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Authorized Bootleg: Live at the Fillmore Auditorium - San Francisco Nov 04-06 1966

Muddy Waters - Authorized Bootleg: Live at the Fillmore Auditorium - San Francisco Nov 04-06 1966 Audio CD

A fair review of the Muddy Waters "Authorized Bootleg: Live at the Fillmore Auditorium - San Francisco Nov 04-06 1966" 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.

Band: Muddy Waters
Title: Authorized Bootleg: Live at the Fillmore Auditorium - San Francisco Nov 04-06 1966
Rating:

Release Date: 2009-03-31
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Forty Days and Forty Nights 2: (I'm Your) Hoochie Coochie Man 3: Rock Me 4: Baby Please Don't Go 5: She Moves Me 6: Got My Mojo Working 7: You Can't Lose What You Ain't Never Had 8: Forty Days and Forty Nights 9: Baby Please Don't Go 10: Thirteen Highway 11: Rock Me 12: Honey Bee (Sail On) 13: Trouble No More 14: (I'm Your) Hoochie Coochie Man 15: Long Distance Call

muddy makes it clear
classic tunes, great band, and those oh so sweet guitar licks. awesome guitar by the man who electrified the blues. my friend, the fridge, said that the recording quality of it was a little low, but i think that just adds to it.

beware
He even stopped the poster artists from selling their own work because he owns it. I say beware because this is released by the man who bought Bill Graham's collection and is selling everything on his website without royalties. BTW go to his site he has 100's of concerts that he streams so you can record this and the rest for free then track it and mack your own cd. .

Muddy lives
My rememberances of him go back to the mid to late 60's when he frequently played in Rochester, NY at Duffy's. One can never get enough of Muddy. I suppose I saw him 15 times in that time period, with the cast of side men frequently changing. . . Sammy, Snake Boy, Pee Wee, but always with Spann. I can't forget the night I was ejected from the club for dancing (we'd brought all of Buddy Guy's band down to sit in). 5 or 6 white cadillacs later, I was being slid out the door (no dance permit!). The last time I saw Spann was when he played in KoKo Taylor's band with MT Murphy and Luther Tucker at a show I did with Luther Allison, John Littlejohn and Lucky Peterson. Fast forward 10 or so years and I caught Muddy in Portland Oregon w/ Pinetop in the band. Yes he remembered Duffy's, just as he remembered his old mentor Son House, who I recorded in Rochester, as did The Wolf, another of the guys I did shows with and who loved Son.
As I said anything by Muddy is good and that this has been released from the vaults is good!.

So, do we really need one more set of live Muddy Waters?
But yes, when it is as stellar as this one we do. Well, I already gave it five stars, so I don't suppose I'm keeping anybody in suspense here.

This is well over an hour of highlights from the Muddy Waters Blues Band's 1966 stay at San Francisco's Fillmore Auditorium, and the fidelity is absolutely excellent, the "bootleg" layout notwithstanding.
There is plenty of live Muddy Waters out there, yes, but almost all of it (with the exception of the classic Newport album) is from the 70s. This, however, is from the mid-60, and thus significantly closer to Muddy Waters' prime. Not that Muddy was ever that far off his prime, but he sounds less laid-back here than on several of his latter-day recordings.

Muddy's vocals are powerful and aggressive all the way through, and the hard-edged band is no less terrific. It has a grittier sound than the more frequently recorded 70s band which featured Bob Margolin, Pinetop Perkins, and Willie "Big Eyes" Smith, and these recordings differ from almost all other live recordings of the great man in having no piano player present. Now, I would never suggest that Muddy sans piano was in any way better than Muddy plus piano, but there are plenty of live albums out there which feature either Pinetop Perkins or the great Otis Spann, and it is actually quite nice to hear something a little different. And harpist George "Harmonica" Smith deserves special praise; his huge, horn-like tones and gritty, forceful playing has more character than what you'll hear from most of Muddy Waters' other post-50s harpists (with the exception of James Cotton, of course).

These recordings were made over three consecutive nights, and a few songs appear twice, including "Hoochie Coochie Man" and "Forty Days and Forty Nights". It would have been more interesting to have 15 different songs, of course, but it is hard to fault what is here, really. The best, tightest live "Long Distance Call" ever. Two tough, punchy renditions of "Forty Days and Forty Nights". A swinging, swaggering "Got My Mojo Working", and plenty more.

These are tight, compelling performances by one of the best bands in the business, anchored by the great Muddy Waters in top form. It doesn't get much better than that.

MUDDY WATERS-AUTHORIZED BOOTLEG-FILLMORE AUDITORIUM
Fifteen tracks. One disc 74 minutes approximately. The sound is good-every instrument can be heard clearly,except the bass which is a bit low in the mix,but you can feel it's presence.
This concert compilation is from the concert archives of Wolfgang's Vault (Wolfgang being a nickname for Bill Graham) which is releasing a number of different sets. Unknown to most people is the fact that Graham recorded most of the music played at his venue,and up until now,most of it has been squirreled away.
This collection spans three nights at the Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco. It's not by any means the complete concert from any one night. Rather it's a compilation from the three night's concerts. There are some tracks that are repeated because they're taken from the three separate nights. As usual,I remember Waters would have his band play a couple of numbers without him,to get the crowd warmed up,and then he would appear to wild applause. These tracks have been omitted so as to concentrate on Waters' more famous songs.
Waters had just released his album MUDDY,BRASS AND THE BLUES,which is not held in to high a regard by his fans. It's interesting that the band,during it's stay at the Fillmore played no tracks from this album,preferring to stay with the tried and true blues songs made popular in the preceding two or so decades. The band is comprised of Waters-vocals,the underrated George Smith-harmonica,Luther "Georgia Boy" Johnson and the great Sammy Lawhorn-guitars,Mac Arnold-bass,and the great timekeeper Francis Clay-Drums.
This is one of Waters' better bands and they put out straight ahead,no frills,real deal blues. Blues the way it should be played (and heard),in front of an appreciative audience,who payed their money to be transported back to Chicago,where this electrified music was born.
As far as songs,there are no surprises-anyone familiar with (and if you're not are you in for some good listening) Waters/blues will recognize the titles. All tried and true. But in 1966 these titles were new to a lot of listeners in the audience. Having heard Waters live during the same era,this album stands up to what I witnessed all those years ago: the real deal authentic blues played and sung by true masters. On hearing this,you,too,will feel the same.
The packaging is not the best as far as keeping the disc pristine-it's slid-bare-into the inner cardboard sleeve in a "half-pocket",which seems to be popular with record companies now. However,the roughish cardboard sleeve and the printing give a nice effect of a real bootleg.

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.