The Anthology by Muddy Waters

Label: MCA Records.

Release Date: August 28, 2001.

Recording Time: 147 minutes.

Recording Date: April, 1948 - March, 1972.

Release Info: MCA Records - 088 112 649-2, Chess - 088 112 649-2, 2 x CD, Compilation, Remastered.

The Anthology: 1947–1972 is a double compilation album by Chicago blues singer and guitarist Muddy Waters. It contains many of his best-known songs, including his R&B single chart hits "I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man", "Just Make Love to Me (I Just Want to Make Love to You)", and "I'm Ready". Chess and MCA Records released the set on August 28, 2001.

In 2003, Rolling Stone ranked the album at No. 38 on its list of greatest albums, writing: "The sound he developed was the foundation of Chicago blues – and rock & roll; the thick, bleeding tones of his slide work anticipated rock-guitar distortion by nearly two decades. Jimi Hendrix adapted Waters' "Rollin' Stone" for "Voodoo Chile," Bob Dylan found inspiration in it for "Like a Rolling Stone," and Mick Jagger and Keith Richards took their band's name from it. The 50 cuts on these two CDs run from guitar-and-stand-up-bass duets to full-band romps – and they only scratch the surface of Waters' legacy."

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There have been countless collections of Muddy Waters' classic Chess material released over the years, but Chess began to whittle down the domestic catalog toward the late '90s. The triple-disc Chess box remained in print, but they added two single-disc collections that each covered a specific period in Waters' career at Chess. Then, in 2001, MCA/Chess released The Anthology, a double-disc set that essentially contained much of those two single-disc collections, with several extra tracks, remastering and new liner notes. This still didn't correct the lack of a concise, single-disc overview with all the hits -- something that Muddy, Chuck Berry, and Howlin' Wolf all desperately need -- but if you're going to be buying two discs to get the full Muddy Waters story, you should get this instead of two separate discs, since it's simply easier. Besides this, even if it does contain a bunch of familiar material, it also contains some of the greatest music of the 20th century, and if you're not going to get the box but still want a comprehensive Muddy set, this is it. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Muddy Waters should need no introduction. Not only did he provide a name for the world's greatest rock & roll band, but he also created the Chicago electric blues sound that's dominated the genre since he first hit the windy city in the late 1940s. His bands also featured what would become a who's who of electric blues: Little Walter, Jimmy Rogers, Otis Spann, James Cotton, Junior Wells, Buddy Guy, and the list goes on. The Anthology covers Waters's most important period: his first years at Chess through the late 1960s. All his best-known songs are featured in their definitive versions, providing the perfect introduction to a blues master who doesn't need one. ~ Mike Johnson

Credits: Art Direction - Vartan; Compiled By, Compilation Producer - Andy McKaie; Coordinator - Beth Stempel; Design - Mike Fink; Liner Notes - Mary Katherine Aldin; Photography By (Booklet Back Cover, Outside Inlay) - Ray Flerlage; Photography By (CD Labels) - Stephen C. LaVere; Photography By (Cover, Page 5, Chess Labels, Ads, Inside Inlay) - Chess Files; Photography By (Page 2) - Showtime Music Archives; Producer - Leonard Chess (tracks: 1-1 to 1-26, 2-1 to 2-22), Phil Chess (tracks: 1-1 to 1-26, 2-1 to 2-22), Willie Dixon (tracks: 1-1 to 1-26, 2-1 to 2-22); Remastered By - Erick Labson; Research (Photo) - Ryan Null.

Personnel: A.C. Reed - Tenor Saxophone; Andrew Stephenson - Bass; Bobby Little - Drums; Buddy Guy - Guitar; Calvin Jones - Bass; Clifton James - Drums; Donald "Duck" Dunn - Bass; Earl Hooker - Guitar; Elgin Evans - Drums; Ernest "Big" Crawford - Bass; Francis Clay - Drums; Fred Below - Drums; Fred Robinson - Guitar; James Cotton - Harmonica; James "Pee Wee" Madison - Guitar; Jeff Carp - Harmonica; Jimmy Rogers - Guitar, Vocals; John "Big Moose" Walker - Organ; Junior Wells - Harmonica; Lafayette Leake - Piano; Leonard Chess - Bass Drum; Leroy Foster - Guitar; Little Walter - Harmonica, Vocals; Luther Tucker - Guitar; Mike Bloomfield - Guitar; Muddy Waters - Vocals, Guitar; Norman Dayron - Producer; Otis Spann - Piano; Pat Hare - Guitar; Paul Butterfield - Harmonica; Phil Upchurch - Bass; Pinetop Perkins - Keyboards; Ralph Bass - Producer; S.P. Leary - Drums; Sam Lay - Drums; Sammy Lawhorn - Guitar; Sunnyland Slim - Piano; Unknown Artist - Backing Vocals; Walter Horton - Harmonica;  Willie Dixon - Bass; Willie Smith - Drums.

