Muddy Waters - His Best: 1947 to 1955

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, All Music Guide

Name Credits Andy McKaie Compilation Producer, Producer Don Bronstein Photography Elgin Evans Drums Erick Labson Digital Remastering Ernest "Big" Crawford Bass Francis Clay Drums Fred Below Drums Geary Chansley Photo Research Jimmy Rogers Guitar Junior Wells Harmonica Leonard Chess Drums (Bass), Producer Little Walter Guitar, Harmonica Mary Katherine Aldin Liner Notes Michael Wilson Photography Mike Fink Design Muddy Waters Vocals, Guitar Otis Spann Piano Phil Chess Producer Willie Dixon Bass, Producer