Best ever | The Chess Box

Great Compilation, but not the best versions of the songs | The Chess Box | Muddy Waters

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	• The Chess Box Muddy Waters Mca, 1989 average customer review:based on 19 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

This Muddy guy just couldn't go wrong

72 tracks on this compilation, and not a single flaw.
The Plantation Recordings from the early 40's and his late 70's albums produced by Johnny Winter are all fine, because again, he just couldn't open his mouth and sing a BAD song.
But leave these ones alone, and get The Chess Box (Everything he has done for Chess between 1947-1972). Just like other Chess artists (Chuck Berry, Howlin' Wolf, Buddy Guy) - the Chess years are his best by far, and the tracks put chronologically here serves you ear and historic sense great.
The music here is absolutely astonishing - Muddy's clear, throaty famous vocal and whining slide work, Little Walter's/James Cotton's weeping harmonicas, Otis Spann on piano and all the other members of this legendary blues band.

5 stars without a doubt. Just get it.

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Best ever

This is simply the best collection of blues recordings ever! If you like the real blues, you must add this set no matter the cost. It makes you long for music that can be felt and not just heard like most anything recorded in the last quarter century.

Great Compilation, but not the best versions of the songs

I love all these songs. The only problem I have is, there are recordings of these songs that are much longer. Mannish boy, Long distance call, Got my mojo working, She's 19 Years old, and many others have versions where the song is over 5 minutes. Unfortanately, these are all short versions.

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There are simply not enough stars.......

McKinley Morganfield was born in Mississippi in 1913. He was given the name of Muddy Waters by his grandmother at an early age.

Muddy Waters was one of the Blues musicians who was deftly able to make the transition from the cotton field, delta, acoustic blues, to the electric sound which has remained with us since. He not only made the transition, but set an example for others.

Disc one of the box set covers the period 1947-1954. Disc two covers the hits of the 1950's, many of which inspired English rockers who were preparing to hit the shores. And Disc three covers the latter period from 1960 through 1972. It should be noted that there are recordings before and after the time periods on this box, and as such, this box set could not be termed "all inclusive". Not covered are the very early years of Muddy's singing, as covered by The Complete Plantation Recordings. And the Blue Sky recordings (I'm Ready; Hard Again; King Bee) of the 1980's cover the latter part of his career. This box set covers the meaty, main portion of his career and are definitely the set to get if you are going to get just one for your collection. The book that comes with this 3-CD set also gives a very nice overview of Muddy's life and career, something that the mp3 downloads cannot do.

Muddy Waters was one of the most influential blues singers of all time and influenced generations of singers who came after him. If you plan on getting only one collection of Muddy Waters, I would strongly recommend this 3-CD set. You can now buy the songs individually through Amazon, but it is strongly recommended to buy the box set en total.

They get no bluer than this. Muddy was, and is, the real deal.

Highly recommended. 5 Stars.

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The most complete overview of Muddy Waters' Chess sides

More casual fans will probably be better served by MCA/Chess's much cheaper (but very good) two-disc compilation "The Anthology: 1947-1972". But if you're looking for the best and currently most thorough available overview of Muddy's recordings for Aristocrat and Chess, this is it.
It is not the final word on Muddy Waters - his excellent latter-day recordings with Johnny Winter as producer aren't here, and you'll need some of his live stuff as well - but these 72 tracks do include the vast majority of his best songs from 1947 and twenty-five years on.

Disc one spans 1947-1954, and most of the 24 tracks feature just Muddy Waters on slide guitar and bassist Ernest "Big" Crawford backing him, although the great Sunnyland Slim rolls the ivories on a few songs, like the delightful 1947 single "Gypsy Woman".
Muddy's arsenal of slide guitar riffs may seem limited, but his playing on the 1948 hit "I Can't Be Satisfied" and the mellow "Train Fare Home" is really great, demonstrating what a fine guitarist he actually was.

Percussion doesn't show up until two-thirds of the way through the disc, when the "classic" Muddy Waters band begins to take shape: Little Walter Jacobs on harmonica, Jimmy Rogers on second guitar, drummer Elgin Evans, and Otis Spann playing the piano.
Along with the songs already mentioned, the lean, mean "I Feel Like Going Home" and "Rollin' And Tumblin'" are among the highlights on disc 1, which ends with the tough, swinging "Blow Wind Blow" and the classic "Hoochie Coochie Man". Big Walter Horton plays superb harmonica on "Blow Wind Blow".

Disc 2 includes the majority of Muddy's classic 50s singles, from "I'm Ready" and the thumping "I Just Want To Make Love To You" to "Got My Mojo Working", the Bo Diddley-ripoff "Mannish Boy", and the superbly swinging "I Love The Life I Live, I Live The Life I Love". Harpist James Cotton appears for the first time on "I Love The Life I Live", blowing a truly inspired harmonica riff.
And there are several lesser-known songs here as well, including previously unreleased takes and singles which make their LP/CD debut on this album. Most of them are good, although not quite great, with the exception of a very fine rendition of Jimmy Oden's "Take The Bitter With The Sweet".

Disc 3 covers 1960-1972, and includes a few live recordings, as well as two alternates from the sublime "Fathers And Sons" sessions. Opening with the great live "I Feel So Good" from the Newport album, it is highlighted by Muddy's version of Eddie Boyd's "Twenty-Four Hours", the mid-60s hit singles "The Same Thing" and "You Can't Lose What You Ain't Never Had", and a hornless version of "Who's Gonna Be Your Sweet Man When I'm Gone", one of the few good cuts from the otherwise forgettable "London Sessions" album.

There is nothing here from the misguided and completely superflous "Electric Mud", or from Muddy's last Chess-effort, "The Woodstock Album", but that detracts little or nothing from the greatness of this compilation, the finest overview of Muddy Waters' Chess sides available.

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For the completist, this three-CD, 72-song box remains the definitive collection of one of the leading lights of Chicago blues. The collection spans 25 years, beginning with rare early recordings with pianist Sunnyland Slim and moving through Waters's peak '50s period, which offered the legendary support of Jimmy Rogers, Little Walter, and Otis Spann. Luminaries including Pat Hare, James Cotton, Earl Hooker, Buddy Guy, and Pinetop Perkins all make valuable contributions to his '60s work. Along with his original hits and his noteworthy Willie Dixon interpretations, Chess wisely includes his lesser-known covers of Big Bill Broonzy, Howlin' Wolf, Guitar Slim, Jimmy Reed, John Lee Hooker, and Sonny Boy Williamson. --Marc Greilsamer

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