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BLUES & GOSPEL
Muddy Waters

 
MUDDY WATERS Blind Pig 5054 Recorded Live - The Lost Tapes ● CD $16.98
11 tracks +, 53 mins +, highly recommended
Muddy, in top form, recorded live at Washington and Oregon Universities in 1971 with his great band of the era (George Smith, Pinetop Perkins, Sammy Lawhorn, Pee Wee Madison, Calvin Jones and Willie Smith). The material is all familiar (Honey Bee/ Walking Thru The Park/ Just To Be With You/ Long Distance Call/ Crawlin' Kingsnake, etc) but Muddy does very fine versions - lacking the overindulgent histrionics of some of his later performances. The reason for the "+" on the tracks and times above is because if you have a computer with Windows 95 or 98 and a CD-ROM drive there is bonus video material - an interview conducted in a car which is marred by lack of knowledge on the part of the interviewer and a video of Long Distance Call. More video performances from these sessions are available on Vestapol 13085 "Muddy Waters In Concert, 1971" ($22.98) (FS)
MUDDY WATERS: Crawlin' Kingsnake/ Got My Mojo Working/ Honey Bee/ Hoochie Coochie Man/ Just To Be With You/ Long Distance Call/ Mannish Boy/ Muddy's Introduction To '19 Years Old'/ She's 19 Years Old/ Trouble No More/ Walking Thru The Park

 
MUDDY WATERS Chess 9344 The Complete Plantation Recordings 1941-42 ● CD $10.98
22 tracks, 61 minutes. Recommended
Not included in the Chess-MCA Muddy Waters box, this is not just a reissue of "Down on Stovall's Plantation", but an expanded album with a few previously unissued tracks. This was Muddy Waters when he was still McKinley Morganfield, before he had become urbanized in Chicago, when he was still steeped in the rural blues and its lifestyle of the Mississippi Delta where he grew up. The Alan Lomax recordings for the Library of Congress reveal a musician who knew who he was and what he wanted in life. Short interviews are interspersed between the music, most of it performed solo, a few with guest vocalists or second guitarists, all totally acoustic. The 16-page booklet features photos of Waters' cabin in Clarksdale, Mississippi. The liner notes are excellent, the music is pure history, and Muddy's spoken words offer a rare look into the early days of blues and its players' lifestyles. ( LK)
MUDDY WATERS: 32-20 Blues/ Burr Clover Blues/ Burr Clover Farm Blues/ Country Blues (Number One)/ Country Blues (Number Two)/ I Be Bound To Write To You (First Version)/ I Be Bound To Write To You (Second Version)/ I Be's Troubled/ Interview #1/ Interview #2/ Interview #3/ Interview #4/ Joe Turner/ Pearly May Blues/ Ramblin' Kid Blues/ Ramblin' Kid Blues (partial)/ Rosalie/ Take a Walk With Me/ Why Don't You Live So God Can Use You/ You Got To Take Sick And Die Some Of These Days/ You're Gonna Miss Me When I'm Gone (Number One)/ You're Gonna Miss Me When I'm Gone (Number two)

 
MUDDY WATERS Chess CHD 9364 Electric Mud ● CD $10.98
8 tracks, 36 minutes, utter garbage or?
This CD should be a total disgrace. Young Marshall Chess getting a chance to put one of his dad's then-fading Super Stars with a bunch of hack session-men trying to play psychedelic music. Muddy's voice is strong & clear, but the arrangements are a total mess, with Gene Barge trying to play free jazz on tenor while a harp player overblows, wah-wah & fuzz guitars, a rhythm section playing a very wooden beat, & Muddy forced to cover Let's Spend The Night Together & a couple tunes written by the back-up group, including Herbert Harper's Free Press News (that's the entire title) which may be the most embarrassing thing in the Mud canon. Then there's the butchering of Muddy classics where, at the end of She's Alright, all of a sudden the band goes into a psychedelic version of My Girl!! But there's something fascinating about this mess, like watching a train wreck. The back-up group is the same as for Rotary Connection. Then there's the great picture section (originally a booklet in the LP version) of Muddy getting a natural (great shots of Muddy under a hair-drier with huge curlers & a hair-net). And MCA claims that this CD, reissue of Cadet Concept 314 from '68, is one of their most requested items to reissue! (GM)
MUDDY WATERS: Herbert Harper's Free Press News/ I Just Want To Make Love To You/ I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man/ Let's Spend The Night Together/ Mannish Boy/ She's Alright/ The Same Thing/ Tom Cat

