The Anthology: 1947-1972
Average Customer Review:
Audio CD (28 August, 2001)
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Editorial Review

Muddy Waters should need no introduction. Not only did he provide a name for the world's greatest rock & roll band, but he also created the Chicago electric blues sound that's dominated the genre since he first hit the windy city in the late 1940s. His bands also featured what would become a who's who of electric blues: Little Walter, Jimmy Rogers, Otis Spann, James Cotton, Junior Wells, Buddy Guy, and the list goes on. The Anthology covers Waters's most important period: his first years at Chess through the late 1960s. All his best-known songs are featured in their definitive versions, providing the perfect introduction to a blues master who doesn't need one. --Mike Johnson ... Read more

Features

• Original recording remastered

Reviews (8)

Great anthology
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.

Muddy's best
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.

Whooooeeeee! I finally got this great CD compilation!
I've been dropping hints for about two months to my wife that I wanted this 2 CD set for Christmas. I'll drop the cash for a silly PlayStation 2 game for my son, but I won't spend even half of that to buy this CD for me. Well, my wife was listening because I got it for Christmas and I've been playing it non-stop for two days! The two CDs do a great job of following Muddy's ascent from acoustic guitar backed by bass in the late '40s and early '50s to his electrification that helped shape what we now know as Chicago Blues. All of the tracks are taken from the Chess/MCA recordings, and anything he recorded from '72 until his death 11 years later is missing. But that's OK, I've got most of those CDs anyway... This compilation is put together chronologically and, for once, it's put together with some intelligence. There's not an ounce of filler on either CD, and they use up the available time a CD provides -- CD 1 has 26 tracks and CD 2 boasts 24. CD 1 is great layin' in bed and drifting off to sleep music. CD 2 is great slip-in-my-truck-CD-player material and got me to work in a GREAT mood this morning! I highly recommend this for anyone who doesn't know Muddy's music, or who wants some quality audio -- no muffled sound, peaks and dips, just consistent, high-quality folk/blues and down dirty boogie blues that made McKinley Morganfield the definitive King of the Blues (sorry, B.B., I love ya, but Muddy is the Man!). ... Read more

Asin: B00005NHLY
Subjects:  1. Blues    2. Blues Revival    3. Chicago Blues    4. Delta Blues    5. Drums    6. Electric Blues    7. Electric Chicago Blues    8. Pop    9. Slide Guitar Blues    10. United States of America   

Fine Cuts
Average Customer Review:
Audio CD (12 June, 1990)
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Reviews (2)

Underrated
Frank Hadley's review is ridiculous. Walter Horton's playing on this CD swings like crazy, is fluent, expressive, and totally in focus. The mixed blues and jazz material shows the Chicago blues legend's versatility, and the young guys playing with him are consummate instrumentalists. As for the singing -- it is not the group's strong point but it is quite passable. Listen to the samples for yourself and ignore the professional bad-mouther!

Big Walter smokes on this one....
Big Walter shows here why he had one of the greatest blues harmonica tones of all time, sadness and sweetness all in one.... ... Read more

Asin: B000000N6C
Sales Rank: 142723
Subjects:  1. Blues    2. Chicago Blues    3. Electric Chicago Blues    4. Electric Harmonica Blues    5. Harmonica Blues    6. Juke Joint Blues    7. Pop   

Stone Crazy
Average Customer Review:
Audio CD (25 October, 1990)
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Editorial Review

Cut during a period when Buddy Guy was rarely recorded, this blustery and breathtaking live set is full of idiosyncratic solos that dart after virtually any musical urge that strikes him. Such unpredictable improvisational impulses are more familiar to jazz than blues, but along with his whisper-to-scream singing, that's what makes Guy commanding onstage. His fevered take on the standard "Outskirts of Town" is outright incendiary. This album was originally released on Isabel, a French label named--at the singer-guitarist's insistence--after his late mother, who never had a chance to see her son perform. --Ted Drozdowski ... Read more

Reviews (12)

The Blues Giant
The original French issue title, the Blues Giant, more accurately reflects the greatness of this recording, which I would have to rank asone ofmy favorite blues recordings. All of the six tracks are superb, though overthe years my favorite came to be the concluding slow blues, When I Left Home, which is startling in its passionate ferocity. I Smell a Ratis actually Damn Right I've Got the Blues, in another guise, by the way. Apparently blues purists often dislikethis recording, but if you love electric blues guitar, don't listen to them. When Buddy is at his best (and he is pretty near so on this recording), only Hendrix can compare. Lovers of this recording might also want to pick up Pleading the Blues, an excellent Junior Wells recording featuring the very same band and recorded on the very same day. Two classic albums recorded in one day, no less.

