What does it sound like?:
Along with BB King, John Lee Hooker and Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters pretty much encapsulated the blues. In fact, Keith Richards even went so far as to describe him as Mr Blues. This forty-track two cd compilation covers his whole career on the Chess label, staring way back in 1947 and running all the way through to 1975. All the standards you’d expect are present and correct – Mannish Boy, Got My Mojo Working, You Shook Me, Rollin’ and Tumblin’ and of course Hoochie Coochie Man. Alongside these you also get a handful of live takes from the sixties and seventies, plus one or two little compiled rarities. Throw in an informative twenty eight-page booklet with some authoritative writing and rare photos, and you’ve the makings of a great set that guarantees listening satisfaction..
What does it all *mean*?
A nice, well put together introduction to the catalogue of Muddy Waters’ music, aimed mainly at the previously uninitiated.
Goes well with…
Some fine sippin’ bourbon, no ice.
Release Date:
Might suit people who like…
The Blues.
Alias says
Muddy Waters made some of the greatest music ever, but you are paying for the packaging here. Most of this stuff can be picked up for pennies (which shows how the price of music so often fails to reflect the value of it).
Tiggerlion says
Muddy Waters is amazing. I almost nominated 1977 as the best year for music on the recent thread. A big highlight for me was his comeback album at the tender age of 62, cheekily called Hard Again. It’s loud, raucous and downright filthy. A lot of the credit should go to Johnny Winter who produced and led the fabulous band. The man himself is irrepressible, performing at his peak. The opening track is the definitive version of Mannish Boy, unashamedly sexual. Listen.
Moose the Mooche says
Best comeback album ever. The follow up, I’m Ready, isn’t bad either, and King Bee was a fine swansong.
Well done that man Winter.
fitterstoke says
Seconded – stormin’, stompin’ album….should be in everyone’s collection…..
Lodestone of Wrongness says
Yup, forget the fluff up top and go for this, one of the best records ever made
count jim moriarty says
I’ll fourth that. A magnificent album.
Baron Harkonnen says
Hard Again is my favourite blues album ever, fuckin’ brill.
Mike_H says
This one from near the end of that late run of albums is a beauty too.
https://www.discogs.com/Muddy-Waters-Muddy-Mississippi-Waters-Live/release/10011643
Absolutely steaming version of “Baby Please Don’t Go”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3jutwDfUdo
ivan says
Another vote for this. It’s utterly brilliant.
Moose the Mooche says
Just one more post. I tried to post a picture but couldn’t, so here’s my favourite Muddy track instead.
It irks me that people seem to think that the blues is some poodle-haired fat bloke in a black t-shirt, sweating and gurning in a pub in Deptford. It isn’t.
It is Muddy.
Fuckin’.
Waters.
Chrisf says
Much as I love the Johnny Winter produced albums, my absolute favourite Muddy Waters (and one of my favourite albums full stop) is “Folk Singer” from 1964.
A largely acoustic album, with Buddy Guy backing on acoustic guitar, it sounds absolutely fabulous (its one of my high resolution show off albums).
Tiggerlion says
Yes. That’s a marvellous LP.
Baron Harkonnen says
Aye, another great Muddy Waters album.
Having said that I’m giving this compilation a miss. I have several studio albums by the great man and probably more compilations.
Almost Simon says
I have the 2cd Anthology which is great but misses off Champagne and Reefer which I heard on Tom Perry’s Buried Treasure radio show. Great track that should be on every Muddy compilation. Might have a look at this one if better than Anthology.
deramdaze says
If you can still find them (shouldn’t be too difficult, they sold loads) those Charly black-cover CD compilations circa 1992 are fabulous ….. 16 tracks, 1955-59, wonderful packaging.
Less essential is his entry in the Orbis Blues Collection as, along with a few others in the series like John Mayall, it’s a live concert from 1976.
Junior Wells says
The Chess box set was great and much as i liked the Winter albums they are a bit overblown, too revved up, too rock. Listened to one with James Cotton the other day and its like too many cooks at the mic
I’m another one for They Call Me Muddy Waters. Had it on tape in Zimbabwe fir 2 years and played it all the time of the electric stuf i love They Call Me Muddy Waters which from memory was a bit of a mix of recordings. Bird Nest on the Ground totally swings not rocks swings.
Junior Wells says
Exhibit A
Junior Wells says
Without wanting to hijack the thread YouTube threw this version up- Doyle Bramhall II with Jimmy Vaughan on second gtr plus the Memphis Horns. Muddy’s version is better of course 😉
Lando Cakes says
I sprang for the Hip-O Chess Masters releases, a few years back. Everything up to 1963. A sound investment, in every sense.
At the risk of introducing a note of heresy to the proceedings, I really like Electric Mud.
Moose the Mooche says
You’re in good company – Chuck D likes it too. It’s a great record by any ordinary standard.
I remember Paul Jones doing a radio documentary about old McKinley where he said “There are no records of Muddy’s artistic decline… because he didn’t have one”.
duco01 says
Re: “There are no records of Muddy’s artistic decline… because he didn’t have one”.
I’m pretty sure that’s a quotation – at least a paraphrase of a quotation – from one of Charles Shaar Murray’s pieces on Muddy – possibly his brilliant and moving eulogy for him in the NME.
deramdaze says
Charles Shaar Murray’s “Blues on CD” book from about 1993 is still my go to tomb for a potted biography of any blues artist.
Junglejim says
Muddy Waters can’t be overrated or over praised, he really is the dog’s wotsits.
My go to is the Chess compilation ‘ His Best -1947-1955’ – nearly all the monster songs are on there including the incomparable ‘Still A Fool’, which I sometimes think is his best recording.
It doesn’t really matter which album you listen to though, the magic shines through & key thing is that his music continues to be heard.
I fecking love him.
Mike_H says
I’m a big admirer of Muddy and his music, have loads of his stuff and play it pretty often, but Howlin’ Wolf is the top man for me from that generation.
Moose the Mooche says
It’s a close-run thing for who was the king. Muddy had that incredible late-career renaissance and was the better guitarist, but Wolf was such an incredible showman – almost the most charismatic musician I can think of. Besides Fred Durst.
duco01 says
As I’m sure I’ve mentioned countless times on this board, seeing Muddy Waters live in concert on the hill outside Alexandra Palace in 1980 or 1981 remains the greatest live music experience of my life. The memory of it thrills me to this day.
Also, a shout out to all Afterword Muddy Waters fans: if you haven’t got the “Muddy Waters Classic Concerts” DVD, it’s well worth snapping up. The highlight is the footage from the Newport 1960 Festival, but the Danish and Norwegian gigs in 1968 and 1977 are very enjoyable, too. There’s a certain duplication of tracks among the concerts, but one can hardly complain. It’s the single greatest figure in the history of the blues, in magisterial form.
Moose the Mooche says
My Dad saw Muddy backstage at the Capitol Jazz Festival in 1981. He waved from about 20 yards away, possibly giving him the thumbs-up, and Muddy smiled and waved back. One of the highlights of my Dad’s life.
Muddy died younger than is fair, but at least he lived long enough to enjoy some of the adulation he was due.
deramdaze says
You’ve got to pity Elmore James.
He died in May 1963, just two weeks before the first Rolling Stones 45, and for the next couple of years every long-haired Herbert in London quoted him as an influence.
Moose the Mooche says
“It was early in the morning, and I was on my way to school
I met a married woman, and she broke my teacher’s rule”
Well! No wonder he had to get someone else to hand him down his walking shoes.