WITH GEORGE "HARMONICA" SMITH
EXCELLENT ALL I CAN SAY IS BUY IT YOU WONT BE SORRY GREAT SOUND QUALITY ALSO.
****1/2- great early-70s recordings, superb sound
This one is at the almost-five-stars end of the scale, featuring a top-notch combo, excellent production, and some of the best sound you're ever likely to hear. Muddy Waters' numerous live albums range from "pretty good" to "magnificent", with "Take A Walk With Me" and "The Muddy Waters Blues Band Featuring Dizzy Gillespie" at one end of the scale, and the magnificent "Muddy Waters At Newport", "Chicago 1979", "Hoochie Coochie Man" and "Mojo: The Live Collection" at the other end.
All of these ten songs have been available in official live versions for a long time, and most of them are on virtually every live Muddy album from the 70s. "The Lost Tapes" may not be a revelation, excactly, but it is top-notch electric blues from one of the genre's greatest, and compared with similar albums this one is perhaps the very best from this particular period.
Recorded at the universities of Washington and Oregon, "The Lost Tapes" features Muddy's stellar early-70s band, Sammy Lawhorn and James "Pee Wee" Madison on guitars, the great George "Harmonica" Smith, bassist Calvin Jones, Joe "Pinetop" Perkins on the piano, and veteran drummer Willie "Big Eyes Smith. George Smith and Pinetop Perkins are particularly delightful to hear, and of course Muddy Waters himself, his big, confident voice possesing both power and nuance.
It doesn't really make sense to talk about highlights here. . . everything is great, from the rather slow but very gritty renditions of "Hoochie Coochie Man" and "Mannish Boy" to the superbly swinging "Crawlin' Kingsnake" and "Walking Thru The Park". And the band delivers a cracking performance all the way through.
If your collection is lacking a little in the "live Muddy Waters from the early 70's" department, this is the CD for you.
And if it isn't, pick it up anyway. It's great.
Sends shivers down my spine!!!
The people that handled this at Blind Pig Records did a great job of restoring and mastering these gems! Play him over and over on The Crazy Coyote Blues Power Show AT 1490 KOTY AM Yakima Nation Reservation Radio in south central Washington state. The opening riff of "Honey Bee" when I first heard this cd sent a chill and shivers down my spine and my eyes got swollen with tears while listening to this true master of the Blues in such a marvelous live setting with an incredibly talented Raw and Gritty band! Every track is a Muddy Waters masterpiece! The man's voice and playing add a surreal feeling of times gone by that can be relived over and over with the same feelings being felt.
Awesome visit with the master!!!
His talent and personality influenced many performers to play their best and to stretch themselves, seeking the limits of their instruments and souls. Muddy Waters helped create the dynamic postwar Chicago blues. It is so nice to listen to these sessions, recorded in 1971, at Washington and Oregon Universities, because they capture some of the essence of what truly made Muddy Waters so terrific; his live performances and kinship with his audience and fellow performers. Joined by greats George "Harmonica" Smith, Pinetop Perkins on piano, Sammy Lawhorn and Pee Wee Madison on guitar, Calvin "Fuzz" Jones on bass, and Willie "Big Eyes" Smith on drums, Waters and co. rock the house on standards like "Crawling Kingsnake" "Hoochie Coochie Man," and "Got My Mojo Working," through a bunch of his own tunes like "Honey Bee," "Walking Thru The Park," "Trouble No More," and "She's 19 Years Old. " My favorite cut has got to be "Long Distance Call. " On this song, Muddy attacks his guitar neck with his slide, making it scream out hard and soulful blues. This is an enhanced CD as well, and contains a video interview with Waters as well as a video performance of "Long Distance Call," which brings the greatness of this performer through to the viewer even stronger. All in all, this is a great CD, and I'd recommend it to anybody.
You can see a complete list of all Muddy Waters discography, or go back to the Muddy Waters tabs
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