Buddy Guy: Stone Crazy!
While Guy's last album was an all star jam recorded with long time musical partner Junior Wells, featuring Eric Clapton, Dr. John and the J. Geils Band, this album returns the focus to Guy's raw, nearly out of control guitar playing and soulfully gutwrenched vocals, without any studio musicians or special guests, garnering it his "cut loose" album. Guy displays his brand of Chicago blues with the rhythmic force of his own touring band including brother Phil Guy on rhythm guitar.

This album finds Guy in top form as he performs hard hitting blues numbers with a live feel, like the thumping "I Smell A Rat", where he vents his frustrations with relationship infidelity; i.e: "I smell a rat in my house, I believe he's walkin' round' on just two legs." As well, Guy delivers a feverish rendition of "Stone Crazy", a song which he recorded for the Chess label in 1961, though on this album is re-titled "Are You Losing Your Mind?." Additional tracks like the upbeat funky rock of "You've Been Gone Too Long" and the sorrowful vocals of "When I Left Home" are some of the best on the album. Throughout the album Guy yells and moans, seeming to fly into fits of joy and sorrow between guitar breaks, leaving one with the impression of a man possessed, or totally consumed by his music. Maybe both.

"Buddy Guy, Stone Crazy!" captures everything Chicago blues is supposed to be - raw, soulful, and energetic - proving Guy to be one of the most charismatic and passionate performers of the blues genre.

perfectionists stay away, blues fans line up
If you prefer happy, slickly-produced blues records, I suggest you pass on this one. If, however, you don't mind things a little loose and close-to-the-edge, I suggest you make the purchase immediately. I bought this record because it was described as the only Buddy Guy studio album that captured the passion and spontaneity of his live shows, and I think that's a fair assessment. This isn't a by-the-numbers groover: it's something darker and more explosive. Buddy really loses himself on these performances, but while going very near the deep end, Buddy is able to keep it remarkably coherent and deeply groovy. Occasionally, he solos with such explosive energy that he loses the tempo, and there are certainly plenty of stock phrases here, but it doesn't really reduce the enjoyment. It's certainly not his best collection of songs, but you won't hear many of these anywhere else, and I think it's indispensable. ... Read more

Asin: B0000009XP
Subjects:  1. Blues    2. Pop   

West Side Soul
Average Customer Review:
Audio CD (10 June, 1993)
list price: $12.98 -- our price: $11.99
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Editorial Review

Many believe this 1967 landmark, Sam Maghett's first full-length studio recording, is the greatest blues album ever made. While that assertion is awfully difficult to substantiate, these 11 gems (plus one alternate) certainly deserve hyperbolic praise. These cuts have a dramatically direct emotional appeal, a blunt, unfiltered artlessness that's rarely been achieved in an electric setting. Sam's spirited vocals come from his heart and his belly, not his brain. His guitar work is smoothly melodic, à la B. B. King with a bit more bite, frenetic and energetic like Buddy Guy, but with more taste. Since this Mississippi native died at age 32, this album sits in a mystical place in blues history: In many ways, it is to Chicago blues what Robert Johnson's meager output is to Delta blues. --Marc Greilsamer ... Read more

Reviews (18)

No bluer blues
"West Side Soul" is true-blue city blues, an absolute must-own for anyone interested in the genre. Folk and rock and rap and jazz are great at times, but sometimes you just need the blues. And unless you're willing to swan dive into a vat of dye at the local Levi's factory, you can't get any bluer than this. Jazz has "Kind of Blue," but this is "Really, Really, Really Blue."

Magic Sam's career may have been far too short (he released this and the almost-equally-excellent "Black Magic" before dying of a heart attack at the age of 32), but he at least died untouched by mediocrity. And he lives up to his name; his guitar is as spellbinding as Merlin's wand. Quick picks, long lazy notes, subdued background segments, and beautiful guitar solos: Magic Sam summons them all from his instrument with the effortless ease of a sorcerer.

And his voice--Oh, what a voice! There's a moment on "I Need You So Bad" that may well be my favorite moment of human vocal performance in the whole history of recorded music. It's one of those nearly inarticulate wails, an "Oh, baby" that captures a life's worth of emotion in the space of a few short seconds. You just can't top it, folks.

And yet, I'm not sure that that's the best song on the album. His "Sweet Home Chicago" may well be the definitive rendition of that classic blues staple. And "My Love Will Never Die" is a scorcher, a wonderful slow-cooker full of simmering blues gumbo that has it all: smoky guitar work, fiery declarations of undying and unrequited love, and that certain spicy je ne sais quois that makes a song inexplicably greater than the sum of its parts.

