Muddy Waters - Master of the Blues (CD)

All Music Guide

This volume of Muddy Waters titles may not be credited in terms of its era, but it's easy to hear that this set is comprised of early Chess demos and Stovall Plantation masters. There are many obscure titles here that the new listener will not be familiar with, such as "Mean Red Spider," "Gypsy Woman," and "I Be Bound to Write You," to name a just a few (about the only ones the novice will know are "Rollin' and Tumblin'" and "I Can't Be Satisfied"), but that shouldn't prevent one from looking into them because the performances here are righteous dynamite. There are many Muddy comps, and some are even documented in terms of source material as well as musician credits, but don't let that stop you, because the music here is powerful, vintage Muddy, straight from the Delta, before he became the father of Chicago blues.

- Thom Jurek, All Music Guide