Muddy Waters - Electric Mud

Psychedelic Debris

Muddy is always great but this CD is a little sad. I bought it when it first came out and it was disappionting then. I think it an attempt to cash in on white performers sucess with "electric" versions of classic blues tunes. The fuzz-tone guitars are just out of place with Muddy's robust blues voice. It has some historical value given the unique nature of the collaboration but other than that forget it. For the real thing get "Mississippi Muddy Waters" a great live album with Pinetop Perkins and Johnny Winter. It's 100 proof. August 4, 2008

Strangling Cats.

Would I have to shoot myself if I bought this?
I gave it two stars because I love Muddy Waters.
Otherwise, it gets zero stars. April 6, 2008

YUK !

I am a huge fan of this American Blues Legend . He is my ALL TIME FAVORITE musician. I have owned all of his releases except for this one , "Electric Mud" and "After The Rain" . I never bothered to purchase either of these because I never really heard anything good about them. Well for Christmas my sister got me a gift card to Borders Books. I went to Borders the other day and I was looking around and picked this one up . I looked around some more , put it back down and looked around some more. Later I went a picked it back up . I said to myself , well I might as well get it. I got in my car , put it in the cd player and listened . I should have never picked it back up ! I truly love Muddy , but this cd is HORRIBLE ! Terrible remakes of a few Muddy classics and and unbearable cover of The Rolling Stones "Lets spend the night together" . To me this was a true waste of money . If you are new to Muddy , stay away from this cd because it will turn you off from the rest of his classics. If you love Muddy , stay away from this cd because you will feel like you just flushed your hard earned money down the toilet. HORRIBLE !!!!!!!!
If you wanna get some great Muddy , get any cd contained in my blues listmania. December 31, 2007

Muddy Waters Goes Psychedelia, and a good one !!

Warning: "Electric Mud" is a blues album with heavy psychedelic rock influences! If you consider yourself to be a blues purist, then I would encourage you to look elsewhere for something that will be more compatible with your musical tastes. With that disclaimer out of the way, let me invite those who are seeking something unusual--and especially those who like sixties rock music--to continue reading on.
I consider this to be one of most original albums that I have ever heard. It is not a true blues album, but rather a concept album of blues with a heavy psychedelic rock influence. The idea for this album had its genesis with Marshall Chess, the son of Leonard Chess of Chess Records. Marshall Chess had just founded a new label named Cadet Concept, and this was the second album produced under the new label. When this album was recorded, Waters' career was in a slump; it had been a decade since he had a top ten hit. Marshall Chess was seeking out a new audience for Muddy Waters. The CD booklet (which is extremely well written) goes on to explain that this was one of Waters albums that "effectively revived Muddy's recording career at a time when he was in danger of becoming an elder statesman who couldn't sell to his own community and who was revered exclusively by a small coterie of collector-purists, not a large enough audience to sustain a career."

This album was recorded in April 1968, and here's what was happening on the music scene at the time. On 1 July 1967, the Beatle's reached number one on the charts with "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"--a psychedelic rock album that won the 1967 Album of the Year Grammy Award. The Beatles reached number one on the charts again on 6 January 1968 with "Magical Mystery Tour." A new artist, Jimi Hendrix, had exploded onto the psychedelic rock scene with "Are You Experienced?" (chart debut 9/16/67; top position #5) and "Axis: Bold As Love (chart debut 2/17/68, top position #3). (All chart data is from "The Billboard Book Of Top 40 Albums, Revised and Enlarged 3rd Edition" by Joel Whitburn, 1995.) Jimi Hendrix is mentioned a number of times in the CD booklet. Hendrix was noted for his use of new electronic gizmos to modify his guitar tone, including the wah-wah pedal and the fuzz box. "Electric Mud" was not meant to be a direct copy of the Hendrix sound, but it was definitely influenced by it.