Tracklist:

• 1-01. Gypsy Woman (2:35)
• 1-02. I Can't Be Satisfied (2:43)
• 1-03. I Feel Like Going Home (3:12)
• 1-04. Train Fare Home Blues (2:48)
• 1-05. Mean Red Spider (2:19)
• 1-06. Standin' Here Tremblin' (2:27)
• 1-07. You Gonna Need My Help (3:03)
• 1-08. Little Geneva (2:48)
• 1-09. Rollin' & Tumblin', Part One (2:59)
• 1-10. Rollin' Stone (3:08)
• 1-11. Walkin' Blues (2:58)
• 1-12. Louisiana Blues (2:54)
• 1-13. Long Distance Call (2:41)
• 1-14. Honey Bee (3:22)
• 1-15. Country Boy (3:13)
• 1-16. She Moves Me (2:58)
• 1-17. Still A Fool (3:19)
• 1-18. Stuff You Gotta Watch (2:51)
• 1-19. Who's Gonna Be Your Sweet Man When I'm Gone (3:04)
• 1-20. Standin' Around Cryin' (3:23)
• 1-21. Baby Please Don't Go (3:18)
• 1-22. (I'm Your) Hoochie Coochie Man (2:48)
• 1-23. I Just Want To Make Love To You (2:52)
• 1-24. I'm Ready (3:05)
• 1-25. Young Fashioned Ways (3:02)
• 1-26. I Want To Be Loved (2:42)
• 2-01. My Eyes (Keep Me In Trouble) (3:12)
• 2-02. Mannish Boy (2:58)
• 2-03. Sugar Sweet (2:31)
• 2-04. Trouble No More (2:42)
• 2-05. Forty Days And Forty Nights (2:53)
• 2-06. Just To Be WIth You (3:15)
• 2-07. Don't Go No Farther (2:56)
• 2-08. Diamonds On Your Feet (2:26)
• 2-09. I Love The Life I Live (I Live The Life I Love) (2:52)
• 2-10. Got My Mojo Working (2:53)
• 2-11. Rock Me (3:13)
• 2-12. Look What You've Done (2:24)
• 2-13. She's Nineteen Years Old (3:19)
• 2-14. Close To You (3:07)
• 2-15. Walking Thru The Park (2:47)
• 2-16. Take The Bitter With The Sweet (3:08)
• 2-17. I Feel So Good (Live) (2:58)
• 2-18. You Shook Me (2:44)
• 2-19. My Home Is In The Delta (4:00)
• 2-20. Good Morning Little School Girl (3:15)
• 2-21. The Same Thing (2:44)
• 2-22. You Can't Lose What You Ain't Never Had (2:57)
• 2-23. All Aboard (Fathers And Sons) (2:53)
• 2-24. Can't Get No Grindin' (2:45)

Recordings from 1947 to 1972.

Bass – Andrew Stephenson (tracks: 2-16, 2-17), Ernest "Big" Crawford (tracks: 1-1 to 1-15), Willie Dixon (tracks: 1-22 to 1-26, 2-1 to 2-14, 2-18 to 2-22);

Drums – Clifton James (tracks: 2-19, 2-20), Elgin Evans (tracks: 1-12, 1-19 to 1-21), Francis Clay (tracks: 1-25, 1-26, 2-1 to 2-17), Fred Below (tracks: 1-22 to 1-24), S.P. Leary (tracks: 2-21, 2-22);

Drums (Bass Drum) – Leonard Chess (tracks: 1-16, 1-17);

Guitar – Fred Robinson (tracks: 2-13, 2-14), Jimmy Rogers (tracks: 1-12, 1-17 to 1-26, 2-1 to 2-12), Leroy Foster (tracks: 1-5 to 1-7), Luther Tucker (tracks: 2-13 to 2-15), Muddy Waters (tracks: 1-1- to 1-22, 2-19 to 2-23), Pat Hare (tracks: 2-5 to 2-9, 2-11 to 2-17), James "Pee Wee" Madison (tracks: 2-21, 2-22, 2-24);

Harmonica – James Cotton (tracks: 2-9, 2-11 to 2-17, 2-24), Junior Wells (tracks: 1-19, 1-20, 2-2), Little Walter (tracks: 1-12 to 1-18, 1-20 to 1-26, 2-1 to 2-5, 2-10), Walter Horton (tracks: 2-3, 2-4, 2-6 to 2-8);

Piano – Otis Spann (tracks: 1-22 to 1-26, 2-1, 2-3 to 2-17, 2-23, 2-24), Sunnyland Slim (tracks: 1-1);

Producer – Leonard & Phil Chess (tracks: 1-1 to 1-26, 2-1 to 2-22), Willie Dixon (tracks: 1-1 to 1-26, 2-1 to 2-22);

Vocals – Little Walter (tracks: 1-18), Muddy Waters;

Written-By – Bernard Roth (tracks: 2-5, 2-6), McKinley Morganfield (tracks: 1-1 to 1-10, 1-12 to 1-21, 2-2, 2-4, 2-8, 2-11to 2-13, 2-15, 2-19, 2-22 to 2-24), Mel London (tracks: 2-2, 2-3), Willie Dixon (tracks: 1-22 to 1-26, 2-7, 2-9, 2-14, 2-18, 2-21).

Notes:

tracks 1-1 to 1-26 & 2-1 to 2-22 produced by Leonard & Phil Chess and/or Willie Dixon;

track 2-2 harmonica by Little Walter or Junior Wells;

tracks 2-3 & 2-4 harmonica by Little Walter or Walter Horton;

tracks 2-7 & 2-8 guitar by Jimmy Rogers or Pat Hare;

tracks 2-13 & 2-14 guitar by Luther Tucker or Fred Robinson;

track 2-17 recorded live at Newport Jazz Festival, Newport, R.I. July 3, 1960.