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Muddy Waters - The London Muddy Waters Sessions Audio CD

A fair review of the Muddy Waters "The London Muddy Waters Sessions" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Muddy Waters reviews here, or go back to the Muddy Waters tabs.

Muddy Waters Band: Muddy Waters
Title: The London Muddy Waters Sessions
Rating:
Release Date: 1989-07-26
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Blind Man Blues 2: Key to the Highway 3: Young Fashioned Ways 4: I'm Gonna Move to the Outskirts of Town 5: Who's Gonna Be Your Sweet Man When I'm Gone 6: Walking Blues 7: I'm Ready 8: Sad, Sad Day 9: I Don't Know Why

Weakest of the Series
Of the set, this is the weakest CD. Muddy Waters London Sessions is part of a multi-CD collection that Chess put out that includes this CD, Howlin' Wolf London Sessions, and Muddy Water's Fathers and Sons album. The other two are excellent. The songs come off flat, Muddy un-inspired and the added horn arrangements do nothing to improve the situation. As mentioned the Howlin' Wolf session is excellent and the half studio\half live Fathers and Sons is a must own for any blues\Muddy fan. This is for collectors only.


well worth a listen
Despite what others say, I like the backing musicians, particularly guitar and harmonica, and it doesn't suffer from the poor (by today's standards) recording quality of his earlier, 'classic' works. For me, this is as good a place any to start an investigation into the music of this giant of the genre. The voice may not have the towering force of his earlier stuff, but for me it's the sound of a (slightly) older man enjoying himself - and it's well worth a listen! My hair's turning grey too - you'd think it'd know the way I feel.


Unsurpassed vocals
"Key to the Highway", "Walking Blues" are just a sample of tunes that Muddy trademarked as his standards on this album. It's difficult to compare the "London Sessions" recordings of selected blues greats, but this one has to rank with the very best. Every song may not rate 5 stars, but the composite is. I think Muddy derived great joy in making it, as I have in tuning in to this recording.


I may be getting old
Muddy Waters was no exception to this gimmick. Back in the early 1970s, Chess Records sent all of their major recording artists over to London to record. Muddy works here with a mixture of some of his regular band members and some young British rockers. The results are good, if not essential. Muddy had recorded most of these songs before, in superior versions. Not that these versions are bad, they are just lacking when compared to the original versions. Most of the songs here are given a more "contemporary" (circa 1970) feel to them, with mixed results. This is a pretty good album, but I would recommend starting with Muddy's older, "classic" material before you work your way up to this one.


Let's not get carried away
One reviewer refers to it as the best blues album of all time: Heck, I can name 10 or 12 other MUDDY WATERS albums that has this beat hands down! Muddy's vocals sound tired, the material is sub-par, and the band isn't particularly good, although Rory Gallagher gets off a few good solos. Some of the reviews here are waaay too generous, so don't get your hopes up about the quality of this album. The organ playing is horrid--and absolutely unnecessary. The album cover art gives a pretty good indication that this wasn't a very serious Muddy Waters blues album. You can steer clear of this one, unless you have all of Muddy's classic stuff and are interested in hearing him on an "off-night. ".


You can see a complete list of all Muddy Waters discography, or go back to the Muddy Waters tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.

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