Soul Strut 100: #91 - Muddy Waters - Electric Mud

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  • SPlDEYSPlDEY Vegas 3,375 Posts
    RAJ said:
    I supposed I should just check, but is there live footage of fuzz guitar era Muddy Waters ?

    There was no fuzz guitar era of Muddy Waters. The real secret of Electric Mud is Phil Upchurch, Pete Cosey and a Jordan Bosstone.




    You might remember him from Electric Miles.




    Yep, thats him very underrated Chess blues session guitar player turned Avant-garde jazz guru.



    Rumor has it he might have influenced Hendrix at some point.



    Some say you influenced Hendrix.

    Pete Cosey: I didn't even remember that until some of my guys from Phoenix brought it back to me. One of the persons was Bernard Williams - he played saxophone in my band. He also played with Jimi later I left Phoenix. It didn't dawn on me until I heard the name of the band Hendrix had come with: Johnny Jenkins and the Casuals. As soon as he said that I remembered the band and I remembered Jimi Hendrix would come over and listen to us in the club.

    - spidey

  • SPlDEYSPlDEY Vegas 3,375 Posts
    Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues - Episode 5 - Godfathers and Sons



    Essential viewing.

    - spidey

  • pickwick33pickwick33 8,946 Posts
    RAJ said:
    I supposed I should just check, but is there live footage of fuzz guitar era Muddy Waters ?

    There was no fuzz guitar era of Muddy Waters. The real secret of Electric Mud is Pete Cosey and a Jordan Bosstone.

    I'm wondering if Muddy was playing any guitar on that album at all. Can't really hear him.

    Even though photos from the session clearly show him holding a guitar, they must have mixed him down or something.

  • SPlDEYSPlDEY Vegas 3,375 Posts
    Yes.. Muddy's playing and singing they're his songs.. but the 2 guitarists on lead were Phil Upchurch and Pete Cosey.

    Let us also not forget to stress how much Phil Upchurch's sound is responsible for the Electric mud sound.






    - spidey

  • pickwick33pickwick33 8,946 Posts
    Muddy???s playing and singing they???re his songs

    Just 'cause they're your songs doesn't necessarily mean you'll be playing on them, sadly enough.

    Fenton Robinson found this out first-hand when his label recorded an Electric Mud-styled album on him. According to Living Blues magazine at the time (1970), he was "not permitted" to play guitar during the sessions.

    (Monday Morning Blues & Boogie on the Seventy-Seven label, if you're morbidly curious...)

  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
    pickwick33 said:
    RAJ said:
    I supposed I should just check, but is there live footage of fuzz guitar era Muddy Waters ?

    There is, but you won't hear any fuzz. Muddy pointedly didn't do any songs from his "psychedelic" albums in concert. If it was a remake of an older song, he did it the older way.

    Was it really pointedly?
    I thought Muddy was kinda pissed that his road band couldn't play some of those songs. I think they woulda if they coulda.

    On the other hand, Muddy was a great a band leader, and it was one of the few times he wasn't in control of the band in the studio.

    He did at least 2 other records for the hippies. Both are much better.
    Father and Sons with members of both Muddy's band and Butterfield Blues Band.
    The Woodstock Album, which is one of my favorites, members of Muddy's band and Levon Helms, Garth Hudson and friends.

    All Muddy Waters records are great (except Muddy and Brass). Muddy's singing on EM is great, the studio band is great, the exploito effects are great. Marshall Chess seems like an egotistical ass, but he managed to blenderize all this stuff and create a record that still stands.

  • pickwick33pickwick33 8,946 Posts
    LaserWolf said:

    He did at least 2 other records for the hippies. Both are much better.
    Father and Sons with members of both Muddy's band and Butterfield Blues Band.
    The Woodstock Album, which is one of my favorites, members of Muddy's band and Levon Helms, Garth Hudson and friends.

    It helped that neither one of those LPs tried to psychedelicize his sound,.

  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
    This wasn't the first time Muddy tried to cash in on the young folks sound.

  • pickwick33pickwick33 8,946 Posts
    The "Muddy Waters Twist" doesn't sound that bad! Matter of fact, by 2012 standards it sounds almost traditional! Younger bluesmen like Junior Wells, Buddy Guy and Magic Sam had records that sounded similar to this!

    The song itself, BTW, is a rocked-up remake of "Use That Spot" by J.T. Brown, who was a prominent sax player on the Chicago blues scene back then. He's on that Fleetwood Mac In Chicago album...

  • LaserWolfLaserWolf Portland Oregon 11,517 Posts
    To be sure, I like Muddy's Twist. Just sayin, Electric Mud wasn't unprecedented.
    These two were both attempts to update Muddy's sound, or package him for the masses.

    If I recall they just recorded a standard set then added brass, and perhaps increased the tempo.


    And I almost forgot this one.

    Which is pretty forgettable.

    The point being that trying to update Muddy Waters was nothing new when EM and ATR were recorded.
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