Muddy Waters’ historic recordings for Chess and Aristocrat Records are so iconic within the framework of the blues that several ‘Greatest Hits’-type Muddy albums from the Chess vaults have been inducted into the Hall of Fame. The 1958 compilation, The Best of Muddy Waters, and this double album retrospective from 1971 were both selected in 1983. This set includes most of the tracks from The Best of Muddy Waters but omits a few and adds various tracks from 1948 through 1964, concluding with two live tracks from Muddy’s groundbreaking 1960 appearance at the Newport Folk Festival. These are works that defined both the musical genre and the band format of Chicago blues.
Tracks: (2-LP set) Disc 1: Louisiana Blues/I’m Ready/Honey Bee/I Just Want To Make Love To You/Kind-Hearted Woman/She Moves Me/(I’m Your) Hoochie Coochie Man/Long Distance Call/She’s All Right/Rollin’ Stone/Standing Around Crying/Too Young To Know; Disc 2: Walking Thru The Park/Still A Fool/You Can’t Lose What You Ain’t Never Had/I Can’t Be Satisfied/I Want You To Love Me/Rolling And Tumbling//Just To Be With You/You’re Gonna Need My Help/Same Thing/My Life Is Ruined/Baby Please Don’t Go/Got My Mojo Working, Part 1
Released as a 2-LP set, Chess 2CH-60006, McKinley Morganfield A.K.A. Muddy Waters, in June, 1971. Same tracks issued as another 2-LP set in the Chess Blues Masters Series with different cover art and liner notes on Chess 2ACMB-202, titled simply Muddy Waters, in 1976.
For session details of each track, see The Blues Discography 1943-1970 by Les Fancourt & Bob McGrath.
— Jim O’Neal
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