CD: Muddy Waters -Hoochie Coochie Man: The complete Chess masters volume 2, 1952-1958

If you only own one Muddy Waters album, you should be ashamed of yourself. At the very least you need volume one of this series, plus a selection of mid to late 60's material and a compilation of the Johnny Winter sessions. However, if you're just starting then this is the place to start.

It goes without saying that the music is brilliant. Here is Muddy at his best, laying down tracks that will become classics and hugely influence British Blues fans like Mick Jagger, Eric Clapton, Peter Green, and so many more and end up transforming the face of popular music. He is backed by some of his best sidemen ever -Little Walter (harp), Walter Horton (harp), Jimmy Rogers (guitar), the great Otis Spann (piano), Fred Below (drums), and the ever-present on Chess Blues recordings with a finger in every pie Willie Dixon (bass). You can read all about this in the booklet.

And what a booklet, though the word diminishes the actual artifact. This is one of the best presentations of Muddy's music I have ever seen. At first glance, crude and simplistic, it looks like a letterbox-format book, just a little larger than a DVD box, no picture just artist and title impressed onto thick grey card. The CDs themselves are in wallets stuck to the inside front and back of the card covers and are a little difficult to extract. Then we get a short but informed and informative essay by Mary Katherine Aldin, a veteran of Blues writing, which is followed by a selection of contemporary photographs (colour and monochrome) of Muddy, and finally detailed track listing.

51 tracks of Muddy Waters at his best, presented in an attractive and durable format. Sheer unmissable magic.

This review also appears on Amazon UK.