Chicagoans (like myself) are required by city ordinance to like the blues. I'm no expert, but I've listened to my share of it, and I've found some great anthologies and some excellent albums--Junior Wells' "Hoodoo Man Blues", B.B. King's "Live at Cook County Jail" and Buddy Guy's "Sweet Tea", to name but a few. Still I haven't found a better blues album than this one. Magic Sam, my love will never die.

Wicked Picking
West Side Soul is the definitive album by one of blues music's greatest guitarists and singers. Magic Sam (nee Samuel Maghett) had a booming soul-singer's voice, with a touch of aggressive blues-style delivery (think of an irate Otis Redding, or Screaming Jay Hawkins), which set him apart from other blues singers. He sounds like he means it when he says "you tend to your business, and I'll tend to mine" in the classic "I Don't Want No Woman." But what really puts him on the map, in my opinion, is his outstanding guitar work. His version of "Sweet Home Chicago" is the definitive one, and his picking on "I Need You So Bad" is some of the best blues guitar of all time. Definitely worthy of any music collection.

I know you got SOUL
With all respect for Wilson Pickett, the guys in the Commitments should have been striving to sound like Magic Sam.

This is some really great SOUL music; you can hear it in his voice and just feeeeel it coming through the speakers.

There's an early version of the Blues Brothers' classic "Sweet Home Chicago" which most people should be familiar with.

This really is a five-star record, and I'm not a fan of giving out five-stars willy-nilly like a lot of people on Amazon.

It's too bad Magic Sam's not as well known as some of the other great soul singers such as Wilson Pickett and Otis Redding; this one is just as good as any of the topnotch material....And it's (relatively) cheap!Do your CD collection a favor and buy it now. ... Read more

Asin: B000004BIF
Subjects:  1. Blues    2. Chicago Blues    3. Electric Blues    4. Electric Chicago Blues    5. Modern Electric Blues    6. Modern Electric Chicago Blues    7. Pop   

Midnight Son
Average Customer Review:
Audio CD (18 May, 1990)
list price: $16.98 -- our price: $14.99
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Reviews (3)

You can do better
He is worth listening to, and he is good, but Son Seals doesn't bring anything new to the table that I haven't heard before from other blues guitarists who use a backup horn section.If you like this style of blues then listen to Luther Allison or Albert Collins who do this so much better.Seal's guitar work is just so-so and doesn't dominate the record the way Allison's does.

You can do better
He is worth listening to, and he is good, but Son Seals doesn't bring anything new to the table that I haven't heard before from other blues guitarists who use a backup horn section.If you like this style of blues then listen to Luther Allison or Albert Collins who do this so much better.Seal's guitar work is just so-so and doesn't dominate the record the way Allison's does.

hot blues guitar and soul stirring vocals
Son delivers a most excellent performance on this album.His gritty raw guitar style sends chills up my spine everytime I listen to it.He seems to pull hot steamy tones from the inner depths of his soul and pushes thewhole thing over the top with his low down growling voice.The entirepackage is total blues dynamite as only Son Seals can deliver.This albumis a must have for any blues guitar lover.Tons of cool licks to steal forthe guitarist in the bunch as well as many cool grooves to jam with. ... Read more

Asin: B0000009XE
Sales Rank: 49916
Subjects:  1. Blues    2. Pop   

Live & Burning
Average Customer Review:
Audio CD (20 April, 1993)
list price: $16.98 -- our price: $16.98
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Features

• Live

Reviews (6)

Smokin' Electric Blues
This is an awesome collection of electric blues.Some reviewers rate this behind Seals' "Spontaneous Combustion", but I prefer this one.S.C. is also solid, but "Live & Burning" is a little more "raw".Great cuts thoughout, and a really good mix.One of my favorite blues CDs - and I have a LOT of blues CDs.

Blues at its best
This is the best live blues album -- and one of the best blues albums -- you will ever hear. (Note its recording history in the book "Deep Blues.") Raw, uninhibited, a glimpse of Son Seals as he sounds in a crowded club. Seals picks up where Muddy left off in Chicago, without any of the post-modern bull. Back in the day I had friends who ran a record shop. Each time they put this one on the turntable they would sell out the stock.

one of the all time great live blues albums
Son Seals is really one of the titans of the current blues scene who should be spoken of in the same conversation as BB King, Buddy Guy, and Ronnie Earl.Of the many albums I have, this is one of the best, Son with his own band burning it up in a club full of real blues lovers.Although the set here features several covers (Son is one of the great composers, as you'll learn on subsequent albums), they are delivered in quite personal, intense renditions (esp. Litle Walter's "Last Night") that show that Son picked up the best from watching the legends who used to play his father's Arkansas club in the 1950's.This is one of thegems on the Alligator label, so by all means buy it along with the others he has in the catalog. His vocals have grit, and his guitar is like a nasty fusion of BB, Albert (King), and Hubert Sumlin.And see Son when he plays near you. ... Read more

