Audio CD review:
Muddy Waters - Muddy & the Wolf

Muddy Waters - Muddy & the Wolf

Band: Muddy Waters Title: Muddy & the Wolf Rating: Release Date: 1991-09-10 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: All Aboard - Muddy Waters, Waters, Muddy 2: Blow Wind Blow 3: Can't Lose What You Ain't Never Had 4: Walkin' Thru The Park 5: I'm Ready 6: Long Distance Call 7: Rockin' Daddy 8: What A Woman! 9: Who's Been Talking? 10: Red Rooster, The (rehearsal) 11: Red Rooster, The 12: Highway 49 13: Do The Do

Misleading Title The songs on this CD are taken from two albums, "The London Howlin' Wolf Sessions", and "Fathers And Sons", a Muddy Waters LP, both released in the early 70's. the title of this CD is misleading. I have both of the orignial albums on vinyl, and they have more songs and are better sound quality. None of the songs on this CD have Howlin Wolf and Muddy Waters playing together. But the songs are good. . WHY ? MISLEADING AND REDUNDANT. AT NO POINT DO MUDDY WATERS AND HOWLING WOLF APPEAR TOGETHER AS THE TITLE INDICATES. This CD brings together selections from Muddy Waters' "Fathers and Sons" sessions and "Howling Wolf's London Sessions". The music is wonderful, but it is readily available on the aformentioned cd's with more songs, better sound. So WHY does MCA Chess continue to make this compilation available. It must be to fool potential listeners. Muddy Waters and Howling Wolf are allways 5 Stars, but buy "Fathers and Sons" "The London Howling Wolf Sessions" instead. Skip it and get a real Muddy Water or Howlin' Wolf CD In fact, I first thought it might be Muddy's own original CD called "Muddy and the Wolf" for some strange reason. When I was buying this, I did not know much about Muddy's or Wolf's discography, and I didn't bother reading any reviews. It isn't. Half of this CD is Muddy Waters, and the other half is Howlin' Wolf. This is not a collaboration either. This is SOME of the material taken from Muddy's highly acclaimed Fathers and Sons CD and SOME of the material taken from Wolf's London Sessions and basically glued together into one incomplete disc. If you think you want a *sample* of either man's style, this is probably a bad place to start because it only represents Muddy late in his career doing electrical blues and Wolf in a once-in-a-lifetime collaboration with the British rockers in London. Not a typical sample of each man's career at all. I do own Wolf's London Sessions and find them interesting material, but they are not by any means a true representation of the bluesman that Wolf was. As for Muddy, you'd do much better just getting his Fathers and Sons CD. Save your money here!. If for no other reason... That live version of 'Long Distance Call' alone is worth the admission price. Go to track 6. The stinging slide licks are hot enough to peel paint of walls. Couple that with Muddy's fine ad-libbing at the end and you get blues Heaven. The rest of the album is good, but lacks the real electricity of the classic Chess catalog. If you have no other classic Muddy or Wolf records, this is a good start. A Great Recording By Two Blues Giants!! The two of them dominated Chess Records from the 1950's until the label's demise in the 1970's. First and foremost Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf were the two kings of the Chicago Blues scene. They competed for the best songs, musicians and attention from the Chess brothers. The competition between the two ultimately resulted in a style of Blues that the rest of the world stands in awe of. This recording, actually a re-release of parts of two earlier albums is a great look into why Waters and Wolf were so great. The Muddy Waters recordings features the cream of Chicago's Blues scene. Otis Spann, Mike Bloomfield, Paul Butterfield, Sam Lay and Duck Dunn play on most of the tracks. The line-up for the Howlin' Wolf sessions is even more impressive. Made during his London Sessions, these cuts feature england's brrightest and best; Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Bill Wyman, Charlie Watts and long-time Howlin' Wolf rhythm guitarist, Hubert Sumlin. If you want to get a great sample of what made these two Blues giants the cornerstone of the Chicago Blues scene, then I strongly suggest that you get this album, then go out and get a bunch of their solo recordings as well. You can't go wrong. You can see a complete list of all Muddy Waters discography, or go back to the Muddy Waters tabs