Muddy Waters: Electric Mud (white vinyl, 180g) [ANAGRAM]

Why you'll love it

This limited reissue puts Electric Mud on 180g white vinyl. It's the record where Chicago's king of the blues plugged into psychedelic rock, reaching No. 127 on the Billboard 200 and winning him a new, younger audience.

This edition

• White vinyl
• 180g vinyl
• Limited edition
• Stereo mix

About the album

Marshall Chess, son of Chess Records founder Leonard Chess, had a plan in 1968: put Muddy Waters in front of the kids who were filling ballrooms for Cream and Hendrix. He formed the Cadet Concept label, called in members of the psychedelic band Rotary Connection, and set Muddy loose on a wall of wah-wah and fuzz.

Chess later said the idea was like a painting with Muddy in it, not a change to his sound. The proof is in the songs: "I Just Want To Make Love To You" and "Hoochie Coochie Man" come back heavy and swaggering, "I'm A Man" stomps, and a cover of The Rolling Stones' "Let's Spend The Night Together" returns the favour to the band who named themselves after one of his songs. "Herbert Harpers Free Press" is a groove all of its own, and "Tom Cat" swings like a back-alley jam.

Muddy himself said he liked a good-selling record and had played for plenty of hippies by then, and this was the one that reached them. More than fifty years on it still sounds like the blues with every dial turned up, and we have no intention of turning it down.

Also at Kops: more Muddy Waters on vinyl · browse Blues

Tracklist

Listen

On Cadet Concept / Anagram (cat# 620875), a reissue of the 1968 album.