 
MUDDY WATERS Chess CHD 12027 Folk Singer ● CD $10.98
14 tracks, 49 mins, very good
Reissue of Chess 1483 from 1964 with 5 bonus cuts. "Folk Singer" was issued at the height of the `folk boom" and features Muddy performing some of his older songs along with songs from Sonny Boy Williamson, Johnny Temple and others accompanying himself on acoustic guitar with Buddy Guy/ acoustic guitar, Willie Dixon/ bass and Clifton James/ drums. A nice idea that doesn't come off thanks to the weird production values - Muddy's voice and guitar are heavily echoed which destroys the intimate feeling required for a "folk" album and the intimacy is further reduced by the wide stereo separation and the overemphasis on the drum - nothing wrong with James' playing - it should have been further back in the mix. The two bonus tracks that follow the "Folk Singer" session are the best things here - Muddy is back with his band on Willie Dixon's The Same Thing and his own You Can't Lose What You You Never Had with great slide by Muddy and piano by Spann. The last three tracks are from a session with J.T. Brown on tenor sax and clarinet - decent performances but the sound is a bit messy. (FS)
 
MUDDY WATERS Chess 112 515-2 At Newport, 1960 ● CD $10.98
13 tracks, highly recommended
Newly remastered reissue of the classic live album Chess LP 1449 from 1960 featuring excerpts of Muddy and his band's performances at the Newport Jazz Festival in July of that year. Some great performances from Muddy and the band which included James Cotton, Pat Hare, Otis Spann, Andrew Stephenson and Francis Clay. Includes I Got My Brand On You/ Baby, Please Don't Go/ Tiger In Your Tank/ I've Got My Mojo Working, etc. This CD has four bonus cuts featuring the studio session from a few weeks prior to the concert where Muddy first recorded three of songs he subsequently performed live. (FS)
 
MUDDY WATERS Chess 112 822 Real Folk Blues/ More Real Folk Blues ● CD $13.98
Essential! Two great LPs from the mid 60s on one CD previously available as individual CDs). "Real" is a great collection of Muddy tracks covering the period from his earliest Aristocrat recording Gypsy Woman in 1947 to his excellent Same Thing from 1964 where after a few years of relatively unexciting recordings he recorded this gem along with the almost as good You Can't Lose What You Ain't Never had. Along the way we have his magnificent Screamin' & Crying where Muddy's slide guitar is particularly lyrical and the piano accompaniment by Johnny Jones is utterly exquisite. Also included are his take off of Bo diddley's I'm A man which Muddy called Mannish Boy, the urgent Just To be With You, his all time classics Walking Blues & Rollin' & Tumblin' and others. "More Real" is great collection of 12 sides recorded between 1948 and 1952 including several not originally issued on 78 or 45. Includes 4 Aristocrat sides with Muddy's searing guitar accompanied only by Big Crawford's thundering string bass (beautifully brought on this remastering). Includes a version of Robert Johnson's Kind Hearted Woman and the powerful Whiskey Blues. Most of the other tracks add Little Walter's lyrical harmonica and the interplay between Muddy's guitar and Walter's harmonica on tracks like Sad Letter & Too Young To Know is positively magical. Other tracks include Down South Blues/ Hello Little Girl/ She's Alright, etc.
MUDDY WATERS: Appealing Blues (hello Little Girl)/ Canary Bird/ Down South Blues/ Early Morning Blues/ Forty Days And Forty Nights/ Gypsy Woman/ Honey Bee/ Just To Be With You/ Kind Hearted Woman/ Landlady/ Little Geneva/ Mannish Boy/ Rollin' And Tumblin', Pt. 1/ Sad Letter Blues/ Same Thing/ Screamin' And Cryin'/ She's Alright/ Sittin' Here And Drinkin' (whiskey Blues)/ Too Young To Know/ Train Fare Home Blues/ Walkin' Blues/ Walking Thru The Park/ You Can't Lose What You Ain't Never Had/ You're Gonna Need My Help I Said

