Introduction
In the late seventies Muddy Waters ' contract with Chess Records ended and Muddy signed up with Blue Sky Records. Johnny Winter produced four albums with Muddy Waters (Hard Again, I'm Ready, King Bee, Blues Sky) with Muddy Waters . In 1977 Johnny Winter toured extensively with Muddy Waters and James Cotton
Muddy Waters - Hard Again ( May 1977 Blue Sky) (*)
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Blue Sky LP SKY 81853
Producer: Johnny Winter
Muddy Waters album "Hard Again" has been released by Sony in 2004 as "Hard Again Expanded Edition" with the additional
track: "Walking Through the Park"
Band
- Muddy Waters - vocals, guitar.
- Johnny Winter - guitar, miscellaneous screaming.
- James Cotton - harp
- "Pine Top" Perkins - piano
- Bob Margolin - guitar
- Charles Calmese - bass
- Willie "Big Eyes" smith - drums
Tracks
- Mannish boy
- Bus driver
- I want to be loved
- Jealous hearted man
- I can't be satisfied
- The blues had a baby and they named it Rock and Roll
- Deep down in Florida
- Crosseyed cat
- Little girl
- Walking Through the Park - Bonus track on the expanded edition
Reviews
It's seems strange now to think of Muddy Waters 's having to make a "comeback," but that's what the 1977 Hard Again came down to. The great bluesman's first post-Chess recording after 30 years with that company, it marked Waters's major-label debut and eventually went gold. The over-60 Waters lived up to all the attention with one of his most energetic, sustained performances, bettering his original version of "Mannish Boy," pushing "Bus Driver" to a raging peak, and generally sounding like the wisest man on record. Harp player James Cotton and producer-guitarist Johnny Winter are among the support; they both stay out of Waters's way and give as good as they get. --Rickey Wright
Hard Again* says it all. If you like your blues straight up, there ain't no messin' 'round here. The collaborative effort on this album is extra-ordinary. "Mannish Boy" is a great jam session with harp, vocals, and guitar. "I Can't be Satisfied" is some of the best recorded acoustic slide by Johnny Winter...and "Deep Down in Florida" the "sun shines damn near every day."
Muddy Waters - I'm Ready (1978 Blue Sky)
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Muddy Waters album "I'm Ready" has also been rereleased as "I'm Ready Expanded Edition" with three additional bonus tracks: "No Escape From The Blues", "That's Alright", "Lonely Man Blues"
Tracks
- I'm Ready
- 33 Years
- Who Do You Trust
- Copper Brown
- I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man
- Mamie
- Rock Me
- Screamin' And Cryin'
- Good Morning Little School Girl
- No Escape From The Blues Previously Unreleased Bonus Track
- That's Alright Previously Unreleased Bonus Track
- Lonely Man Blues Previously Unreleased Bonus Track
Muddy Waters - King Bee (1979 Blue Sky)
Muddy Waters record "King Bee" originally released in 1979 has also been rereleased as "King Bee Expanded Edition" with the two bonus tracks: "I Won't Go On" and "Clouds In My Heart"
Tracks
- I'm A King Bee
- Too Young To Know
- Mean Old Frisco Blues
- Forever Lonely
- I Feel Like Going Home
- Champagne And Reefer
- Sad Sad Day
- Keep Me In Trouble (My Eyes)
- Deep Down In Florida 2
- No Escape From The Blues
- I Won't Go On - Bonus track on the expanded edition
- Clouds In My Heart - Bonus track on the expanded edition
The above three albums are now also available as a Box-set
Muddy Waters - Blues Sky (Legacy)
Tracks
- Jealous-Hearted Man
- Can't Be Satisfied
- Crosseyed Cat
- Who Do You Trust
- Mamie
- Screamin' And Cryin'
- Too Young To Know
- Forever Lonely
- I Feel Like Going Home
- Keep Me In Trouble (My Eyes)
- Streamline Woman (live)
- Deep Down In Florida (live)
Muddy Waters - Mudddy 'Mississipi' Waters Live (1979 Blue Sky)
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Muddy "Mississippi" Waters Live was one of the peaks of Muddy's career, near the end of his life. Recorded at a concert featuring Johnny Winter and James Cotton and at a club date with his band, this Grammy-winning album showed the depth he'd developed since pioneering Chicago Blues in the '50s. A second CD unearths unreleased live tracks from the club shows that were originally recorded for the album. They feature Muddy's road band and reveal Muddy Waters, the legend and The Man, more than any other recordings. The original recordings were lovingly produced by Johnny Winter.
