I'm A Lover Not A Fighter - The Complete Excello Singles 1956-1962 Plus Bonus Tracks ORIGINAL RECORDINGS REMASTERED

this cd is as good as it gets for this style of country blues Lazy Lester not only shines with his mississippi saxaphone playing but as a vocalist and song writer...you normally don't see that from a seasoned sideman who has played with the best of the best in this genre...this cd also is loaded with some wonderful bonus tracks....this cd would be worth the cost at twice the price...remember he"s not lazy he's just tired.........

I've heard some covers...they don't touch the originals. He's authentic rollin blues. I've a large collection from jump, shouting KC, delta,Chicago, west coast, bayou... ...and am just NOW listening to Lazy Lester ? On my third spin.What a talent. Just lost him last August '18.

A truly under-appreciated master player and writer, Lester was an American treasure. Buy any record with his name on it, and you'll have a good time. People will be covering his tunes for another 100 years.

Lazy Lester (real name Leslie Johnson), along with Lightnin' Slim, Slim Harpo, Silas Hogan, Lonesome Sundown, and a few others, is a prime example of what's generally called "swamp-blues". Produced by Jay Miller for the Excello label, Lester's music is a cross of blues, country, early r'n'r, with a smidgen of the Louisiana area style all mixed together. These tracks float somewhere between 3 and 4 "stars". The sound is surprisingly good. The booklet is informative as far as it goes. All in all--a good presentation of Lester's music.This good collection spans the years 1958-1964--the prime era for Lester's music. His vocals and harp (with his occasional guitar playing) made his music fairly unique. His bands were almost always rudimentary--just basic guitar/bass/drums (or cardboard box), with Lester's lazy vocals and sinewy harp out front. Once in a while he added a piano, an organ, or maybe a tenor sax into the mix--to good effect. Most of his bandmates were unknown except in their area, with the exception of Katie Webster (piano/organ), Guitar Gable (guitar), Warren Storm (drums), and possibly Carol Fran (piano), all who later would become relatively known to blues fans.Lester's harp style lent itself to both up tempo and slower tunes--both his own singles/albums, and on songs recorded by Lightnin' Slim (most notably) and other area artists. Lester went on to record albums under his own name--notably for the Alligator label. His vocals could be described as workmanlike/laid-back, but along with his harp playing everything seemed to fit together into a unique, visceral, sloppy sound found only in that area and era. Listen to his early 50's tracks like "Sugar Coated Love", "Lester's Stomp", "Tell Me Pretty Baby", and "Whoa Now" (with Sammy Drake playing a cardboard box)--all great examples of Lester's style. And his 60's recordings were just as great and worthwhile hearing--"If You Think I've Lost You", "Lonesome Highway Blues", or "You're Gonna Ruin Me Baby" all are Lester at his best. But also check out the tune "Bloodstains On The Wall" from 1960. Besides the atmospheric overdubbed harp, listen to the lyrics.For whatever reason, Lester and (with the exception of Slim Harpo) the above mentioned artists never garnered much attention or fame from blues fans. If you're reading this you're probably familiar with Lester and the other Excello artists. But if his name (and the others) is new to you, you should do yourself a favor and give these musicians a listen. Both individually and taken together, they're an important piece (like Clifton Chenier's Zydeco Band) of the blues genre. The laid back, almost sloppy approach is in contrast (for example) to the harder sounding Texas/Chicago big city blues, with it's declamatory vocals and incendiary guitar work from the same period. The music is at times raw, plain, and seemingly thrown together yet straightforward--with the barest of instrumentation adding greatly to the sound. Don't let those attributes (yes, attributes) throw you off hearing some fine late 50's/early 60's "swamp-blues" from Jay Miller/Excello Records.

Good music. Not great but better than average.Would buy from seller again

Exactly what my boyfriend wanted

I got one of his newer cds and was not disappointed with it but I would not put it in heavy rotation. this one however is the way to go. if you are looking for a lazy lester cd to add to your collection and you do not have this already do yourself a favor and pick this one up

another gotta have

Enjoyable CD albeit don't let the first track (which I didn't care for) put you off the rest of the CD

None

Great Artist, true Blues

This is a very good collection of Lazy Lester's late 1950s and early 1960s recordings on the Excello Records label, a small independent label in New Orleans which also released recordings by Slim Harpo, LIghtin' Slim and others.I had heard a few Lazy Lester recordings on Excello Records compilations. I liked his work so I took a chance on this CD of complete Lazy Lester Excello recordings. Glad I did; very good CD.This compilation also has some additional Excello tracks from Slim Harpo and Lightni' Slim which feature Lazy Lester playing harmonica as a session musician.I you like blues harp you'll like this.

Die Überschrift sagt schon alles:Tolle Zusammenstellung (die 20 Tracks mit den im Album-Titel versprochenen Singles von Lazy Lester plus 6 Bonues-Tracks), gute Tonqualität.Lazy Lester muss man nicht groß vorstellen, er ist der Inbegriff des Swamp-Blues und des Excello-Label-Sounds und er hat auch auf vielen Aufnahmen von Lightnin' Slim als Leader mitgespielt.