..:: audio-music dot info ::..


Main Page     The Desert Island     Copyright Notice
Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz


Muddy Waters: King of the Electric Blues

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: Sony Music Entertainement
Released: 1997.10.07
Time:
 63:42
Category: Blues
Producer(s): Johnny Winter
Rating: ********.. (8/10)
Media type: CD
Web address: www.muddywaters.com
Appears with:
Purchase date: 2002.04.13
Price in €: 6,99



 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] I'm a King Bee (J.Moore) - 3:51
[2] Champagne & Reefer (M.Morganfield) - 4:35
[3] Mean Old Frisco (A.Crudup) - 3:45
[4] Sad, Sad Day (M.Morganfield) - 5:23
[5] No Escape from the Blues (M.Morganfield/C.E.Williams) - 2:04
[6] She's Nineteen Years Old (M.Waters) - 5:14
[7] Nine Below Zero (S.B.Williamson) - 5:22
[8] Howlin' Wolf (M.Morganfield) - 6:03
[9] Baby Please Don't Go (B.J.Williams) - 4:04
[10] (I'm Your) Hoochie Coochie Man (W.Dixon) - 3:58
[11] Rock Me (M.Morganfield) - 3:50
[12] Good Morning Little Schoolgirl (S.B.Williamson) - 3:16
[13] I'm Ready (W.Dixon) - 3:22
[14] Mannish Boy (M.Diddley/M.London/E.McDaniel) - 5:21
[15] The Blues Had a Baby and They Named It Rock And Rll (B.McGhee/M.Morganfield) - 3:34

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


MUDDY WATERS - Guitar, Vocals

LAWRENCE COHN - Compilation Producer
ADAM BLOCK - Director
DAVID MITSON - Digital Mastering
DAVID GAHR - Booklet Photography
JANET BOYE - Art Direction
ADAM SIEFF - Director
CHARLES SHAAR MURRAY - Liner Notes
ALLISON RAPP - Packageing Manager

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


1997 CD Sony 65215

Recorded between 1976-1980. Includes liner notes by Charles Shaar Murray. This is part of Legacy's Mojo Workin' series.



From 1977 to 1980, Johnny Winter undertook a mission to counterbalance Muddy's iffy crossover attempts of the last decade. By recording in an atmosphere designed to emulate a live stage environment, with the right musicians and loads of enthusiasm, Winter pulled the old fire out of Muddy, the kind of energy he'd generally been emitting only in live performance. Like its companion collection BLUES SKY--with which there's no overlap--KING OF THE ELECTRIC BLUES cherry-picks those sessions recorded for CBS imprint Blue Sky, resulting in an anthology nearly as satisfying as any from Muddy's Chess days. The live cuts from MUDDY "MISSISSIPPI" WATERS LIVE showcase Muddy and his band at their most unfettered. Unhinged slide solos intersect with pounding, near-primal drums, and Muddy's own razor-sharp growl. The studio recordings are equally impressive; just when you thought you'd heard it all from Muddy, he's promoting the use and bemoaning the illegality of marijuana on "Champagne & Reefer." Despite his usual randiness, he sounds like the soul of sorrow on a track like "Sad sad Day." "No Escape from the Blues," the final studio recording of Muddy's life, is more manifesto than elegy.



The first 20-bit remastering of any of Muddy's late career work for Johnny Winter's Blue Sky label is of considerable interest. The fact that, in the wake of the earlier Blues Sky best-of disc, there's enough material to do another 60-minute-plus collection, also speaks well for this catalog. The clarity of the Super Bit Mapping audio brings out a sharpness in these recordings that the original vinyl and CD issues barely hinted at. The stuff is finally mastered at the volume it always should have been (this is a potential lease-breaker) and more than justifies the purchase. The music isn't as viscerally exciting as Muddy's work for Chess — he's slower, starts at a lower energy level, and takes his time building up intensity, but the climaxes are majestic. The playing is also as solid as ever, and Muddy still had a considerable amount to say musically. Blues Sky still has the edge for songs, although the producers here have wisely included Muddy's covers of songs that he liked by John Lee (Sonny Boy) Williamson, Arthur Crudup, and Big Joe Williams, in addition to some of his own tunes.