 
MUDDY WATERS Chess CHD3 80002 The Chess Box ● CD $49.98
This is the most impressive blues package ever put out by a major U.S. label. Although not as comprehensive as the Japanese box set of a few years ago (now out of print) this set is an extensive survey of the recordings of probably the greatest Chicago bluesmen covering recordings from 1947 through the early 70s. It includes a couple of surprises for owners of the Japanese set including the previously unissued Aristocrat track Good Lookin' Woman, an alternate take of Take The Bitter With The Sweet complete with studio dialogue between Muddy & Len Chess and a version of Black Night from the much berated "Muddy, Brass & The Blues" with the brass mixed out. The 72 tracks have all been newly remastered from original masters or, in some cases, from clean 78s. Included is a 32 page booklet with discographical information, notes by Robert Palmer & Mary Katherine Aldin plus photos and memorabilia. (FS)
MUDDY WATERS: All Aboard (Alt. 'Fathers And Sons' Take)/ Baby Please Don't Go/ Bird Nest On The Ground/ Black Night (Hornless Alt. Mix)/ Blow Wind Blow/ Blues Before Sunrise (With False Starts, Dialogue)/ Can't Get No Grindin' (What's The Matter With The Meal)/ Close To You/ Country Boy (Live)/ Diamonds At Your Feet/ Don't Go No Farther/ Double Trouble/ Elevate Me Mama (Alt. Take)/ Evans Shuffle/ Evil/ Flood/ Forty Days And Forty Nights/ Going Down Slow (Live)/ Good Looking Woman/ Good Morning Little Schoolgirl/ Good News/ Got My Mojo Working/ Gypsy Woman/ Honey Bee/ Hoochie Coochie Man/ I Can't Be Satisfied/ I Feel Like Going Home/ I Feel So Good (Live)/ I Just Want To Make Love To You/ I Love The Life I Live, I Live The Life I Love/ I'm Ready/ Just To Be With You/ Little Geneva/ Long Distance Call/ Lonseome Road Blues/ Look What You Done/ Louisiana Blues/ Making Friends/ Mannish Boy/ Mean Disposition/ Mean Red Spider/ My Home Is In The Delta/ Myu Love Stirkes Like Lightning/ Rock Me/ Rollin' And Tumblin', Part 1/ Rolling Stone/ She Moves Me/ She's Into Something/ She's Nineteen Years Old/ Short Dress Woman/ Smokestack Lightnin'/ So Glad I'm Living/ Southbound Train/ Standing Around Crying/ Still A Fool/ Streamline Woman/ Stuff You Gotta Watch/ Sugar Sweet (Alt. 'Fathers And Sons' Take)/ Take The Bitter With The Sweet (Dialogue, False Start, Alt. Take)/ The Same Thing/ Things That I Used To Do/ Train Fare Home Blues/ Trouble No More/ Twenty Four Hours/ Walkin' Blues/ Walkin' Thru The Park/ Who's Gonna Be Your Sweet Man When I'm Gone (Original Hornless London Mix)/ You Can't Lose What You Ain't Never Had/ You Don't Have To Go (Alt. Take)/ You Need Love/ You Shook Me/ Young Fashioned Ways

 
MUDDY WATERS Columbia-Blue Sky 34449 Hard Again ● CD $9.98
Reissue of album in CBS's budget priced CD series.
MUDDY WATERS: Bus Driver/ Crosseyed Cat/ Deep Down In Florida/ I Can't Be Satisfied/ I Want To Be Loved/ Jealous Hearted Man/ Little Girl/ Mannish Boy/ The Blues Had A Baby And They Named It Rock And Roll

 
MUDDY WATERS Columbia-Blue Sky 34928 I'm Ready ● CD $9.98
1978 album with Winter, Walter Horton, Jimmy Rogers, etc.
MUDDY WATERS: 33 Years/ Copper Brown/ Good Morning Little School Girl/ I'm Ready/ I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man/ Mamie/ Rock Me/ Screamin' And Cryin'/ Who Do You Trust

 
MUDDY WATERS Columbia-Blue Sky 37064 King Bee ● CD $9.98
Includes some great songs from his later years like Champagne & Reefer/My Eyes Keep Me In Trouble/Deep Down In Florida #2. 10 in all.
MUDDY WATERS: Bus Driver/ Crosseyed Cat/ Deep Down In Florida/ I Can't Be Satisfied/ I Want To Be Loved/ Jealous Hearted Man/ Little Girl/ Mannish Boy/ The Blues Had A Baby And They Named It Rock And Roll (#2)

