''The Best of Muddy Waters'' is a

greatest hits A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be crea ...

album by

Muddy Waters McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913 April 30, 1983), known professionally as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer and musician who was an important figure in the post-war blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of modern Chicago b ...

released by

Chess Records Chess Records was an American record company established in 1950 in Chicago, specializing in blues and rhythm and blues. It was the successor to Aristocrat Records, founded in 1947. It expanded into soul music, gospel music, early rock and roll ...

in April 1958. The twelve songs were originally issued as singles between 1948 and 1954 and most appeared in ''Billboard'' magazine's top 10 Rhythm & Blues Records charts. The album is the first by Waters and the third by Chess on the

long playing The LP (from "long playing" or "long play") is an analog sound storage medium, a phonograph record format characterized by: a speed of rpm; a 12- or 10-inch (30- or 25-cm) diameter; use of the "microgroove" groove specification; and a ...

(or LP record) format. Chess re-sequenced the tracks and re-titled it ''Sail On'' for release in February 1969. The album was re-released on

compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then rele ...

in 1997 by Chess and

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc., which later became part of Universal Music Group. Pre-history MCA Inc., a powerful talent agency and a television production company, entered the recorded music business in 1962 wit ...

. The

Blues Foundation The Blues Foundation is an American nonprofit corporation, headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee, that is affiliated with more than 175 blues organizations from various parts of the world. Founded in 1980, a 25-person board of directors governs the ...

Hall of Fame inducted it as a "Classic of Blues Recording" in 1983.

Track listing

Personnel

vocals, guitar *

Ernest "Big" Crawford Ernest "Big" Crawford (July 31, 1897 – March, 1956, Memphis, Tennessee) was an American blues double bassist. He played with Muddy Waters, Sunnyland Slim, Little Walter, Memphis Minnie, Jimmy Rogers, Big Maceo, Big Bill Broonzy, Washboard Sam, Me ...

bass on "Long Distance Call", "Louisiana Blues", "Honey Bee", "I Want You To Love Me", and "I Can't Be Satisfied" *

Willie Dixon William James Dixon (July 1, 1915January 29, 1992) was an American blues musician, vocalist, songwriter, arranger and record producer. He was proficient in playing both the upright bass and the guitar, and sang with a distinctive voice, but he ...

bass on "I Just Want To Make Love To You", "I'm Ready", and "I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man" *

Little Walter Marion Walter Jacobs (May 1, 1930 – February 15, 1968), known as Little Walter, was an American blues musician, singer, and songwriter, whose revolutionary approach to the harmonica had a strong impact on succeeding generations, earning him ...

harmonica on tracks A-1, A-2, A-3, A-6, B-1, B-2, and B-4; guitar on B-5 * Walter "Shakey" Hortonharmonica on B-3 (as credited on LP – Little Walter is the harmonica player on all tracks on this collection where harmonica is present.) *

Jimmy Rogers Jimmy Rogers (June 3, 1924December 19, 1997) was an American Chicago blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player, best known for his work as a member of Muddy Waters's band in the early 1950s. He also had a solo career and recorded several popu ...

guitar on tracks A-1, A-4, A-6, B-1, B-3, and B-4 *

Otis Spann Otis Spann (March 21, 1924 or 1930April 24, 1970) was an American blues musician, whom many consider to be the leading postwar Chicago blues pianist. Early life Sources differ over Spann's early years. Some state that he was born in Jackson, Miss ...

piano on A-1, A-6, B-1, B-3, and B-4 *

Fred Below Frederick Below, Jr. (September 6, 1926 – August 13, 1988) was an American blues drummer, best known for his work with Little Walter and Chess Records in the 1950s. According to Tony Russell, Below was a creator of much of the rhythmic stru ...

drums on A-1, A-6, and B-1 *

Elgin Evans Elga Speed Edmonds (June 22, 1909 – August 26, 1966), sometimes mistakenly credited as Elgin Evans in early record discographies, was an American drummer. He was the drummer in blues musician Muddy Waters' band during its most successful pe ...

– washboard on A-3; drums on B-3 and B-4 *

Leonard Chess Lejzor Szmuel Czyż (March 12, 1917 – October 16, 1969), best known as Leonard Sam Chess, was a Polish-American record company executive and the co-founder of Chess Records. He was influential in the development of electric blues, Chicago blu ...

bass drum The bass drum is a large drum that produces a note of low definite or indefinite pitch. The instrument is typically cylindrical, with the drum's diameter much greater than the drum's depth, with a struck head at both ends of the cylinder. Th ...

on B-2 and B-5 *

Studs Terkel Louis "Studs" Terkel (May 16, 1912 – October 31, 2008) was an American writer, historian, actor, and broadcaster. He received the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 1985 for '' The Good War'' and is best remembered for his oral his ...

liner notes

Release history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Best of Muddy Waters Muddy Waters albums 1958 greatest hits albums Albums produced by Leonard Chess Albums produced by Phil Chess Chess Records compilation albums