1999's Superharps was a great record featuring four top blues harmonica players. Two years later, Superharps II was an attempt to duplicate the success with four other harmonica wizards (in this case
Carey Bell,
Lazy Lester,
Raful Neal, and
Snooky Pryor), but the sequel is much more routine. Too much of the material is taken at the same slow-medium tempo, there are far too many vocals, and the soloists rarely stretch out much. There are five individual features, eight songs that have two harmonicas, and a remake of the closing "Harp to Harp," which has all four harmonica players. But lightning failed to strike the second time around; get the original Superharps instead. ~ Scott Yanow