Some years ago, Adam did a video highlighting the obscure Muddy Waters Woodstock Album; it was, as he said, a unique and gratifying disc in MW's body of work , different from anything else he'd done, but still Muddy Waters, still the blues. Paul Butterfield is on the record and gives us a solid performance through out, confirming, I think, his status as being in the league of the Untouchable ones. Here is a review I wrote at the time after purchasing it from Amazon>:
"The 70's were made a lot easier to take due to two albums I owned, both from blues harmonica genius Paul Butterfield, It All Comes Back and Better Days. I spent dozens of hours breaking down and learning his harmonica work on "Broke My Baby's Heart" and "New Walking Blues". Wonderful, wonderful blues playing, with perhaps the best band he ever formed. If you haven't already, check out the obscure Muddy Waters Woodstock Album. The album is a revelation, as it has Waters stepping a few steps back from the rocking , Chicago style back beat, raw and blistering in a fashion only genius can achieve, and here taking up a swing upbeat. Save for the rumblings of Waters' voice, always a place of deep echo and lean-close innuendo, some of these tracks would fit in well with the suited urbanity of B.B.King.
It is a gem alright, a rousing, spirited transitional session placing Waters beyond his stylistic comfort zone. But not too far. Pinetop Perkins provides a bright piano throughout, and former Band utility musician Garth Hudson is a triple threat here on organ, saxophone and accordion; his accordion work, surprisingly, is a wonderful blues instrument, as can be heard on the sturdy workouts on "Going Down to Main Street","Caldonia". Whatever jokes the instrument and it's players have suffered at the hands of one comedians over the decades abates somewhat with Hudson's finely fingered boogie and sparkling fills. What caught my ear was the harmonica playing of the late Paul Butterfield; perhaps among the handful of truly important blues harpists , his playing here equals his best efforts.
Punchy, fleet, gutty and clean in the same breath, Butterfield demonstrates his mastery of tone and phrase, combining a moaning raunch and inspiring single-note runs for maximum effect. Butterfield fans ought to acquire this disc straight away; it's an essential addition to your harmonica player collection. This is a terrific addition his previous collaboration with Waters, the stomping Fathers and Sons. For Waters, he is relaxed, at ease, in full command of his singularly masterful voice; within that limited range he can raise the voice to it's breaking point , emphasing a point, highlighting a hurt, suggesting a rebellion against what brings him down, and then slide to the lowest corner of his range and provide the gritty realism that is his hallmark as a blues artist.One is also served a generous portion of Waters' slide guitar work, a perfect compliment to Bob Margolin's stinging bends and blurs; Waters touch is sure and spare, producing a thin, nervous, clear line .
It is a wonderful texture in a full bodied, hard swinging band. A battler, a lover, a philosopher of the hard road, never with self pity, never without wit."
Here's a sweet version of "Kansas City" from that record:
I love this album. Paul Butterfield plays so beautifully on this, swinging the hell out of Caledonia and Going down to Main St. with some of his most fluid playing ever. The band sounds just great. Why Are People Like That? is also a classic Muddy song that I've never heard anywhere else.
This record is the one that really put Muddy Waters back in the spotlight. Sure, the Winter produced trilogy of albums sealed his later life superstardom, but this album was his best since "Fathers and Sons" and lead to his appearance in "The Last Waltz."
As for Butterfield, this was his last great album, I'm sorry, I was never hip to his later solo efforts, though I did see him many times in the 1980's and loved his live recording with Rick Danko and Blondie Chaplin.
Last Edited by 6SN7 on Apr 14, 2015 10:15 AM
