29. Muddy Waters - At Newport 1960

1. I Got My Brand on You

2. I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man*

3. Baby, Please Don't Go

4. Soon Forgotten

5. Tiger in Your Tank*

6. I Feel So Good

7. Got My Mojo Working*

8. Got My Mojo Working, Part 2

9. Goodbye Newport Blues

A

I actually really like the sound of Chicago blues. By which I mean that I used to own a Howlin' Wolf best of that I was quite fond of. Muddy Waters' sound is a lot more polished than Wolf's, and his voice doesn't have Wolf's death rattle evilness. That said, they both relied a lot on songwriter Willie Dixon, so there are a few commonalities in their sound. 

And indeed, Dixon's "Hoochie Coochie Man" is one of the highlights of the album. But then again, this is an album composed entirely of highlights. There isn't a bad song on it. The playing is impeccable throughout. The rhythm section stumbles along like a mammoth on the slower, bluesier tracks, and then switches to a breakneck shuffle for songs like "Tiger in Your Tank" and the delightful "Got My Mojo Working (Parts 1 & 2)". It's not really hard to describe what this album sounds like - just imagine what you think the electric blues sounds like, and you're probably right. Waters was apparently the chief architect of the sound, and this album shows him as a master of the form.

If I do have one complaint, it's that while the piano and harmonica playing is excellent throughgout, it also has a tendency to drown out the guitar, Which is annoying because the bits of guitar you can hear are pretty great.

Apparently this, along with the previously released The Best of Muddy Waters, was the album that helped to introduce the electric blues to a broader White audiences - particularly in Britain. So without it we might never have had Hendrix, Cream, the Rolling Stones or The Them. In a way, this album changed music, and is one of the most important ever released. Thankfully its quality matches its importance. This album is a blast throughout.

Unfortunately, by introducing the blues to a wider audience, it also that created that most insufferable creature - the middle aged white guy who is way too into the blues. So I guess no man is without sin.