Available in a 3-pack with HARD AGAIN and I'M READY.
Personnel: Muddy Waters (vocals, slide guitar); Johnny Winter (guitar, slide guitar); Bob Margolin, Luther "Guitar Jr." Johnson (guitar); Jerry Portnoy, James Cotton (harmonica); Pinetop Perkins (piano); Calvin Jones, Chales Calmese (bass); Willie "Big Eyes" Smith (drums).
Recorded at The Schoolhouse, Westport, Connecticut.
Digitally remastered by Greg Calbi (Sterling Sound Studio, New York, New York).
Personnel: Muddy Waters (vocals, guitar, slide guitar); Muddy Waters; James Cotton (harmonica); Charles Calmese, Calvin Jones (bass guitar); Willie "Big Eyes" Smith (drums); Johnny Winter (guitar, slide guitar); Luther "Guitar Junior" Johnson, Bob Margolin (guitar); Jerry Portnoy (harp, harmonica); Pinetop Perkins (piano).
Audio Mixer: Chris Theis.
Liner Note Author: Bob Margolin.
Recording information: 05/1980.
Photographers: Richard Avedon; Walt Casey Jr.
It's a testament to Muddy Waters's consistency of vision that the final chapter in his career was such a triumphant one. His last four albums, all produced by guitarist/acolyte Johnny Winter, were a ferocious return to form, boasting all the stark, primal power of his strongest Chess sessions. KING BEE, Muddy's final album and only '80s recording, might just as easily have been cut in the '50s, judging from the Chicago blues master's energy level and the band's earthy, visceral attack.
Winters's guitar fits in as well as blues vet Pinetop Perkins's piano. The authoritative thump of Willie "Big Eyes" Smith's drum kit is the perfect emphatic punctuation for Muddy's vocal declarations, as he asserts his dominance over every scenario, from the lustful Chess-era tune "(My Eyes) Keep Me in Trouble" to the hard-times tale "No Escape from the Blues." The two outtakes that appear here as bonus cuts show that there was no shortage of strong material to choose from for KING BEE, the slow blues "Clouds in My Heart" being a particularly soul-scorching affair.
King Bee was the last album Muddy Waters recorded. Coming last in a trio of triumphant studio outings, and produced by Johnny Winter, it is also a mixed bag -- literally. During the sessions for King Bee, Waters, his manager, and his band were all in dispute over money. According to the liner notes by guitarist Bob Margolin, who was the guitarist for the Muddy Waters Blues Band, the conflict arose form Waters' health being on the wane and him playing less. The bandmembers wanted more money for the fewer gigs they did play in order to make ends meet. Ultimately a split occurred and the band quit. Because of the tensions in the studio preceding the split,Winter felt the sessions had not produced enough solid material to yield an entire album. He subsequently filled out King Bee with outtakes from the Hard Again sessions. For the listener, King Bee is a leaner and meaner record. None of the good-time exuberance present on the previous two outings is present here. This is blues, direct and immediate, it's a snarling, growling album. And it's true the band appears to be a bit stilted on some of these tracks, but it's still a solid, wonderful record. The title track, "Mean Old Frisco," "Sad Sad Day," and "I Feel Like Going Home," are all solid, razor-sharp blues with killer ensemble work (with Margolin, Winter, Guitar Junior, Jerry Portnoy, Pinetop Perkins, Calvin Jones, Willie "Big Eyes" Smith, and Charles Calmese in the band how could it sound anything short of awesome?) as well as Waters in fine voice. The Sony Legacy issue features completely remastered sound and Margolin's candid notes, but it also hosts two bonus tracks from the King Bee sessions that Winter didn't see fit to release the first time. There's a redo of "I Won't Go Down," a cut from the '50s that Waters sings in his lower baritone roar, and "Clouds in My Heart," a deep, long, sad blues that is one of the great unearthed treasures in Waters catalog. This cut alone with all of its deep emotion and the sound of a band trying to hold the storm of emotions in check and failing is a masterpiece and one of the most amazing blues tunes of the last 30 years. While King Bee may have been considered last and least of Waters' Columbia albums, it is more than worth reconsidering. ~ Thom Jurek minimize