Based on its commercial success, the public cuddled up to it. Which, as we know, probably means critics would hate it. And they did. Say what you want, Electric Mud, the great Muddy Waters’ foray into blues-slash-pyschodelic rock is a classic album – even if Waters, by his own admission, didn’t play much guitar on it.
While Electric Mud is certainly not a reflection of Chicago Blues, by virtue of its ability to bring the genre to a mass audience (it reached a respectable #127 on the Billboard Charts) and its attempt to ride the zeitgiest of the late-1960s, the album has an ability, for me at least, to continue to remain interesting and entertaining. As a product of the experimental soup of the era, how could so many have lambasted it for being, essentially, good for nothing?
Give the classic “I’m Your Hoochie Coochie Man” a listen. Then, tell me if it somehow doesn’t work as an ugly step-child of blues and psychedelic rock.
Muddy Waters – I’m Your Hoochie Coochie Man
Filed under: Classics, Music Tagged: | Blues, Muddy Waters
I bought the record when it first came out. I liked it then and I like it now.