1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die - #29. Muddy Waters - Muddy Waters at Newport (1960)

Muddy Waters - Muddy Waters at Newport (1960)

Track Listing (standout tracks in bold

1. I Got My Brand on You
2. (I'm Your) Hoochie Coochie Man
3. Baby Please Don't Go
4. Soon Forgotten
5. Tiger in Your Tank
6. I Feel So Good
7. I've Got My Mojo Working
8. I've Got My Mojo Working, Pt. 2
9. Goodbye Newport Blues

A live blues recording. I was apprehensive when I started this record. Could they capture the thrill of a live blues setting on a festival recording. This is pretty impressive stuff – even 40-plus years down the line. The version I played is the March 2001 remastering from MCA. Reading about the transfer they used high-resolution digital audio, and brought up the bass overall and the details of just about every aspect of the playing, as well as moving Muddy's singing several layers forward in the mix, creating a vivid stage ambience, making you feel like you are there!
Muddy, with a band featuring Otis Spann, James Cotton, and guitarist Pat Hare, are a great unit playing awesome versions of "Got My Mojo Working," (with a reprised again in a short encore version), a version of "I've Got My Brand on You" that just smokes. With impressive versions of "Hoochie Coochie Man," Big Bill Broonzy's "Feel So Good," and "Tiger in Your Tank.", this record was a breakthrough moment in blues history, where the jazz audience at Newport opened its ears and embraced dirty Chicago blues.
Supposedly a film of this performance exits. Now THAT would be something to see!
Highly recommended