Customer Reviews

Anthology: 1947-1972

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This is a new 2 cd anthology which covers Muddy Waters aka McKinley Morganfield's Aristocrat and Chess material from 1947-72. There have been a number of Muddy Waters compilations in the past few years. This set is better buy than the "His Best Vols 1 & 2" compilations. This set contains 50 songs as opposed to 40 on the "His Best" compilations. This anthology contains less material than the Muddy Waters 3 cd box set but the tapes have been remastered for better sound since the box set was released. However, this anthologys fails to include 2 songs from the "His Best" compilations which are among my favorites "She's Into Something" and "You Need Love". The latter song provided the inspiration for Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love". A drawback to this set is there are a few "rarities" which I would have deleted in favor of the aformentioned songs and other favorites like "Blow Wind Blow" (covered by Eric Clapton), "Tell Me Baby" (covered by the Rolling Stones), "I Got A Brand On You" (covered by Johnny Winter), and "Tiger In Your Tank". In addition the second disk clocks in at around 71 minutes, so space was available for more songs. However, this is still an essential compilation.

The music is electric Chicago Blues at its finest. Among the sidemen who appear are Little Walter, Walter Horton, Junior Wells, James Cotton, Paul Butterfield, Jimmy Rogers, Mike Bloomfield, Donald "Duck" Dunn, Willie Dixon, Buddy Guy and many others. This music has influenced the previously mentioned artists as well as such people as Stevie Ray Vaughn, Canned Heat, Rory Gallagher, The Allman Brothers Band, Savoy Brown, Jimi Hendrix, and many others. Blues classics such as "Mannish Boy" "I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man", "Got My Mojo Working", "Trouble No More" and others have become staples of both blues and blues/rock performers. Other well known cuts include "Honey Bee" (covered by Stevie Ray Vaughn), "I'm Ready" (covered by Humble Pie), "You Shook Me" (covered by Led Zeppelin), "I Just Want To Make Love To You" (covered by Foghat), "The Same Thing" (covered by the Allman Brothers Band), and "Still A Fool", "I Want To Be Loved" and "Look What You've Done" (all covered by the Rolling Stones. The Rolling Stones even named themselves after one of Muddy Water's songs "Rollin' Stone" included here. This just scratches the surface of the influence Muddy Waters and his music had on musicians and blues fans alike. If you want a good overview of the Chess years this is an essential compilation.

Muddy Waters is one of the greatest blues singers of all time, if not the greatest. His classic 1950s tracks had a profound influence on music as we know it today, particularly rock and roll. If your music collection has no Muddy Waters, then there's a huge hole that needs to be filled. If you really want to get into this classic music, Muddy Waters' Anthology is a great place to start. I personally don't own it. I have the two Chess collections His Best: 1947-1955 and His Best: 1956-1964, both of which are excellent. However The Anthology would be a much better choice because it has nearly everything that's on those two CDs, plus many more songs that aren't on them. Particularly from the early years, there are many more songs here that aren't on 1947-1955. Anthology has 50 songs total, and the two His Best collections combined have 40, so you get ten more songs with Anthology. Those additional tracks may not exactly be classics, the most essential stuff is contained on the His Best collections, however any Muddy Waters music is worth hearing and the more, the better.

Muddy's early songs are mostly raw and stripped down. Muddy plays an awesome slide guitar which is all over the early stuff. There's very little harmonica and also no bass and very little percussion. The songs are significantly less melodic than the later stuff. It's simply electrified delta blues. Then the stuff later has a more prominent rhythm section and the songs tend to be more catchy and not quite as raw. Unfortunately, Muddy's slide guitar also disappears for the most part as Jimmy Rogers takes over guitar duties. However, the great Little Walter plays an excellent harmonica on many of the tracks which is always a welcome addition.

If you're looking for a first Muddy Waters purchase, here you go. This is a great place to start, but not a great place to stop. Once you get a taste of Muddy, chances are you'll want more. After the essentials, I would recommend picking up Hard Again (1977), At Newport (1960), Fathers and Sons (1969), and I'm Ready (1978).

Muddy Waters' 1950 hit "Rollin' Stone" provided the name for the greatest rock 'n' roll band ever, a major music magazine, and the title of one of Dylan's best songs. His influence as a guitar player, songwriter and singer run deep and wide across the musical landscape. And this generous 50-song collection will serve as a great introduction to his vast body of work for the neophyte fan.

