Customer Reviews
Solid Muddy show
It's not the best live Muddy, but you probably already have Live at Newport and Muddy "Mississippi" Waters Live. The sound is good. Muddy is in good form, and Clouds In My Heart is a great and rare song. Fun versions of Blow Wind Blow and Honey Bee. If you are into Muddy, you won't regret this one. Pine Top Perkins on piano. George "Mojo" Buford on harmonica. .
****1/2. More great live Muddy
Some of it is even great, and this one is somewhere in between. There is a lot of live Muddy Waters available (which is a good thing), and almost all of it is very good.
Well, no, that's not quite fair. . . this is great music, it's just not the best available live Muddy (that would be "Mojo - The Live Collection" and the sublime "Chicago 1979", and of course "Muddy Waters At Newport 1960"). But even second-rate live Muddy blows most other artists' best efforts out of the water, and this is only second-rate because we have the Newport album to compare it to.
Muddy Waters and his band are somewhat more subdued here than on most of his live releases, which may not be to everybody's liking, and the otherwise excellent Pinetop Perkins is perhaps not quite as inspired as on most other live discs (although he does shine on a handful of tracks). But there is a lot of great stuff here nonetheless, including the rarely heard "Lovin' Man", a fine, slow "County Jail" with some good slide playing, and tough renditions of "Honey Bee", "Blow Wind Blow", and "Walking Thru The Park".
The mixing is strange at times - odd fader moves key up the wrong instruments - and literally everything is played in the same key (and it's not even E, it's G natural). But the band is too good for little things like that to ruin the show - George "Mojo" Buford plays meaty harmonica fills, and drummer Willie Smith and second guitarist Louis Myers are excellent. Too bad that Myers' solo on "Blow Wind Blow" is partly drowned out when the mixer decides to key in Muddy Waters' rhythm guitar instead.
But the fidelity is really good, and the music is rock-solid, even if the key never varies. We've heard "Got My Mojo Working" and "Hoochie Coochie Man" live about a hundred times before, but there are also some relatively rare performances here, like the full-band treaments of "Walkin' Blues" and "Rollin' 'N' Tumblin'", and a seven-minute "Clouds In My Heart".
Not the place to start your Muddy Waters-collection, perhaps, but certainly a stop that you should make along the way. Great music superbly played by one of the best blues bands of all time.
4 1/2 stars.
This album shows you the blues master at his best
Europe wasn't crazy about his loud slide leads. His previous experiance in Europe alowed Muddy Waters to see that he needed to tone down the volume on his amp. So, in this concert, Muddy and his band sound almost like a jazz band. These are some awesome songs. Most songs last over five minutes -- packed full of slide and harmonica. This is one of the greatest albums ever. Muddy's old harmonica player took to the guitar in this concert. His mojo was workin' that night. Muddy plays most of his usual solos, and re-creates such songs as Honey Bee, and Hoochie Coochie Man. I love this album.
. You can see a complete list of all Muddy Waters discography, or go back to the Muddy Waters tabs
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