The basic instrumentation on this album includes a heavily distorted guitar (often with wah-wah pedal), fuzz-tone electric bass, saxophone, synthesizer, and drums. This is quite a stretch from the trademark Muddy Waters sound! The CD booklet points out that "five of the eight songs on 'Electric Mud' were 'classics' from his catalogue, songs he had sung hundreds, perhaps thousands, of times. So the Main Man sang as he always had. His accompaniment, however, was very much of the moment." It is well known that many of the rock musicians of the sixties had blues influences. Now, here is a genuine bluesman cutting an album with new renditions of his songs, such as "I Just Want To Make Love To You," "I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man," and "Mannish Boy," in more of a rock style. There is even a cover of the Rolling Stones hit "Let's Spend The Night Together." Wouldn't you agree that's a cool concept for an album?

The vocals are one of the strong selling points of this album, and Muddy Waters has a great voice. The lyrics include occasional social commentary appropriate for the times. All of the musicians on this album were highly regarded studio players. It has been pointed out in another review, as well as in the CD booklet, that Waters felt that the drums were too "busy" on this album. I would like to comment on that, because I am a drummer myself. The drumming on this album was done by a studio drummer named Morris Jennings. Although he was a jazz drummer, his playing on this album is very true to the psychedelic rock concept. Mitch Mitchell, of the Jimi Hendrix Experience, was himself a very "busy" drummer. When the Beatles hit the music scene in 1964, Ringo Starr played a very "unbusy" style, but times had changed by 1968, and even Ringo had somewhat changed his own style to accommodate.

I have tried to be as helpful as possible by warning the prospective buyer about what this album is about, but I hope that blues purists will not be offended by my saying that I really like this album. To be sure, it is not for everyone, but it is for me. I think that "Electric Mud" is very original and unique, and I value having it as a part of my collection. My primary musical interest is classic rock, although I do have a modest collection of blues, including some of Muddy Waters' mainstream works. For those who have enjoyed reading my review, I invite you to click on "rss28" above and visit my member page, where you can read some of my other reviews. In any case, I thank you for taking the time to read my opinions about this album. (review: By"rss28" (Detroit, Michigan)

1. I Just Want To Make Love To You
2. I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man
3. Let's Spend The Night Together
4. She's Alright
5. Mannish Boy
6. Herbert Harper's Free Press News
7. Tom Cat
8. The Same Thing August 30, 2007

Herbert Harper's Free Press Review

Acutally, I like this, one of the more inventive albums from the era. Putting Muddy Waters together with a bunch of hardcore psychedelic players actually made sense. By 1968 acid rock bands playing hard electric blues were a commercial force, and Muddy hadn't had a hit for a long time. So lets use all the goodies - distortion, fuzz, wah wah, and a drummer who isn't shy. Doesn't sound like Muddy got it, but for the most part, he sounds great. Most of those other bands didn't have a vocalist who could touch him. It sounds like a Jimi Hendrix session with Muddy singing instead of Jimi - definitely an improvement. It's got a touch of funk like a very early Funkadelic and it's messy as hell. Muddy wasn't going to do many takes on these songs, and lets face it. These guys may have been inspired by Hendrix, but they weren't THAT good. Muddy is most uncomfortable on "Let's Spend the Night Together," and I can understand that. He probably wasn't thrilled doing a song by a band that named themselves after his first big hit and more or less used his in-your-face macho schtick to make millions. The covers of his own songs are better than most of those other bands' versions. "Herbert Harper's Free Press News" is a real gem. I saw Muddy perform a few years after this with a band more to his original style, and he wasn't near as good as on this album. His band was mediocre, like they learned to play listening to Ventures records. Maybe they had an off night, or maybe he hired cheap talent when he was on the road. Anyway, I bought this album in the Tay Ninh Base Camp PX in 1969 where it was one of only two records on sale. We played this album until the dust more or less destroyed it. The CD has brought back great memories. June 19, 2007

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