Fathers And Sons Remastered

Back when Fathers and Sons was originally issued, I was in the ninth grade. As kids in those days seemed to have broader musical tastes than many kids do today, whether or not you owned and liked Fathers and Sons quickly became a measure of musical hipness. Unfortunately, it seems that many of the older kids who were musically hip were also getting in trouble all the time, so it was a little difficult to be a big blues fan and not be seen as at least a potential troublemaker. But looking back, its amazing that we were sharp enough to detect the quality in the play of those who have stood the test of time.Paul Butterfield and Mike Bloomfield were both young white blues heroes of the time and they introduced many thousands of suburban white kids to the black "old masters" of the Chicago blues scene. Chief among these old masters were guys like Muddy Waters and Otis Spann, both of whom are featured on this album. The symbiosis that took place when guys like Butterfield and Bloomfield were on the front lines learning the blues became beneficial to both the old masters and the young turks. With the aid of guys like Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf, white blues players gained both invaluable on-stage experience as well as the acceptance and grudging respect of black blues aficionados. What the old masters gained was access to the ears and to the purchasing power of millions of young white kids who would otherwise have remained largely ignorant of the blues scene.Fathers and Sons is one of the fruits born of that symbiotic relationship. Though both Bloomfield and Butterfield died young, they are still looked at today as titans of the blues renaissance of the late 1960s. As for Muddy Waters and Otis Spann, what real blues fan is not hugely familiar with their work? Throw in old session stalwarts Donald Dunn, Sam Lay and Buddy Miles and you have the ingredients for a smash album.I don't really have any favorites here, yet there is not a single song I dislike. For a measly ten bucks or so, the listener gets not only the original album, but also four songs not on the original. Those who hadn't heard the album yet will find on listening that they are probably familiar with a few of the cuts that have been covered by others.In retrospect, Fathers and Sons stands as one of the great albums of the 1960s. If you like the blues, particularly of the Chicago strain, then you should own this.

While a college student back in the winter of 1972 I attended an Urban Studies semester program in Chicago. One night I went with some of the other students to see Muddy Waters at a club called (if my memory is correct) Alice's Revisted. I did not know anything about Muddy Waters and little about the Blues. Muddy put on an incredible show that was one of the musical highlights of my life. I still get shivers down my spine thinking about the night. I particularly remember when he sang "Got my Mojo Working," and I was up on my feet chanting and dancing with the rest of the audience. At one point, a small fire started in some curtains on the stage and the Muddy the rest of the band calmly kept performing as it was quickly extinguished, perhaps preventing a panic situation. Later in the semester someone bought "Fathers and Sons," and after hearing the album I went out an bought it myself. For years I would periodically listen to that album and be transported back to that magical Chicago evening. With the switch from vinyl (and my turntable being broken by my two year old son in 1989), Fathers and Sons and the rest of my LP's went into retirement, but I never forgot Muddy Waters and the rest of the incredible musicians on the album. Recently something inspired me to search for it on Amazon and I purchased the CD. I am delighted to discover that everything on Fathers and Sons is as wonderful as I remembered. If you like the Blues, I strongly urge you to buy this CD now. It will make you life at least a little bit richer!

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.

This is probably the best of the "senior musician meets and plays with eager young fan"-projects of the sixties and seventies blues revival.Blues legend Muddy Waters and his piano player Otis Spann, with veteran Sam Lay behind the drum kit, teamed up with three young white musicians to record this 1969 album: Guitarist Michael Bloomfield, bassist Donald 'Duck' Dunn (of Booker T & the Memphis Group), and harpist Paul Butterfield.And the results are magnificent. 26-year old Paul Butterfield shows off some truly excellent harmonic playing, Dunn is rock-solid and funky, and the combined forces of Bloomfield and Muddy Waters himself produces some terrific guitar playing.The sound is great, too, and Otis Spann (who is supposedly one of the "Fathers" of the album's title, even though he was only in his late 30s at the time) plays some of the best blues piano you'll ever hear.Highlights include the tough, swinging "Blow Wind Blow" and "I'm Ready", the supremely groovy slow blues "Can't Lose What You Ain't Never Had", the catchy "Forty Days And Forty Nights", Eddie Boyd's "Twenty-Four Hours", and the up-tempo rendition of "Sugar Sweet", which really shows off Otis Spann's masterful boogie piano playing.Then comes four previously unreleased cuts, which aren't rejects by any means, although they didn't make the original double-LP, and six live tracks recorded on April 24th 1969 with the same band which had cut the studio tracks during the previous three days.Muddy Waters' vocals on the slow slide-guitar workout "Long Distance Call" are sublime, and Butterfield's playing on the classic "Baby Please Don't Go" is pure Little Walter.Out comes the bottleneck again for a grand rendition of "Honey Bee", followed by Willie Dixon's "The Same Thing" and an eight-minute take on "Got My Mojo Working", much to the delight of the crowd.Not all attempts to "update" a blues artists sound where succesful, but this one is not only a succes, it is an excellent album which genuine adds to the legacy of Muddy Waters.

Excellent quality soundtrack and one of the clkassic albums, need I say more?

VERY GOOD

Ein Stück Geschichte des Blues.Alleine das Cover ein Kunstwerk.Muddy Waters Versuch als "Schwarzer" der weißen amerikanischen Bevölkerung den Blues in seiner Rohform näher zu bringen. Eines seiner besten Alben.Für mich als Musiksammler ein absolutes Muss

If you wanted to own just one Muddy Waters album you wouldn't go wrong with this one. It is comprised of studio sessions as well as live performances and both show Muddy in very good form. The live version of "Long Distance Call" is second to none and the energy of "Got My Mojo Working Parts 1 and 2" gets the crowd going like few live performances have ever done. I already had the vinyl version which I bought around 1970, however the CD was digitally remastered and has additional tracks missing from the vinyl 2 record set. The added tracks are great and everything fits on one CD.