No once can accuse Vanguard of being stingy. Both of these recent releases are packed right to the gills with their respective instruments of choice–Frett’n offers guitar legends like Buddy Guy and Muddy Waters goin’ up the neck, and Blow’n showcases the fierce wailing of harp masters like Junior Wells and James Cotton. In fact, there’s a half dozen Wells and Guy songs each, and that’s just the center of attention. The sound quality’s up to Vanguard’s usual high standards, too. So why do both these collections feel vaguely unsatisfying?

Some of it has to do with song selection. Frett’n gives us Buddy Guy’s rendition of “Mary Had A Little Lamb,” a textbook example of interpretive magic, but it also gives us subpar examples like Otis Rush’s “Everything’s Going To Turn Out Alright,” a fun but nearly poppy take on Ike and Tina’s classic “I Think It’s Gonna Work Out Fine,” minus the raw sex. And while we get Guy and Wells’ immortal “Vietcong Blues,” there has to be a better way to display the two masters’ styles than the frivolous “(I Got A) Stomach

Ache.”

Blow’n is a much tighter set, with a live Wells torching “Early In The Morning” and giving out lessons in worship on his tribute to Sonny Boy Williamson, “Help Me.” The five Cotton songs in particular are almost a holy text, with smoking hot versions of “Honest I Do” and “Rocket ’88” (which runs neck-and-neck with Jackie Brenston’s original). But even this CD suffers from slightly less than stellar material like Charlie Musselwhite’s “My Baby’s Sweeter.” Both albums have another problem: no matter how much we appreciate acts like Homesick James and the Siegel-Schwall Band, they’re bound to look weak sitting as they do next to monoliths like Otis’ “It’s A Mean Old World” and Muddy’s “Nineteen Years Old.”

Okay, so I’m nitpicking. These CDs would be just fine for blues neophytes, or the backyard barbecue, for that matter. But “the best of the great blues guitarists/harp players”? I don’t know. Remember guys: You named it.