His Best: 1947 to 1955 (CD - 1997)

This is part of Chess' 50th Anniversary Collection series.

This entry into MCA's Chess 50th Anniversary Collection now officially takes the place of The Best of Muddy Waters as an essential first purchase in building a Muddy Waters collection. All 12 songs that comprise the budget-priced The Best of Muddy Waters are aboard, with eight more essential goodies from his first period of creativity, including great early ones like "Rollin' and Tumblin'," "Train Fare Blues," and "I Feel Like Going Home." The one ringer that keeps this collection from being a deluxe The Best of Muddy Waters is an alternate take of "Hoochie Coochie Man" in place of the original issued master, a production error of the highest order. It's a radically different-sounding one, too, with some surprisingly sloppy unthought-out harp work from Little Walter (at one point he simply stops playing), but with a far more intense vocal from Muddy than the issued version. But it is the issued version that by rights should have been the one heard here, as this is supposed to be a true best-of compilation. That niggling point aside, this collection (part of a two-volume best-of retrospective, the second covering the years 1956 to 1964) sports far superior sound and excellent liner notes. ~ Cub Koda

Imagine what the world might have been like without Muddy Waters. It's not a pretty thought. His contributions to the electric blues-and, by extension, to the advent of rock & roll-are inestimable, and his beautifully soulful vocals and slashing slide guitar work are the stuff of which legend is made. This collection, which gathers together Waters' early, seminal work for Chess Records between 1947 and 1955, is almost to good to be true.

Improving on the wildly popular BEST OF MUDDY WATERS with eight more tracks (20 to BEST OF's 12) and superior, remastered sound, this set is simply IT. "His best" is no exaggeration; all the critical tracks are here: "Long Distance Call," "Baby Please Don't Go," "I'm Your Hootchie Cootchie Man," "I Just Want To Make Love To You"...the list goes on. Such incendiary, top-drawer bluesmen as harp player Little Walter, bassist Willie Dixon, and guitarist Jimmy Rogers add fuel to the fire. With the exception of the multi-disc Chess box set, one would be hard pressed to find a better collection by the legendary Waters under one seal. Essential. minimize