Muddy Waters
Electric Mud

THE REVIEW

"ELECTRIC MUD" by Muddy Waters and a group of session musicians is very likely the first historic fusion of blues and rock.

Words like masterpiece, milestone, and turning point are overused and I won't use them, but surely in '68, many, raising an eyebrow, wondered what had come to the minds of celebrated musicians of the most traditional of African American genres, to try their hand at electric guitars, distorters, and whatever else might make the sound of the Mississippi Delta seem like a distant memory. Well, they were wrong, and by a long shot.

The electric turn of the blues took place in a recording studio of the esteemed Chess Records and gave an extraordinary impetus to genres and subgenres and to artists of all musical persuasions, and I would dare say that it was for the blues what three years earlier was for folk when Bob Dylan bewildered the purists of the genre by presenting himself at the Newport Folk Festival for the first time in perfect electric attire. Times were changing, and electric instruments were part of the evolution.

The very famous tracks of this album, despite the roughness of the sound, appear today as the first cries of rock blues, which some want to be influenced by Hendrix, others by a certain prevailing psychedelia. Surely, it is enjoyable, well-played, and innovative music. Whatever historians may think, it is true music. Enjoy listening.