Johnny plays in three tracks together with Muddy and his band: "Mannish Boy", "Howling Wolf" and "Deep Down in Florida"
In September 2003 a remastered version of this album has been released with the following tracks:
CD One
- Mannish Boy - Johnny Winter Vocals
- She's Nineteen Years Old
- Nine Below Zero
- Streamline Woman
- Howling Wolf
- Baby Please Don't Go
- Deep Down In Florida
CD Two
- After Hours/Stormy Monday Blues
- Trouble No More
- Champagne & Reefer
- Corrina, Corrina
- Hoochie Coochie Man
- She Moves Me
- Kansas City
- Pinetop's Boogie Woogie
- Mad Love (I Want You To Love Me)
- Everything's Gonna Be Alright
- Got My Mojo Working
MUDDY "MISSISSIPPI" WATERS LIVE DELUXE EDITION LINER NOTES
by Bob Margolin
They say "you can't take it with you," but Muddy did when he died in 1983. There will never be another bluesman like him. Even if someone is born with comparable talent and charisma, the Mississippi Delta and the tough streets of Chicago that spawned and shaped Muddy are long gone.
Muddy Waters is a legend, an icon of American Music for the Chicago Blues he pioneered in the 1950's. Still on the road in the late '70s, he teamed with his friend and admirer Johnny Winter for four albums on the Blue Sky label, Hard Again, I'm Ready, Muddy "Mississippi" Waters Live, and King Bee. These albums introduced him to a new, wider audience. The mature Muddy, in his early 60's, had developed more depth and power without losing his original fire. His band of this time owned a signature sound grown over hundreds of nights on bandstands all over the world.
I played guitar next to Muddy in that band. One night after a particularly strong show around the time these recordings were made, Muddy told me that we were his best band since his original band featuring Little Walter and Jimmy Rogers - "tight as frog booty, and that's waterproof," Muddy complimented. I'm proud to work on this re-issue of Muddy "Mississippi" Waters Live. It seemed obvious when it was released, and more so in hindsight, that this album was his musical peak of that era. But I think you will find, as I did, that the previously-unreleased tracks on the second CD are as strong, sometimes stronger, and actually more revealing of who Muddy was than any other recording.
Because the original Muddy "Mississippi" Waters Live is known and loved by so many blues fans, we have not changed the song choice or sequence (We considered it because there are two long, similar slow blues right next to each other - the pacing could be better). We have, however, used modern studio tools to preserve the clarity and power of the original multi-track tapes and let you hear details that were obscure on the original LP's and CD's. Also, I know what we sounded like live - I was standing right in the middle of it every time we played. The sound of that band is as familiar to me as my mother's voice, and whenever I hear it, I'm Home. I've tried to use that perspective, and everything I've learned about playing and recording and producing in the 25 years since, to make the recordings feel right today and take me Home again. It's a labor of love, and I'm grateful to Sony/Legacy for the opportunity. Co-producer Al Quaglieri and Sony studio engineer Thom Cadley were essential at every step of creating this Deluxe Edition from the raw tapes. Executive Producer Steve Berkowitz' conception makes it so much more than a simple re-issue.
I know Sony/Legacy's Steve Berkowitz from when we were playing guitar in different blues bands in Boston, before I joined Muddy's band in '73. Hanging together in Memphis a few years ago for the W.C. Handy Awards, Steve told me that Legacy independent producer Bob Irwin had discovered the original multi-track tapes recorded for Muddy's Blue Sky albums, about to be discarded. Steve, Bob, Al, and Marc Kirkeby (Sony Tape Archivist) saved them and preserved them and made rough-mix reference dubs to hear what was there. Steve did the necessary business to acquire the rights to the tapes from the defunct Blues Sky label and Muddy's estate. These tapes revealed not only the recordings that became Muddy's four Blue Sky albums, but studio out-takes and a few live shows. Some were from the concerts Muddy did right after the first album, Hard Again, was released. These featured the players that were on that album -- Johnny Winter, Muddy, and James Cotton backed by me, Pinetop Perkins, and Willie "Big Eyes" Smith from Muddy's band and the late Charles Calmese, from Cotton's band, on bass. More original tapes of Muddy and Johnny Winter at this time were recently provided by Johnny Winter's manager, Teddy Slatus. There will be more albums coming soon.
The second CD comes from multi-track tapes recorded over two days in August, 1978 at Harry Hope's, a music club. Some of these tracks were already used on "Muddy 'Mississippi' Waters Live," but those that weren't chosen for that album have not been heard since the '70s. It's the best recording of what Muddy and his band of this time sounded like live back then.
Harry Hope's had been reconstructed from a ski lodge in Cary, Illinois, about 45 miles west of Chicago. From the mid- to late-70's, Muddy played there a few times each year. The room held about 300 people, with ampitheater-style seating, so everyone had a good view. The wooden walls reflected warmly and complemented Muddy's blues. This club and The Quiet Knight in Chicago were Muddy's "home" gigs - he lived in suburban Westmont, Illinois. His family and friends were with him, his road manager/designated guitar player Brian Bisesi took care of his every comfort and professional need, and he was relaxed and happy and inspired to grace us with his deepest blues as well as his warm, playful side. Audiences for live music knew intuitively then that they were part of the experience, not just observers. Their contageous response inspired the band.