But what about the serious fan? Consider this. Over the past decade, I have already purchased four Muddy Waters collections. The Anthology contains only seven songs not found on 1988's superb Box Set (which contains 72 tracks covering the same period). In 1997, MCA released His Best: 1947-1955. Anthology duplicates all but "I Want You to Love Me." The same year MCA released His Best: 1956-1964. Anthology duplicates all but four songs from that release ("All Aboard," "She's Into Something," "You Need Love" and "My Love Strikes Like Lightning"). In 2000, MCA released Rollin' Stone: The Golden Anniversary Collection (which covers the period 1947-1952). That release contains tracks 1-18 from Anthology. The bottom line is this: Purchasing Anthology would add only three songs to my collection--"Who's Gonna Be Your Sweet Man When I'm Gone," "I Want To Be Loved" and "My Eyes Keep Me In Trouble."

It would appear as if MCA is simply flying by the seat of their pants when it comes to reissuing Waters' catalog with no master plan in mind. Otherwise there wouldn't be so much overlap in their releases over the past several years. Again, this is essential music. And if you're on a budget, this would be the one collection to own. The only real drawback to Anthology is that there are only two post-1964 tracks. "All Aboard" from 1969's often overlooked Fathers and Sons album. This track features Paul Butterfield (harmonica) and Michael Bloomfield (guitar). The other is "Can't Get No Grindin'" from 1973. With that said, this is powerful music and belongs in any serious fan's collection. ESSENTIAL

This 2-disk compilation is, very likely, the best blues that you will ever hear. I've been collecting blues CD's for many years, and am kicking myself for waiting this long to get something from Muddy Waters.

The other reviews here are excellent, and I am grateful to Steve and Jef for steering me in the right direction, by suggesting that I get this particular compilation. There are many Muddy compilations out there, and I have to say that this one is excellent. Every song is a gem, and I've been listening to it over and over since I got it. I was surprised at the number of songs that I recognized... most of us are Muddy Waters fans, and don't even know it.

If you love the blues, and particularly guitar blues, then you must get this CD. Believe what the other reviewers have said, this compilation is THAT good.

Arguably one of the most important Blues guitarist, to ever pick up a guitar....Muddy Waters has seen his profile have something of a re-evaluation, over the last few years, as bands with a heavy blues-influence (such as "The White Stripes", "The Black Keys" "Jon Spencer blues Explosion".....and even classic established bands like "Led Zeppelin" & "The Rolling Stones" ), have seen a rise...in the amount of people reacquainting or indeed seeking about the original sources of these artists that influenced such bands.

Trading in a wide style of blues (Electric Blues, Slide Guitar, R&B, Delta Blues & Blues Revival....it's safe to say that if it's Blues that your after, Muddy Waters was a necessary required listening. This 2 Disk Anthology is probably without doubt the best one-stop purchase for anyone (Casual or otherwise), curious with the guitarist's prolific work. There is simply so much worthwhile material here, that it's one of those collections that cherry picks through pretty much Muddy Waters entire career, and for an artist that started recording from the 40's - 80's, it's a collection that is breathtaking in scope, track selection, sequencing and even the actual mastering of the disk is superb. Sometimes you'll find with blues recordings, that because the actual quality of the original recordings were anything less than stellar, that the CD format, sometimes merely highlights the recordings technical shortcomings. Well...not in this instance, because the label seems to have taken the time and effort to put together a disk that impresses greatly with the sound quality. And coupled with some of the most popular Muddy waters recordings ("Mannish Boy", I Can't Be Statifised", "Rollin And Tumblin Pt 1", "Louisianan Blues", "(I'm Your) Hoochie Choochie Man", "Just to Be with You", "Got Me Mojo Working", "Can't Get No Grindin"). If it's a popular or highly regarded regarded Muddy Waters track, that there's a likely chance that it'll feature on this Anthology.

