by Bruce Eder
Of all the post-Fathers & Sons attempts at updating Muddy's sound
in collaboration with younger white musicians, this album worked best
because they let Muddy be himself, producing music that compared favorably
to his concerts of the period, which were wonderful. His final album for
Chess (recorded at Levon Helm's Woodstock studio, not in Chicago), with
Helm and fellow Band-member Garth Hudson teaming up with Muddy's touring
band, it was a rocking (in the bluesy sense) soulful swansong to the label
where he got his start. Muddy covers some songs he knew back when (including
Louis Jordan's "Caldonia" and "Let The Good Times Roll"),
plays some slide, and generally has a great time on this Grammy-winning
album. This record got lost in the shuffle between the collapse of Chess
Records and the revival of Muddy's career under the auspices of Johnny
Winter, and was forgotten until 1995. The CD contains one previously unreleased
number, "Fox Squirrel."
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