Authorized Bootleg: Live at the Fillmore Auditorium - San Francisco Nov 04-06 19

Performer: Muddy Waters
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: Personnel: Muddy Waters (vocals); Luther "Snake Boy" Johnson, Sammy Lawhorn (guitar); Little George Smith (harmonica); Mac Arnold (bass guitar); Francis Clay (drums). This live album features the finest moments from Chicago blues godhead Muddy Waters's three-night 1966 stand at San Francisco's hippie-rock mecca, the Fillmore. In an era when acolytes like the Rolling Stones were emerging as his torch-bearers, Muddy reasserts his primacy in a hard-hitting set full of signature tunes like "Got My Mojo Working" and "Hoochie Coochie Man," with no small amount of assistance from a rock-solid band that includes the guitars of Sammy Lawhorn and Luther "Georgia Boy" Johnson supporting Muddy's own devilish slide work. Part of Universal's Authorized Bootleg series, this disc combines 15 highlights from Muddy Waters' multi-night stint at San Francisco's Fillmore Auditorium in November 1966. These shows may have been held at a famous rock venue but these recordings have more in common with the performances Muddy gave on the blues and folk festival circuit in the mid-'60s. Muddy and the band are tight and professional, running through numbers they've played many times - of the 15 tracks, "Forty Days and Forty Nights," "Hoochie Coochie Man," "Rock Me," "Baby Please Don't Go" are all repeated - and they don't push, they're so relaxed they even let the tempo almost drag at times. This means there's not much kinetic energy here, but it's not bland either: Muddy is always a powerful, compelling center and there's some prickly ice-pick thin guitar popping up in unexpected places. The professionalism keeps the two sets here enjoyable but it's those slight surprises that make this worthwhile. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Living Blues (p.48) - "Waters is in typically gripping form throughout, both vocally and instrumentally. Smith, one of the most powerful and original harp men ever to work with Waters, is also featured prominently."

Originally a Delta bluesman in the vein of Son House, Muddy Waters moved north in the 1940s and became the leader of the first--and greatest--electric Chicago blues band. Waters' abrasive guitar, impassioned singing, and commanding stage presence inspired generations of disciples, and hits like "Hoochie Coochie Man" and "I've Got My Mojo Workin'" are now indisputable classics.

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