 
MUDDY WATERS Hip-O Select 02758-02 Hoochie Coochie Man - The Complete Chess Masters, Vol.2 ● CD $41.98
Two CDs, 51 tracks, highly recommended
A belated (very!) follow up to Chess 112 301 (now out of print!) this limited edition (5000 copies) is the second volume documenting the recordings of the King Of Chicago Blues, Muddy Waters in chronological order. This volume opens with his ferociously intense Standing Around Crying recorded September 17, 1952 and ends with the gimmicky Close To You recorded in November 1958 which was to be his last commercial R&B hit. It includes almost all the master takes from this period along with some alternate takes but there's a frustrating error in that the version of I Want To Be Loved is the alternate and not the original single release as is indicated. There is a never before issued alternate take of She's Got It included. Although Little Walter had left the band by the time of these sessions he was coaxed back to perform on many of these tracks and when he wasn't avaiable the harp role was filled by Junior Wells, Walter Horton or James Cotton. Walter is present on Muddy's biggest hit Hoochie Coochie Man which is represented here by two takes and was to become Muddy's theme song. The earliest sessions were quartet with Muddy & Jimmy Rogers on guitars, harmonica and Elgin Evans on drums with Big Crawford adding bass on some tracks. By September 1953 they were joined by the magnificent piano player Otis Spann who was to continue working with Muddy until he became too sick to play. A few tracks find the group adding a couple of horns into the mix but for the most this is small group down home Chicago blues by the greatest of all Chicago blues bands. Superb sound, informative notes by Mary Katherine Aldin and some great photos round out an excellent package - too bad about that wrong take though! (FS)

 
MUDDY WATERS Just A Memory 9142 Hoochie Coochie Man - Live In Montreal, 1977 ● CD $12.98
MUDDY WATERS: (I'm Your) Hoochie Coochie Man/ Baby Please Don't Go/ Can't Get No Gringin'/ Highway 41/ Howling Wolf/ I Want You To Love Me/ Kansas City/ Nine Below Zero/ The Blues Had A Baby (And They Named It Rock N' Roll)/ They Call It Stormy Monday

 
MUDDY WATERS Pablo 5302 Paris, 1972 ● CD $11.98
11 tracks, 53 min., highly recommended Recorded during one of those Norman Granz JATP tours, this previously unissued Muddy Waters performance features his slide guitar, guitarist Louis Myers (who was subbing for an injured Sammy Lawhorn) and harmonica player George "Mojo" Buford. Probably recorded on June 5 (at The Salle Pleyel), Muddy is in excellent voice. Highlights include a 7 minute version of "Clouds in My Heart", "County Jail", and "Walkin' Blues" (with Mojo Buford not featured). This is being released with permission from the Muddy Waters Estate. (EL)
MUDDY WATERS: Blow Wind Blow/ Clouds In My Heart/ County Jail/ Got My Mojo Workin'/ Honey Bee/ Hoochie Coochie Man/ Introduction/ Lovin' Man/ Rollin''n'tumblin'/ Walkin' Blues/ Walking Thru The Park

 
MUDDY WATERS Wolf 120.200 Live Recordings 1965-1973 ● CD $14.98
A nice selection of live performances - 7 recorded between 1965 and '68 and 3 from 1973. The earlier recordings are more interesting with spirited performances from Muddy and the band (Pinetop Perkins, Sammy Lawhorn, Pee Wee Madison, Carey Bell, Sonny Wimberly and Willie Smith) particularly on Rock Me and Blow Wind Blow. The '73 performances are decent but typical performances of the era with neither Muddy nor the band showing a great deal of enthusiasm. (FS)
 
MUDDY WATERS & FRIENDS Just A Memory JAM 9130 Goin' Way Back ● CD $12.98
11 tracks, 44 mins, highly recommended A pleasant surprise this one! Muddy & his band members recorded at their hotel in Montreal, Canada in 1967. But instead of the familiar group setting with overly familiar songs we get a series of acoustic performances. Muddy does five songs with Sammy Lawhorn on second guitar and, on one track, "Mojo" Buford on harmonica. Muddy reaches back to his first Aristocrat session and does fine versions of Gypsy Woman and Little Annie Mae and brings out his trusty slide for My Home Is On The Delta and Mean Disposition. Luther "Georgia Snake Boy" Johnson does 4 excellent sides and, surprise, surprise Otis Spann picks up the guitar and does two songs. Sound quality is unexceptional but not uncomfortable. Definitely worth checking out. (FS)
 
MUDDY WATERS/ HOWLIN' WOLF Chess 9100 Muddy & The Wolf ● CD $9.98
Six selections from the Muddy Waters album Fathers & Sons with Otis Spann, Michael Bloomfield, Paul Butterfield, etc., and seven from the The London Howlin Wolf Sessions with Hubert Sumlin, Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Bill Wyman & others - with good notes by Peter Guralnick. Not for purists, but this is one of the best of the many 60's collaborations between senior bluesmen and earnest young rockers.

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