Muddy Waters - Hoochie Coochie Man: Complete Chess Masters, Vol. 2: 1952-1958

Title: Hoochie Coochie Man: Complete Chess Masters, Vol. 2: 1952-1958 Artist: Muddy Waters Release Date: 12/2004 Re-Released On: 9/26/2006 Label: Fontana/Hip-O Select Album Type(s): Greatest Hits UPC: 602498626801 Genre: Blues Styles: Chicago Blues, Electric Chicago Blues, Electric Blues, Delta Blues, Blues Revival, Slide Guitar Blues, Regional Blues Moods: Confident, Earthy, Exuberant, Passionate, Plaintive, Raucous, Rollicking, Rousing, Boisterous, Cathartic, Earnest, Energetic, Exciting, Greasy, Gritty, Rowdy, Amiable/Good-Natured, Fiery, Freewheeling, Melancholy, Organic, Playful, Autumnal, Brooding, Party/Celebratory, Quirky, Visceral, Wry Total Copies: 0 Members Wishing: 1 Number of Discs/SwapaCD Credits: 2

1. Standing Around Crying
2. Gone to Main Street
3. Iodine in My Coffee
4. Flood
5. My Life Is Ruined (Landlady)
6. She's All Right
7. She's All Right [Alternate Take]
8. Sad, Sad Day
9. Turn Your Lamp Down Low (Baby Please Don't Go)
10. Baby Please Don't Go [Alternate Take]
11. Loving Man
12. Blow Wind Blow
13. Mad Love (I Want You to Love Me)
14. (I'm Your) Hoochie Coochie Man [Alternate Take]
15. (I'm Your) Hoochie Coochie Man
16. She's So Pretty
17. I Just Want to Make Love to You
18. Oh Yeh (Oh Yeah)
19. I'm Ready
20. Smokestack Lightning
21. I Don't Know Why
22. I'm a Natural Born Lover [#]
23. Ooh Wee
24. This Pain
25. Young Fashioned Ways

1. Want to Be Loved
2. My Eyes (Keep Me in Trouble)
3. Mannish Boy
4. I Got to Find My Baby
5. Sugar Sweet
6. Trouble No More
7. Clouds in My Heart [#]
8. Forty Days and Forty Nights
9. All Aboard
10. Just to Be with You
11. Don't Go No Farther
12. Diamonds at Your Feet
13. I Love the Life I Live (I Live the Life I Love)
14. Rock Me
15. Look What You've Done
16. Got My Mojo Working
17. Good News
18. Evil
19. Come Home Baby, I Wish You Would
20. Let Me Hang Around
21. I Won't Go On
22. She's Got It
23. Born Lover
24. She's Nineteen Years Old
25. Close to You
26. She's Got It [Alternate Take][*]

Year Type Label Catalog # 2006 CD Fontana/Hip-O Select 000275802

No other editions were found for this album.

The Vol. 2 designation of this limited-edition double CD may confuse some people, who might reasonably wonder where "Vol. 1" is. Actually, "Vol. 1" was Rollin' Stone: The Golden Anniversary Collection, which came out as a regular retail release in stores and covered Muddy Waters' complete recorded output from 1947 through September of 1952. Picking up right where that release left off, this much more elaborately packaged 51-track double-CD set captures Muddy at the peak of his game, dominating the Chicago blues scene (and, almost equally so, the national blues dialogue) and bursting with understated confidence and energy -- in his playing as well as his singing -- in the early years. The set takes listeners song by song across the mid-'50s, coinciding with the arrival of rock & roll and the subtle changes the latter caused in even his music -- switching away from playing guitar and turning that responsibility over to younger musicians in the course of trying to compete in a world dominated by ever younger rock & rollers. The producers have done an impressive technical job, the sound on the individual songs being consistently clean and sharp, even if many of the early-'50s masters don't exactly lend themselves to high-resolution playback. They're also offering a large handful of alternate takes scattered throughout the two discs, illuminating Muddy and his band working through some of these pieces to get to the finished versions with which they were happy. The annotation by Mary Katherine Aldin paints a vivid picture of the participants (especially Willie Dixon) and the backgrounds to the individual sessions and songs -- her notes are appended by a very handsome color and black-and-white photo array and a full sessionography. One factor that may cause potential buyers to hesitate on this set is the cost -- as a Hip-O Select release it lists for $50, and that is steep; on the other hand, the listening will keep any serious blues fan busy for quite a while. And given the fact that Muddy Waters only recorded singles in those days -- he didn't do an actual album session until the Big Bill Broonzy tribute LP at the end of the decade -- a set like this is the logical way to absorb his work from this phase of his career. ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide

Name Credits Andy McKaie Compilation Producer Big Crawford Bass David Gahr Photography Don Bronstein Photography Donna Ranieri Photo Research Elgin Evans Drums Erick Labson Digital Remastering Francis Clay Drums Fred "Rodriguez" Robinson Guitar Fred Below Drums Heather Whitten Product Manager James Cotton Harmonica Jimmy Rogers Guitar John Cohen Photography Junior Wells Harmonica Leonard Chess Producer Little Walter Harmonica Luther Tucker Guitar Mary Katherine Aldin Liner Notes Michele Horie Production Coordination Mike Fink Design Muddy Waters Guitar, Vocals Otis Spann Piano Pat Hare Guitar Pat Lawrence Executive Producer Phil Chess Producer Robert Lockwood, Jr. Guitar Ryan Null Photo Research Thane Tierney Digital Remastering Walter Horton Harmonica Willie Dixon Bass, Producer