| I'm in the Wrong Business! | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | A.C. Reed |
| Cover: | I'm in the Wrong Business!.jpg |
| Released: | 1987 |
| Genre: | Chicago blues |
| Label: | Alligator[1] |
| Prev Title: | Take These Blues and Shove 'Em |
| Prev Year: | 1982 |
| Next Title: | I Want You to Love Me |
| Next Year: | 1995 |
I'm in the Wrong Business! is an album by the American musician A.C. Reed, released in 1987.[2] [3] Backed by the Spark Plugs, Reed promoted the album with a North American tour.[4] It sold around 50,000 copies in its first two years of release.[5]
The album was recorded in four studios across the United States.[6] Reed wrote all of the album's songs; his saxophone style was influenced by J. T. Brown.[7] [8] Bonnie Raitt, Maurice John Vaughn, and Stevie Ray Vaughan played on I'm in the Wrong Business![9] Junior Markham played harmonica on "This Little Voice".[10] The title track is a complaint about the music business; Reed made it a point to use humor in his songs.
Robert Christgau wrote that, "title boast to the contrary, Reed has a commercial knack—he knows how to distinguish himself from competing bluesmen, more gifted ones included." The Boston Globe deemed the album a "red-hot session" by the "definitive Chicago blues sax player."[11] USA Today stated that "Steve Diztell's careening guitar break on the irresistibly funky 'Don't Drive Drunk' is impressive."[12]
The Washington Post noted that, "rhythmically, the album generally has the languid, loping feel of a Jimmy Reed tune."[13] The Philadelphia Inquirer determined that Reed "makes his own blues sound both accessible to the marketplace and gratifyingly raunchy." The Herald American wrote: "By not taking the blues too seriously, Reed has produced one of the genre's most contemporary works."[14]
AllMusic called the album "solid, soulful blues, often with humorous, self-deprecating lyrics."