Yuku free message boards

The songs you've listed come from a wide timespan, approx. 1948 through 1958. And they vary quite a bit in style, too.

It's easy to assume that Muddy evolved during and/or because of his association with Chess, but I don't think that's fully accurate.

Muddy recorded a few songs that were unissued, in 1946 (Testament issued it on vinyl, and Document issued it on CD) that were more in the "jump blues" vein. When those songs were first unearthed in the early 70s, a lot of blues fans were surprised at the style, given its very urban feel. Many had assumed (wrongly, it turns out) that Muddy left the plantation and started playing those crude electric songs like "Rollin' Stone"....and only later adopted the band format that became the classic post-war style. Muddy turns out to be like a lot of musicians: able to play different styles, and willing to adapt to a style that is currently popular. That said, when he finally was free to be the leader he was, he set the style, rather than follow it.

Hindsight now tells us that his band format was knocking 'em dead in the clubs for several years, while Leonard Chess successfully persuaded (forced?) Muddy to stick with the "Rollin' Stone" style songs simply because they were successful, selling well. Chess was reluctant to abandon a winning formula, even if it didn't reflect what Muddy and his band were performing in the clubs.

The Document CD that contains those 1946 recordings is below. It also contains the Plantation recordings, without the noise reduction that was used on the more widely available release from a few years back.

An essential disc for hard core Muddy fans, if only because of the rare 1946 tracks. More casual fans who already have the Plantation recordings likely can skip it.


--------------------
Click here to view the attachment

Truer words have likely never been spoken.

That this particular CD set is out of print is a crime.