Junior Wells

New discs that promise all of an artist’s hits from a now-defunct record label are impossibly seductive, especially if that label’s obscure, and even more especially if the label art itself is completely retro-cool. If the artist is someone recognizable — in this case Buddy Guy’s now-departed blues partner — so much the better.

Calling All Blues reveals the way record labels worked without boundaries in the late ’50s and early ’60s. The tracks here were all shepherded by Mel London, a record impresario and songwriter more interested in hits than blues traditions, and every cut would fit comfortably with Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry, Ray Charles or Muddy Waters in a jukebox or radio show. Wells, a friend and harmonica rival of Little Walter during this era, plays blues harp on only a handful of the 24 tracks here, probably because London didn’t want the songs to sound too bluesy. There’s no denying the pull of London’s “Messin’ With the Kid” or “I Need Me a Car” (already familiar to Bel Airs and Mike Henderson fans). Wells’ songs, such as the desperate “I Could Cry” (two versions here) or his novelty “Galloping Horses a Lazy Mule,” stand up with the best Chicago tunes of the era. Calling is a somewhat uneven collection with only sketchy liner notes to guide listeners along, but it presents the pop side of early ’60s blues, telling a story that otherwise would be available only to those who could afford the scratchy $200 original singles.