Reviews
If you like the blues at all, you'll be absolutely blown away by this live performance. Just the first 15 seconds thrill: Muddy Waters ' deep deep vocal tones with an abrupt break to the familiar guitar/drums/bass/harp riff of his classic, "Mannish Boy." (And that's not even the best song on the CD.)
The audience is totally into it, both on this song and the entire album--screaming, yelling, whistling, shouting--making this almost as exciting as "James Brown at the Apollo," and certainly among the best live blues ever recorded. The sound quality is excellent, credit the mix to Dave Still at "The Schoolhouse and Hit Factory."
The group is unbelievably talented and plays with great empathy: Muddy Waters on vocals and guitar, "Pine Top" Perkins (piano), James Cotton (harp), additional guitar from Johnny Winter, Luther "Guitar Jr." Johnson, and many others. I don't hear any softening of Muddy Waters ' voice; he is as authoritative, soulful, and unique as ever. Muddy Waters set a very high (probably unsurpassed) standard for anyone who followed. It's sheer delight to hear his inventive singing and slide guitar so well recorded and backed.
Perhaps the most memorable concert I ever attended was a late 1970's performance at the Roxy in L.A. As Muddy Waters walked up to the stage, I felt a sense of transcendentalism, as if History were climbing the stairs. And then he tore the roof off. Although only about 40 minutes long (and with notes limited to personnel descriptions), the music on this CD recaptured some of that experience for me. Along with "Mannish Boy" and the great "She's Nineteen Years Old," other Morganfield compositions (there's one number written by Sonny Boy Williamson) include "Streamline Woman," "Baby Please Don't Go," "Howling Wolf," and "Deep Down in Florida." 'Wolf' features Waters' bee-stingingly intense slide guitar, one that can righteously cut through the thickest, meanest heart and soul. With just a few perfectly played notes, Waters' slide guitar dredges buckets of emotion. "Gainesville'--perhaps the best song here ("Yeah I believe I'll go back to Gainesville...just to see an old friend of mine.")--has amazing solos by "Pine Top" Perkins, Johnny Winter, and James Cotton, who blows some of the purest and most stirring harp notes in blues. Along with "Mannish Boy" and the great "She's Nineteen Years Old," other Morganfield compositions (there's one number written by Sonny Boy Williamson) include "Streamline Woman," "Baby Please Don't Go," "Howling Wolf," and "Deep Down in Florida." 'Wolf' features Waters' bee-stingingly intense slide guitar, one that can righteously cut through the thickest, meanest heart and soul. With just a few perfectly played notes, Waters' slide guitar dredges buckets of emotion. "Gainesville'--perhaps the best song here ("Yeah I believe I'll go back to Gainesville...just to see an old friend of mine.")--has amazing solos by "Pine Top" Perkins, Johnny Winter, and James Cotton, who blows some of the purest and most stirring harp notes in blues. This is the liturgy of the blues, the thick ooze of the traditional and the familiar wrapped with enough personal style to uncover new emotion. Powerful, raw, and spine tingling, this is the blues as only McKinley "Muddy Waters " Morganfield could play it.
Chess masters, vol 3 - 1983
Can't get no grinding - 1991
Tracks
- Can't Get No Grindin' (What's the Matter With the Meal)
- Mother's Bad Luck Child
- Funky Butt
- Sad Letter Blues
- Someday I'm Gonna Ketch You
- Love Weapon
- Garbage Man
- After Hours
- Whiskey No Good
- Muddy Waters ' Shuffle
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Video and DVD
Live at the Chicago Blues Festival (1991)
Muddy Waters was the leading exponent of Chicago blues in the Fifties, and with him, the blues came up from the Delta and went electric. His guitar licks and repertoire have fueled innumerable blues bands. Another in the Pioneer Artists concert film series, this live footage of Muddy Waters at the Chicago Blues Fest includes a guest appearance by Johnny Winter (playing a Gibson Les Paul). Songs included are: Mannish Boy, Oh Baby You Don't Have To go, Baby Please Don't Go, I'm A King Bee, Trouble No More, They Call Me Muddy Waters , Walking Thru The Park, Going Down Slow, She's Nineteen Years Old, Love Her With A Feeling, Have You Ever Been Mistreated, and Mojo Working.
Muddy Waters Messin' with the Blues
Muddy Waters Messin' with the Blues was recorded at the Montreux Jazz Festival 1974 and Muddy Waters' band includes: Bill Wyman, Buddy Guy and Junior Wells. full details of Muddy Waters Messin' with the Blues