Asin: B0000009XH
Sales Rank: 93427
Subjects:  1. Blues    2. Electric Chicago Blues    3. Modern Electric Blues    4. Modern Electric Chicago Blues    5. Pop   

White Hot & Blue
Average Customer Review:
Audio CD (29 August, 1995)
list price: $18.98
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Reviews (3)

This should be re-issued!
This is one of the best blues-rock discs ever!JW and company do an outstanding job and I have never understood why this one has not been made more available.It's worth the price of admission to hear JW play rhythm guitar on "Messin' with the kid", I kid you not.

I'm buying it again, finally.
I bought this album when it first came out, and I'm buying it again.It's great blues rock guitar of the highest magnitude.This is JW for the ages.I still play myself, and I wouldn't steer ya wrong.

Smouldering blues-rock
That this fine album has been discontinued is a sin...get it any way you can!
"White, Hot & Blue" was recorded in '78, and features Winter's excellent renditions of Jimmy Rogers' classic "Walkin' By Myself" and Junior Wells' signature tune "Messin' With The Kid", as well as a couple of fine originals.

Winter's playing is superb as always, and this is one of his strongest and bluesiest records.
The only song on this set that doesn't really work is Winter's take on Sleepy John Estes' "Diving Duck"...it's hard to screw up Estes' superb, melodious country blues tunes, but this up-tempo rendition never gets off the ground.

Virtually everything else is excellent, though, from the tough, groovy "One Step At A Time" and the salacious slide guitar-workout "Slidin' In", to the acoustic Delta-styled "Nickel Blues" and the slow Little Walter-original "Last Night", which features some fine harp playing by Pat Ramsey.

The album closes with a tremendous cover of Jimmy Reed's slow boogie "Honest I Do", a superbly groovy rendition with tasty guitar playing from Johnny Winter and a fine harp solo, probably the best Jimmy Reed-cover I have ever heard.

4 1/2 stars - a really great purchase for fans of Winter's bluesier side. ... Read more

Asin: B00008FX4C
Sales Rank: 399743
Subjects:  1. Album Rock    2. Arena Rock    3. Blues    4. Blues-Rock    5. Boogie Rock    6. Hard Rock    7. Modern Electric Blues    8. Modern Electric Texas Blues    9. Rock    10. Slide Guitar Blues   

Showdown
Average Customer Review:
Audio CD (25 October, 1990)
list price: $16.98 -- our price: $13.99
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Editorial Review

Call it three for the price of one. Far from engaging in a guitar-playing shootout, Albert Collins, Robert Cray, and Johnny Copeland work together incredibly well, achieving a kind of musical synergy that's rarely heard. Copeland and Cray handle most of the vocal duties, and Cray's smooth, soul-tinged voice (positively shiver-eliciting on "The Dream," as is Collins's lead guitar work) complements Copeland's growl perfectly. Collins doesn't get to sing as much, but he more than makes up for it with his harmonica on the slow blues "Bring Your Fine Self Home." And of course, all three turn in stellar guitar work, trading solos and rhythm parts with the greatest of ease; Cray was a relative newcomer at the time of this recording, but he more than holds his own. One would be hard pressed to find a better blues collaboration anywhere. --Genevieve Williams ... Read more

Reviews (13)

Brilliant Collaboration
I've been listening to this effort for over a decade and it still sounds good.It's hard to imagine that these guys hadn't worked together for years. Many collaborative efforts come off as contrived. This comes off smooth and natural. The combination of Collins' guitar and Cray's voice on "The Dream" is spine-tingling. "Black Cat Bone" is another favorite.

Two Old Pros and an Upcoming Star
Albert Collins and Johnny Copeland were two of the pioneers of Texas blues, and major influences to the late Stevie Ray Vaughan. These two guys work their magic on this CD, and bring on a young bluesman named Robert Cray. These guys just seem to have fun with this CD, never trying to outdo each other. Great riffs in the leadoff track "T-Bone Shuffle", harmonica on "Bring Your Fine Self Home", lyrics in "Black Cat Bone" (hear Johnny Copeland yelling "Hey Albert!") and the last track "Blackjack" where each does a tremendous guitar solo. Cray, of course, is now a major talent in his own right, and Johnny Copeland lives on in a way in his daughter Shemekia Copeland's music, but here is a playful, low-key yet powerful, piece of work from some of the masters of electric blues. Highly recommended for serious blues fans.