The only thing that could possibly make you not consider picking up this amazing anthology, is due to the higher price (due to it being a anthology) or that you're a very causal listener, that wouldn't want to have so much material to digest. If you are the latter, then you'd be wrong....you can never have enough Muddy Waters, and if there two things that will hit home, when you buy this release is (1) The man, sure can play the guitar...and (2) you'll be surprised, how truly amazing it is, listening to this anthology in chunks...as it quickly grabs hold of you, and refuses to let go. Such is the brilliance of this Anthology, that it'll possibly, urge you to seek out similar blues artists (Howlin Wolf, B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Albert King, Magic Sam...etc). And the highlight exactly why so many acts today, are looking back at artists such as these, for inspiration. Truly amazing!!!

If you don't want to get to get the 3 CD Chess box as a Muddy collection of Chess recorded numbers, get this one. The track selection is great, I'm especially glad to see 19 pre 1954 Muddy numbers which I especially like because of Muddy;s slide playing. The next few tracks have less prominent guitar, but arre somewhat more catchy and Muddy's voice got better , so I won't argue. You even get two live acoustic tracks -My home is in the Delta and Good morning little schoolgirls, as well as some latter day numbers, especially from number 17 on the second disc onward. Get it it's worth it.

The 50 songs included that date from 1947 to 1972 are first rate songs from Muddy's prime. They're not the only worthwile Muddy by a long stretch though: He did some good work prior to 1947, there were many more good songs in the 1947 to 1972 period, and he did some really good work after 1972 as well. To do a really thorough Muddy compilation, I think you'd need at least 4 discs but these 2 discs with 50 songs total do a great job of highlighting Muddy at his prime. The liner notes are excellent and are a great source of information also.
I had the chance of seeing Muddy live in concert as opening act for the Allman Brothers in the mid 1970's. Before seeing him, I knew some of his big hits and I knew he was a great influence on Allmans, Stones, Led Zeppelin and many top rock bands. After seeing him live, I became a much bigger fan as did many of the people who saw him in that period. Muddy deserves every bit of critical respect he enjoys today and these 2 discs are an excellent document of why.

The handsomely packaged three-disc Chess Box remains the ultimate Muddy Waters-collection, but this reasonably priced double-disc anthology is not far behind.

It manages to collect almost all of Waters' best recordings for Chess Records, from his early acoustic sides with just bassist Ernest 'Big' Crawford for company, to his hard-rocking 50s and 60s cuts, including literally all the must-have classics:
"Mannish Boy", "Got My Mojo Working" and "Hoochie Coochie Man" are here of course, as well as "You Can't Lose What You Ain't Never Had", the supremely groovy "I Love The Life I Live", a thumping "I Just Want To Make Love To You", the swaggering "I Want To Be Loved", and numerous other top-notch blues classics like "Honey Bee", "Forty Days and Forty Nights", "I'm Ready" and "I Can't Be Satisfied".

This is not everything you could ever want from Muddy Waters...his latter-day Blue Sky recordings aren't here, and his live "Muddy Waters At Newport" is a must-have as well. But if you're looking for a really good overview of Waters' hugely influential and trail-blazing Chess years, you really can't go wrong with this sublime, well annotated collection of Waters' tough, swaggering blues.
All five stars and no reservations at all. Highly recommended.

Muddy Waters was to mid-century Chicago as Charley Patton, Son House, and Robert Johnson were to the Mississippi Delta of the early 20th century: his catalogue is pretty much the foundation on which electric blues (and, by extension, rock `n' roll) rests- he mixed the raw swagger and cruel attitude of his predecessors and filtered it through vicious electric guitars and rumbling rhythms. It was a muscular, sweaty sound that dripped with pure emotion and hulking aggression. This collection brings together fifty of the man's best recordings for Chess Records (easily the most influential label in the history of the blues), winding its way from great early classics like "Rollin' Stone" (which inspired the name of a certain English rock `n' roll band) and "I Can't Be Satisfied" to rollicking masterpieces such as "Mannish Boy" and "Rock Me." This is easily one of the greatest collections of music ever assembled, and a damn-near-necessary purchase for any aspiring fan of blues or rock `n' roll.

This is a comprehensive two disc set of the man who defined Chicago blues. Muddy Waters started out in the Delta working as a guitar playing farm hand but moved to Chicago in the 40's, where he took his delta styled playing and plugged in to make a new music that was loud, raucous, and yet retained the subtleties of the Delta. His powerful voice and his slippery slide-guitar influenced the rock and roll generation of Jimi Hendrix and the Rolling Stones, who took both their name and their hit "Satisfaction" from Muddy.