It was a surprise to us to see this new 25 song collection on the British Archive label, which is known for re-issuing rare and obscure old recordings that are not otherwise available. But then we realized that the fine KING-7001 4-CD box set that was issued a few years ago by IMG (Starday-King) and contained all of Reno & Smiley's great early music is now out of print. So we can recommend this disc as a good survey: it's all fine material, heavy on instrumentals (DIXIE BREAKDOWN, REMINGTON RIDE, BANJO RIFF and the wonderful RENO RIDE) and gospel cuts like their classics LET IN THE GUIDING LIGHT, HEAR JERUSALEM MOURN, JESUS IS WAITING, FAMILY ALTAR and I'M SO HAPPY (the latter two featuring Reno's superb guitar picking). The sound quality is uneven, with some variations in volume, some tracks a bit muffled and some a bit tinny Good music & good value here.
