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Muddy Waters - Muddy Waters Live (At Mr. Kelly's) Audio CD

A fair review of the Muddy Waters "Muddy Waters Live (At Mr. Kelly's)" 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: Muddy Waters Live (At Mr. Kelly's)
Rating:
Release Date: 1992-09-29
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: What Is That She Got? 2: You Don't Have to Go 3: Strange Woman 4: Blow Wind Blow 5: Country Boy 6: Nine Below Zero 7: Stormy Monday 8: Mud Cat 9: Boom Boom 10: She's Nineteen Years Old [#][*] 11: C.C. Woman 12: Long Distance Call [#][*]

Lively Muddy
I frequently have it on outside when I'm barbequing. I love this album. Several of these tracks aren't available on any other Muddy Waters live recordings, including: Boom Boom, You don't have to go, Stormy Monday, and CC Woman, which makes this CD even more of a Must Have. A smokin' CD.


Good live Muddy from Chess
But Muddy Waters was luckier, and this 1971 album was the third full-length concert recording of his career. Chess records only recorded Howlin' Wolf live a single time, and late in his career at that, and most of the label's other main attractions never got a live album.

Cut in the summer of 1971 at Mr. Kelly's, a Chicago club on the Near North Side, "Muddy Waters Live (at Mr. Kelly's)" finds Muddy in fine form, working with his excellent early-70s band which included Joe "Pinetop" Perkins (piano), drummer Willie "Big Eyes" Smith, bassist Calvin "Fuzz" Jones, and guitarists Samuel Lawhorn and James "Pee Wee" Madison.
The masterful James Cotton appears under a pseudonym, as he was under contract with another label, blowing the harp on three songs. On the remaining nine songs it is 21-year-old Paul Oscher playing fine, muscular harmonica parts.

The album opens with a predictable but quite enjoyable "Country Boy"-knockoff called "What Is That She Got" and a rendition of Jimmy Reed's "You Don't Have To Go" (which doesn't sound _quite_ right without Reed's drawling vocals). The slow blues "Strange Woman" is a bit monotonous, but then comes a swinging "Blow Wind Blow" with some great playing by Pinetop Perkins and Paul Oscher, a good "Country Boy" (the real one this time), the excellent instrumental "Mudcat", and a gritty "She's Nineteen Years Old". Also, this version of "Stormy Monday Blues" is significantly better than other Muddy Waters-renditions I've heard.

All in all, this album doesn't quite match the power and boldness of Muddy's best live albums, and you should seek out albums like "Muddy Waters At Newport", "Mojo: The Live Collection", "The Lost Tapes", and "Chicago 1979" before this one.
But "Live At Mister Kelly's" is not a bad album by any stretch of the imagination, and it is certainly worth a listen. It is the only live Muddy Waters album to feature Paul Oscher (who is a great harpist, even though he mostly plays the guitar these days), and these renditions of "Mudcat", "C. C. Woman", "Blow Wind Blow", T-Bone Walker's "Stormy Monday Blues", and John Lee Hooker's "Boom Boom" deserve to be heard.


BLUESCAT
EXCELLENT ;EXCELLENT MUDDY AND PINETOP;JAMES COTTON AND PAUL OSCHER AND I'M NOT FOR SURE BIG EYED WILLIE SMITH ON DRUMS. 5 STARS IS NOT ENOUGH FOR THIS CD. SEARCH FOR THIS LIKE LOST TREACHER;IF FOUND YOU WILL BE HAPPY!.


"Live blues at equal to Newport."
This is later period Muddy, but just as intense. I have been a big fan of the "Live at Newport" cd. Anyone who likes classic blues played live, this is the cd to get.


A great night for the blues
In addition to Muddy's great vocals and some nifty guitar playing by Sammy Lawhorn, the harp playing of Paul Oscher is simply amazing. I bought this album on vinyl when it first came out and still listen to it very regularly. Paul toured a lot with Muddy's band in those days and had a big, nasty, rough tone that really pushed the sound of the Waters band. He never got the kind of notice, I believe, that some of Muddy's other harpists received, but he was a good one. This album smokes and Oscher's the one who lights things up,.


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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