Product Description

Studio: E1 Entertainment Release Date: 09/16/2003 Run time: 55 minutes

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #47731 in DVD
• Brand: Koch International
• Released on: 2000-09-12
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Black & White, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 54 minutes

Amazon.com
Die-hard Muddy Waters fans will welcome this 12-song, 54-minute compilation of excellent live performances, but for an introduction to the legendary bluesman's music, blues neophytes may wish to look elsewhere (perhaps to In Concert 1971). Culled from three separate videotaped concerts for German television (from 1968, '74, and '78), these recordings are modest in quality (mono mixed for two-channel stereo), while the visuals provide routine two- or three-camera studio coverage. But these are indeed "rare performances" as the packaging promises, and they show Muddy Waters and his exceptional hand-picked sidemen in the prime of their latter-day incarnations, after acknowledgement by the Rolling Stones and other fast-rising rockers led to Muddy's renaissance period as the father of modern blues.

The indisputable highlight here is the '78 performance of "Mannish Boy," in which Muddy rips into a gospel-like delivery of one of his greatest signature songs. Pianist Pinetop Perkins joins in for a fun romp on "Caldonia" (giving a bluesy alternative to the better-known Louis Jordan versions), and Muddy's slide guitar (particularly on the title track) is as good as it ever was. Likewise for his vocals--they grew richer, deeper, and more commanding with age. It's a shame this Shanachie/Yazoo DVD doesn't provide liner notes or details about these specific performances, but this is electric blues in its purest form, from its purest practitioner, and we can be grateful these recordings have survived for posterity. --Jeff Shannon

From the Back Cover
These rare performances -- all electric -- capture Muddy as the embers of his career glowed anew. By 1968, the folk blues had waned and the sound he popularized in the mid-1950s was returning to the fore. Over the next decade, Muddy secured his place as the godfather of rock and roll. The slide guitar technique he plays on these versions of Country Boy, Honey Bee, and Long Distance Call is at once contemporary and as pure as when he learned it as a dusty child in the delta fifty years earlier. In Got My Mojo Working, Muddy works the vocals from his cavernous chest into his mouth and then shakes the words from his jowls and cheeks. His singing is as glorious as his playing.

Throughout his career, Muddy always drew exceptional sideman. Muddy's two great pianists -- Otis Spann and Pinetop Perkins -- are both featured here, as are harmonica players Carey Bell, Paul Oscher, and Jerry Portnoy. Guitarists include Pee Wee Madison, Bob Margolin, and Luther Johnson, and on the skins are Muddy's last two great drummers, S.P. Leary and Willie "Big Eyes" Smith.

-- Robert Gordon, author of It Came From Memphis

1. Blow, Wind, Blow
2. Country Boy
3. Got My Mojo Working
4. Baby Please Don't Go
5. Honey Bee
6. They Call Me Muddy Waters
7. Walking Through the Park
8. Long Distance Call
9. Mannish Boy
10. Caldonia
11. Everything Gonna Be All Right
12. 12th of April (Soon Forgotten)

Customer Reviews

Very disappointing. No effort to remix the music
I would only recommend this DVD to hard-core blues fans. It is only because I am such a fan of the Blues that I gave 3 stars. Yes, Muddy Waters is a true blues legend, I would never dispute his talent. However, the producers of this DVD did not make any effort to remix the sound. Every song, even those from the late 70's, sounds like the band is playing in a tin can. There are better blues DVD's to buy before this one.

Also, there is absolutely no information with this DVD. If you want to know who the band members are, you are out of luck.

Muddy Waters deserved MUCH better than this DVD offers.

If you are interested in a quality re-mixed DVD, then I highly recommend "Blues Masters". Muddy in on this DVD and the sound is outstanding.

Great picture,horrible sound
A chance to see Muddy Waters perform live is always welcome,however upon putting this disc in my machine i was extremly shocked at the sound quality.I have some of this footage from other sources (Japenese Laserdisc and foreign rebroadcasts on private vhs tapes)and they sound great,I have no idea how the producers of this disc have massacred it,but it was a GREAT dissapointment when I know what it should have been.Be warned if you purchase this.

Buy only the VHS tape and not the DVD
Muddy Waters is Muddy Waters regardless of the quality of the recorded sound. He is the MASTER. The producers of this tape could have spent some time getting a better recorded mix. The VHS tape has liner notes where the DVD doesn't. This is living history. The MASTER at work. This is recorded documented proof that a blues band can work with three guitar players at the same time. A "MUST HAVE" for any real true blue BLUES fan.