A must have for a guitar fan
These guys are great, and I wish this were a box set. I could listen to this trio for weeks. ... Read more

Asin: B0000009YB
Subjects:  1. Blues    2. Electric Texas Blues    3. Modern Electric Texas Blues    4. Pop    5. Texas Blues   

Full House Live
Average Customer Review:
Audio CD (31 October, 1995)
list price: $9.98 -- our price: $9.98
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Features

• Live

Reviews (22)

Price worth it just for Whammer Jammer
Too bad the release doesn't have more songs on it from the concert.Geils and Wolf at their best, this release rocks with energy from start to finish."Whammer Jammer" alone is worth picking up the cd and I love how the end of the song blends right into "Hard Driving Man".

I love Full House
Full House is a cool show i whach is every day at 4:00-5:00,9:00-10:00,and one some weekends 12:00-1:00 P.M.I wish to get mailed back by:Jesses DG's uncle,i am beging you.Also.i live in Madison.Ohio.I love when micille whante'd to play with Rebeca and Jesses but Jesses and Rebaca whated to play.

A Classic - The Best J Geils CD
This is one of my top 10 CD's of all. This the best J Geils CD. When are they going to make a DVD of this? ... Read more

Asin: B000002J69
Sales Rank: 6523
Subjects:  1. Album Rock    2. Blues-Rock    3. Hard Rock    4. Pop    5. Rock    6. Rock & Roll   

I'm Ready
Average Customer Review:
Audio CD (05 October, 1989)
list price: $9.98
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Reviews (3)

Good latter-day Muddy
About half of these nine tracks are re-recordings of previously issued songs (as is the case with all of Muddy Waters' Johnny Winter-produced late-seventies/early eighties albums). And there aren't really any instant classics among the new songs.

So should you avoid this album?
Not at all. The sound is great, and the musicianship is excellent, making this a very worthy addition to anyone's Muddy Waters-collection. And Waters is backed not only by his then-current touring band featuring guitarist Jimmy Rogers and pianist Joe "Pinetop" Perkins, but also by harpists Jerry Portnoyand Walter Horton, and Johnny Winter plays sublime slide guitar on "Who Do You Trust".

The best songs are the re-recorded ones...."Hoochie Coochie Man", "I'm Ready", John Lee Williamson's "Good Morning Little School Girl"....but new songs like "Copper Brown", "33 Years" and "Who Do You Trust" are more than worth a listen, not least because of the superb arragements.

And this is a rare chance to hear Muddy Waters' smouldering slide guitar playing...he all but abandoned his guitar on most of his 60s and 70s recordings, but here he lays down as solid a slide riff as you'll ever hear on "33 Years" and "Screamin' And Cryin'".

Highly recommended.

Doesn't get any better than this!
I can't say enough about this album.This is the definitive in electric blues. Muddy's voice is as strong as I've ever heard it. The energy of the dual harps of Walter Horton and Jerry portnoy is unmatched by any I've ever experienced. And believe me I'm a huge harp fan.Although I'm a fan of both acoustic delta blues and electric blues, I usually prefer delta style. Muddy Waters is one of the best in both catagories, and this album, though electric, tops my list of any blues. You just can't get enough of it! The good tmes just roll on cut after cut.Johnny Winters is a genius for this collaboration. If your any sort of a fan of the blues, GET THIS ALBUM!!!! If you miss out, you're REALLY missing out!

Amazing!
This cd contains superb hard core blues from the Hoochi Coochi man himself. The Blues don't get any better than this. through the late 70's and early 80's, Muddy Waters recorded three of his best albums. this being the second in the series of new versions to his old 50's recordings from 1978, featurs as the preaviuos album "Hard Again" some of the best musicians in the buisness. Johnny Winter as producer and lead guitarist, gives the album his unique sound and slide lick's to backup Muddy.in adition there is the outstanding Jimmy Rodgers who playd with Muddy's original Band and the growning sound of jerryy portnoy's Harp blows, (the same guy blows the harp on Eric Claptons most acclaimd blues album "from the Cradle" in 1994). the best tracks on this cd are the title track i'm ready, good morning little school girl and of cource the hoochi coochi man including a great guitar solo that dosn't apear on the original version. all the others are each pure gold as well. "i'm ready" to hear this again. get this album now, your never going to get tierd of it. Blues all day long... ... Read more

Asin: B0000025B3
Sales Rank: 156234
Subjects:  1. Blues    2. Chicago Blues    3. Electric Blues    4. Electric Chicago Blues    5. Pop    6. Slide Guitar Blues