Audio CD review:
Muddy Waters - Hoochie Coochie Man: Complete Chess Masters, Vol. 2: 1952-1958

Muddy Waters - Hoochie Coochie Man: Complete Chess Masters, Vol. 2: 1952-1958

Band: Muddy Waters Title: Hoochie Coochie Man: Complete Chess Masters, Vol. 2: 1952-1958 Rating: Release Date: 26 September, 2006 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: Standing Around Crying 2: Gone to Main Street 3: Iodine in My Coffee 4: Flood 5: My Life Is Ruined 6: She's All Right 7: She's All Right 8: Sad, Sad Day 9: Turn Your Lamp Down Low (Baby Please Don't Go) 10: Baby Please Don't Go 11: Loving Man 12: Blow Wind Blow 13: Mad Love (I Want You to Love Me) 14: (I'm Your) Hoochie Coochie Man [Alternate Take] 15: (I'm Your) Hoochie Coochie Man 16: She's So Pretty 17: I Just Want to Make Love to You 18: Oh Yeh (Oh Yeah) 19: I'm Ready 20: Smokestack Lightning 21: I Don't Know Why 22: I'm a Natural Born Lover 23: Ooh Wee 24: This Pain 25: Young Fashioned Ways 26: I Want to Be Loved 27: My Eyes (Keep Me in Trouble) 28: Mannish Boy 29: I Got to Find My Baby 30: Sugar Sweet 31: Trouble No More 32: Clouds in My Heart 33: Forty Days and Forty Nights 34: All Aboard 35: Just to Be with You 36: Don't Go No Farther 37: Diamonds at Your Feet 38: I Love the Life I Live (I Live the Life I Love) 39: Rock Me 40: Look What You've Done 41: Got My Mojo Working 42: Good News 43: Evil 44: Come Home Baby, I Wish You Would 45: Let Me Hang Around 46: I Won't Go On 47: She's Got It 48: Born Lover 49: She's Nineteen Years Old 50: Close to You 51: She's Got It [Alternate Take][#]

Customer Review a case where 5 stars doesn't feel like enough Although it LOOKS incredibly handsome on the surface, they have the discs fitting into these tight cardboard slots that are tailor-made to get the discs scratched up, and that's just ridiculous. I do have one complaint with this release from Hip-O Select, and it deals with the packaging. In this day and age, these guys should really know better. Still, I say hunker down and grab a couple spare jewel cases to put the two discs of this set in. Because they are truly incredible discs. Muddy was playing with a rhythm section by the time where this set begins--he was in absolute peak form, and innovating in ways that may go underappreciated nowadays but shouldn't be dismissed. Due to the strict chronological sequencing and thoroughness of the set, there are cases where the same song appears twice in a row, but it's hardly a problem, because songs like the riffy "She's All Right" and the stomping "Baby Please Don't Go" are so great that you won't mind hearing them twice in a row, and the little differences between the two versions are intriguing. A case can be made that Muddy Waters paved the way for rock & roll more than any other performer. Beyond that though, his music is simply timeless, and resonates in a way those who followed in his footsteps (i. e. the Rolling Stones) have been woefully unable to duplicate. Yes, Muddy's vocals are obviously the REAL DEAL. But also a key 'secret weapon' was Little Walter's brilliant, utterly natural and earthy harmonica playing--just listen for his absolutely hair-raising solo on "I Just Want To Make Love To You" to cite one example. This wonderful two disc set piles up one soulful classic after another, whether it's the irresistibly swaggering "I'm Ready", "Don't Go No Farther", and "Rock Me", the mind-blowingly swinging-yet-gutsy "Trouble No More", or mournful slow blues numbers like "Standing Around Crying" or "Sad, Sad Day", just to name half a dozen more in addition to the ones mentioned previously. A couple songs, particularly "Hoochie Coochie Man", have absolutely been done to death, both by Muddy's own endless re-recordings, not to mention all the other artists' covers, but that's a minor gripe. Ultimately, this set is a treasure. Just buy it, it's beyond essential. . You can see a complete list of all Muddy Waters discography, or go back to the Muddy Waters tabs