A buddy thought Midnight Blues was just another blues release. My reaction to his reaction was, he might be right, or he just might not get it. The answer was obviously the latter, as just one listen to Midnight Blues convinced this listener that this is one of Slim’s best efforts ever, and one of the best blues CDs to come along in some time. Slim follows his usual formula here, blending well-chosen covers (this guy’s got to have a great record collection) with strong originals. The opener, “Let Me Love You,” is one of those originals, sporting some slamming west side Chicago guitar (played, if the cover’s any indication, on a Les Paul instead of his preferred Fender Jazzmaster). More of Slim’s fine picking can be heard on the instrumental “Full Load Boogie,” which sounds like a Freddie King cover, but isn’t. There are a couple of Muddy covers here, the best being the telling “You Can’t Lose What You Ain’t Never Had.” Little Milton gets sampled a couple times too, and Slim does a dead-on version of “Lonely Man.” Slim even goes country & western on the hilarious “Going Down the Road Feeling Bad.” Plenty to like here if you dig the blues like I do.