Bruce Eder - All Music Guide
© 1992 - 2002 AEC One Stop Group, Inc.



This series of releases by Legacy draws upon Columbia Records' archives of blues recordings, which begin in the 1920s. The focus of this series is to highlight the linkages between blues and its more popular offspring, rock music. Much of the material presented here is available in other packages, but these releases may be convenient as starting points for those without extensive blues collections.

The highlight of the series is the Memphis Minnie Queen of the Blues release, which features recordings starting in 1929, when she and her first husband, "Kansas Joe" McCoy, were discovered in Memphis, through 1946. Memphis Minnie began recording at the point when the country blues style began to eclipse the theatrical vaudeville style of blues that was popular through the 20s. Minnie is revealed by these recordings as a spirited, expressive woman and a talented country blues guitarist whose stage persona embodied the bold, brassy, independent spirit that made the style popular. Virtually all of Minnie's peers in the style were men, which gave her an unique status. The collection features a variety of music, from fairly starkly instrumented country blues to some fairly sophisticated-sounding small ensemble recordings. Included are her classic recording (with Kansas Joe) "When the Levee Breaks," a wonderful cover of a Casey Bill Weldon tune, "Blues Everywhere," and what seems to be a duet with Bumble Bee Slim (Amos Easton) on "New Orleans Stop Time." Sadly, the liner notes in this series do not provide much detail about the recordings, but then again, this series is meant as an introduction to the music rather than to scholarship.

The audience that the series is aimed at is most apparent in the Blues for the Next Generation disc, which skips back and forth between styles and decades to drive its point home. Sometimes the transitions are pretty shocking, like the juxtaposition of Blind Willie Johnson's "Motherless Children" and Johnny Winter's version of "Johnny B. Goode." Despite the occasional jolt that may send the listener scurrying for the volume knob, there is a lot of good material on this disc. For those more interested in the traditional blues, there are recordings of Son House doing "Preachin' Blues" in 1965, Brownie McGhee (very early in his career, recording under the name Blind Boy Fuller #2) doing "Key to the Highway 70 #1," Bessie Smith doing "It Makes My Love Come Down," and Bukka White doing his "Jitterbug Swing." For those more attuned to blues-rock, included are the Electric Flag doing "Killin Floor" and Stevie Ray Vaughn doing "Texas Flood."

Robert Johnson, King of the Delta Blues is functionally a "greatest hits" collection featuring his 16 most popular tunes. Johnson is considered by many to be one of the most influential bluesmen ever to record, and there is no doubt that his music is essential listening for anyone interested in blues music. This disc is certainly a nice introduction, but then again it might be just as well to throw caution to the winds and get the nicely packaged and documented two-CD boxed set of his complete recordings. Johnson recorded only 29 songs in his short lifetime; it seems a shame to stop at 16.

Muddy Waters, King of the Electric Blues is a collection of recordings culled from four albums that he recorded in the last few years of his life. In 1977, he left Chess Records after 30 years to record on Blue Sky Records, with Johnny Winter as producer. The sound of this work is markedly different from his work with Chess. The most significant difference is the arrangement of the tunes, most of which are remakes of Waters' earlier recordings that are updated here. The arrangements are guitar-heavy and are not as concise musical statements as the originals were, but they never come close to the overdriven excesses of guitar virtuosity created by many rockers who claim Waters as an influence. Waters is accompanied on some of these sessions by James Cotton, Jimmy Rogers, Bob Margolin and Johnny Winter, though the liner notes don't give the details. Selections include "Nineteen Years Old," "Baby Please Don't Go," "I'm Ready," "Mannish Boy" and "Nine Below Zero."

Andy Allen (Baltimore, MD)
Dirty Linen
 

 L y r i c s


Currently no Lyrics available!

 M P 3   S a m p l e s


Currently no Samples available!