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. ~ Stewart Mason