disappointed, I promise. And if you are disappointed, there's something wrong with you and you should get help.

Jerry, if you're reading this, thank you, thank you, thank you for sharing your talent with the world.

I have been a Jerry Reed fan ever since his movie teamings with Burt Reynolds and specifically his movie music beginning with W.W. AND THE DIXIE DANCE KINGS and SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT. Like many late blooming Jerry Reed fans I found myself buying -- as my budget permitted -- both old and new Jerry Reed records and 8-track tapes. With Jerry Reed albums you were almost always guarantied a collection of serious-toned songs, lamenting love songs in the great tradition of George Jones, and plain old songs just for fun like THE COIN MACHINE, SHE GOT THE GOLD MINE I GOT THE SHAFT, THE BIRD, and so on.

With the rise of Compact Discs and rapid extinction of 8-track tapes, cassette tapes, and 33 rpm vinyl records it has been difficult to replicate my Jerry Reed collection on CD. Even my favorite Jerry Reed soundtrack, appearing on albums SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT and RCA's separate release of EAST BOUND AND DOWN, have long since been unavailable. Likewise both volumes of Jerry Reed's greatest hits, which I originally bought on cassette tape, have disappeared. THE ESSENTIAL JERRY REED is the closest a CD has come to capturing the magical highlights of Jerry Reed's anthology.

True, no matter what collection is assembled it will always absent some of the music we enjoy the most. Very often an obscure side B favorite, and not necessarily the album headline song, was the title I found myself ever repeating on my car stereo. For those songs we will all have to wait for future releases or buy the equipment and cables necessary to convert vinyl grooves into CD tracks. In the meantime ESSENTIAL covers enough of Jerry Reed's numbers for me to hold out a little while longer.

Jerry Reed==> RIP: 1937-2008

Back in the day when people knew WHO Jackie Gleason was... everybody had these L----o----n----g antennas and CB [citizens' band]-Radios

in their trucks -- AND cars.

SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT -- that's a movie young folks ((

))--

put Jerry Reed from radio and television on the giant screen, too. An every-man kind of guy that was someone you could relate to.

You'll have HEARD more of these songs before than you'll ever know -- till you take a listen. Try it, and buy it.

If you live NORTH of The Mason-Dixon Line, take a chance and buy this CD. It is, absolutely, IMPOSSIBLE to listen to one of his, original,

songs and be able to k-e-e-p your toe from tappin' and your mouth, smiling.

Who'd o' thought a country boy could write a song that made you: THINK; SMILE; TAP yer toe; and look around to see if you could sing-along,

and not look like a big dummy.

The greatest singer that a lot of people have never heard of doesn't deserve to just be forgotten because a lot of his fans were born when

"action toys" were BB-guns, sling shots, boomerangs, Tinkertoys, Lincon Logs, Erector Sets, and skateboards---you made from your dumb sisters's

clip-on rollerSKATES!