Search - Muddy Waters :: Fathers & Sons

Passing It On

Gary J. Moore | Staten Island, New York | 01/19/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"My friend Frank hates this album, but I think it sounds exactly like what it is...Muddy with a buncha younger kids who grew up listening to classic blues artists. Paul Butterfield (mouth harp) overplays a little (especially on the first track when he overdubs as well as plays along), but his chops are undeniable. If Mike Bloomfield had lived, people might not consider Eric Clapton the be-all and end-all guitarist. As a matter of fact, if they BOTH had lived on, they would be 60 year old blues men, like the Stones and have their OWN reputations to pass on. Sadly, they did not. The music here is spunky and feisty, leveling out all the mistakes made in past recordings. These guys know EXACTLY where they're going and must have been a real treat to see live, as the live tracks attest to. I'm so glad this part of Muddy's history was preserved for us now!"

Blues Forever

J.P. | Long Island | 08/03/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"When I purchased this album when it was first released way back when, I had to return it because the vinyl was a little warped. The replacement was also slightly warped and I chalked it up to a manufacturing glitch and bit the bullet. Fast foward to the mid 90's when I found myself at a radio broadcast at Sony Studios in NYC for a performance by Boz Scaggs and Booker T. and the MG's who were both promoting new releases. The gig was on a Sunday, about 9 or 10 AM, not exactly prime time for blues musicians, unless they were up all night long and I suspect that more than one MG was regarding this gig as the last set for Saturday night. After the taping I approached Duck Dunn, bassist on Fathers and Sons and asked if he would be so kind as to autograph the album as I felt that this album was a seminal point in the Blues/Rock music evolution. I handed Duck the album and he looked at me and said, " Boy, where did you get that album, I don't even have it!" I offered to give Mr. Dunn the record but he kindly refused, thank God. Duck then went on about how the producer told him about a guitarist coming in from NYC, Mike Bloomfield, to work on the record. Duck told the story about the producer telling him that Bloomfield had an insomnia problem. As I recall Duck saying, " Man, at that point in time, I didn't even know what "coke" was, but we found out quick." Classic, classic record, by some of the great characters of the Blues/Soul/Rock era that will never, ever be duplicated. Blues Forever!"

Classic Chicago blues...

ethersea | Austin, TX | 04/30/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Muddy with members of the Butterfield Blues Band/ Electric Flag as a backing band...this is an outstanding concept...and the music is excellent, but not quite as earthshaking as I had imagined. I was hoping that Bloomfield would be loose and inspired in the presence of Muddy, but such is not the case...I do love this record, but Bloomfield just sounds more tame here than usual, and often not really like Bloomfield, and I love Bloomfield's playing...conversely, Butterfield is as cool as ever...while I understand that the band was justifiably deferential to great King Muddy, the music may have benefitted from more input from the various talented players present at the sessions.



Muddy is great form here, and the atmosphere is genuinely cool and spooky...but unlike, say, "Fleetwood Mac in Chicago", where Peter Green and co. share the spotlight with Chicago blues legends, on "Fathers and Sons" it feels like this is ALL about Muddy...again its not that these performances are lackluster, they actually are great, but they feel pretty safe, because they never stray very far from Muddy's original recordings...Although my own presuppositions about the potential of these sessions makes me a slightly hesitant in my review, I still recommend this fine recording, for it is a treasure from an era when American music was still great art and was truly culturally significant."