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Muddy Waters: The Essential Collection (Spectrum Music, CD, Rs. 395)
WHEN THE Beatles first landed in the U.S. in 1964, a reporter asked John Lennon what was the first thing he wanted to do. "See Muddy Waters, of course," replied John. The bewildered reporter's response was: "Muddy Waters? Where is that?"
Four decades later, much has changed and Muddy Waters is an institution — universally acknowledged as the father of Chicago-style electric blues and its offspring, rock-and-roll. Over half a century, Muddy's many bands have showcased or trained a who's-who of post-war blues, such as Sunnyland Slim, Otis Spann, Buddy Guy, Big Walter Horton, Junior Wells, Jimmy Rogers, Little Walter Jacobs, Johnny Winter, James Cotton, Paul Butterfield, and Mike Bloomfield, to name but a few. His association with Chess records launched the careers of Chuck Berry and Howlin' Wolf, and his work has been a staple and an inspiration for nearly every major rock and roll act that one can name. A frequent fixture at major international jazz festivals like Newport and Montreux, Muddy has performed alongside the legendary jazz trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, and won several Grammy awards. The 1978 Martin Scorcese documentary The Last Waltz captures Muddy live, with the cream of the rock world backing him on "Mannish Boy".
Born on April 4, 1915 in Rolling Fork, Mississipi, McKinley Morganfield acquired his nickname from his grandmother, because of his boyhood affinity for fishing in a muddy creek. Young Muddy lived with his grandmother in Clarksdale, working a day job as a tractor driver at Stovall's Plantation. Plunging into music after hours, he mastered the guitar and harmonica. Muddy was "discovered" by Alan Lomax in 1941, during one of his field recording trips on behalf of the U.S. Library of Congress.
Moving to Chicago in 1943, and working a day job as a paper mill truck-driver to support himself, he began appearing at South Side blues clubs and rent parties. Legend has it that he switched to electric guitar just to get heard over the din of those crowded nightclubs.
His first major break was a contract with the fledgling Chess blues label in 1948. Backed by Chess house songwriter Willy Dixon on bass (and lyrics), Big Walter Horton/Little Walter Jacobs on Harmonica, Otis Spann on piano, Jimmy Rodgers/Pat Hare on second guitar and Elgin Evans on drums, he went on to record some of the all-time classics of the blues repertoire. Of these, "Rollin' Stone", "Mannish Boy", "Just Wanna Make Love to You", "I'm Ready", "I'm Your Hoochie-Coochie Man", "Got my Mojo Working", "Baby Please Don't Go", and "She Moves Me", appear on this CD. (The first named track, incidentally, is what prompted a certain group of Englishmen to pursue music in 1962, and christen their band eponymously).
Apart from 18 tracks spanning the 1950s, there are three latter-day offerings — "She's All Right" from 1968, "Garbage Man" and "Can't Get No Grindin" from 1972, the last featuring the great Pinetop Perkins on harpsichord, and James Cotton on harmonica.
This should have been a double CD, because a 20-track sampler from a vast career like Muddy's has no hope of being complete.
On the other hand, much of Muddy's material from the late 1960s and 1970s is still readily available, perhaps because his white rock disciples frequently collaborated on those outings. For his path-breaking 1950s work, all with their original line-ups and high quality audio clean up, this is a definitive compilation.
The Animals: A's, B's and EP's (EMI CD, Rs. 295)
AN EXCITING R&B band from the mid-1960s and part of the "English Invasion" of which the Beatles and Rolling Stones were key figures, the Animals formed in 1963 in Newcastle, when vocalist Eric Burdon joined the Alan Price Combo. Featuring Alan Price on keyboards, Chas Chandler on bass and John Steel on drums, their lively act got them a regular gig at Newcastle's Club-a-Go-Go, whence they moved on to Hamburg's Star Club (following the Beatles) and finally, London. A recording contract with EMI/Columbia saw the release of their first single "Baby, Don't You Tear My Clothes" (renamed "Baby, Let Me Take You Home" to enable radio airplay), with "Gonna Send You Back to Walker" on the B-side.
Their second single in 1964 yielded the chartbusting "House of the Rising Sun", which climbed to No. 1 on both sides of the Atlantic, establishing the band's credentials. Alan Price left, because of an aversion to flying, and was replaced by Dave Rowberry.
Despite a string of hits, there were major personnel changes in 1966, slowing down their output somewhat.
Chas Chandler switched to a career in music management, and launched Jimi Hendrix's career in late 1966. Later avatars of the band, all with Eric Burdon as the mainstay, kept mutating all the way into the 1980s.
All the early hits of the Animals are among the 24 offerings here. Also featured are lesser known tracks such as their covers of John Lee Hooker's "I'm Mad Again", Ray Charles's "I Believe to My Soul", Sleepy John Estes's "Worried Life Blues".
VISHWAMBHAR PATI
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