You Shook Me: The Chess Masters, Vol. 3: 1958 to 1963

Personnel: Muddy Waters (vocals).
Audio Remasterer: Erick Labson.
Liner Note Author: Mary Katherine Aldin.
Recording information: Chicago, IL (07/03/1960); Newport Jazz Festival, Newport, RI (07/03/1960); Chicago, IL (08/??/1958-05/02/1963); Newport Jazz Festival, Newport, RI (08/??/1958-05/02/1963).
Photographer: Yannick Bruynoghe.
You Shook Me, the third volume in UMG's Muddy Waters' Chess Masters reissue series, offers a portrait of both the artist and the label coming to grips with the still relatively new LP format between 1958 and 1963. As a genre, blues, like R&B, was primarily issued on 45 rpm singles, sold in mom-and-pop stores, to jukebox vendors and in department stores. Concentrating on long-form recordings proved to be a challenge that Waters and his ever-changing backing band embraced while never losing sight of the appeal of the single. There are plenty of the latter here. This two-disc set surveys that terrain and presents him at another creative peak. The earliest of these sessions takes place in August of 1958; it resulted in the Waters' original "Walking in the Park." It was later issued as single with the classic flip "Mean Mistreater" (recorded in January of 1959). It reveals the basic strategy of the set compilers, too: to present this material chronologically, rather than contextually, meaning that some of these cuts didn't appear until a decade or two later. The actual albums here are Muddy Waters Sings Big Bill Broonzy and Muddy Waters at Newport, both, like every other track in this set, are in fully remastered glory. The musicians around Waters at this time were all crack session men; many served in his live bands. They included longtime piano man Otis Spann, James Cotton, Willie Dixon, A.C. Reed, Matt Murphy, Little Walter, Pat Hare, Andrew Stephenson, and many more. Other than the Newport date, this is also the period in which Waters stopped playing guitar in the studio in order to focus on his vocals. While the music here is straight up, raw, and ready, his signature rough, wrangling guitar style does register an absence, but the power of his persona compensates. Some of Waters' lesser-known tunes, which stand with the best of his work, are also included in the package, such as "Little Brown Bird," "Tough Times," "Going a Home," and "Messin' with the Man," all of which were issued on various singles. "Real Love" and "Down by the Deep Blue Sea" were previously unreleased in the U.S., and the instrumental version of Lucille Bogan's "Sweet Black Angel" demonstrate further the way Chess had finally fully embraced new recording technology: beginning in 1962, the band would record basic tracks and Waters would eventually add his vocals. One can only wonder what this instrumental pop would have sounded like with his kingly voice. For those who've invested in the first two volumes, You Shook Me is another necessity for the collection. It reveals Waters in full command of not only his music, but of his stature as an artist as well. ~ Thom Jurek