Paul Rodgers
Muddy Water Blues: A Tribute to Muddy Waters

In 1993, Paul Rodgers decided to celebrate the great Muddy Waters with an album in which he lent his formidable voice to some of the great bluesman's classics, and for which he gathered some of the best guitarists around to accompany him.

Just reading names like Jeff Beck, David Gilmour, Buddy Guy, Neal Schon, Trevor Rabin, Gary Moore, Brian May, Slash, Brian Setzer, Richie Sambora and Steve Miller makes your mouth water...

Rodgers chose to give a decisively rock twist to the offering, but, as these are classics of blues history, one has to tread carefully, or risk making a fool of oneself. The former voice of Free and Bad Company knows this well, being an old fox of the music scene, but despite this, the album has some flaws: in some cases, the arrangements are a bit too hard, particularly concerning the drum sound, and not all the chosen guitarists have a style that adapts to the sound, which still tries to maintain a blues imprint (and it would have been disrespectful and criminal to do otherwise).

The positive notes are Buddy Guy's performances in the acoustic version of "Muddy Water Blues", a very beautiful original piece written by Rodgers, Jeff Beck in "Rollin' Stone", "Good Mornin' Little School Girl (Part 1)" and "I Just Want To Make Love To You", Gary Moore in "She Moves Me", and so far everything is in order, given the background of the three, but it is also pleasant to hear David Gilmour perfectly at ease in the slow "Standing Around Crying" or Brian Setzer giving a touch of his rockabilly style to the intro and solo of "I Can't Be Satisfied".

Unfortunately, there are also the negative notes, and I'm talking about Trevor Rabin, whose sound poorly adapts to pieces like "Louisiana Blues" and "She's Alright" and especially, with some surprise I must say, Slash, who in "The Hunter" pulls out a solo that makes those who know the Free version cry tears of blood, in which alongside Paul Rodgers was a certain Paul Kossoff...

In the middle is Steve Miller, who plays an "(I'm Your) Hoochie Coochie Man" without many frills, Neal Schon, who alternates in a version of "Born Under A Bad Sign" penalized by an uninspiring arrangement and the final rendition of the electric version of "Muddy Water Blues", decidedly better executed, Richie Sambora in a "Good Morning Little School Girl (Part 2)" played with great grit and Brian May, whose unmistakable but very un-blues sound characterizes "I'm Ready".

Ultimately, an album not entirely successful, which leaves a bit of a bitter taste as it was a potentially very interesting project, but perhaps suffers from a lack of homogeneity.

In the meantime, I'll go listen to an "The Hunter" played as it deserves...