Customer Rating:  
Summary: a blues legacy
Comment: Released for the first time in 1969 as a double LP album, this record was digitally remastered and published on CD in 2001, with some bonus tracks. Tracks 1-14 are recorded in studio, while 15-20 are performed live at the Super Cosmic Joy-Scout Jamboree, Chicago.
The project was conceived around the idea of a "passing of the torch" from fathers (Otis Spann, Muddy Waters) to sons (Michael Bloomfield, Paul Butterfield and more) of blues music. It turns around a classic review of Muddy's warhorses (Long Distance Call, Baby Please Don't Go, Honey Bee...) in addiction with other milestones of blues history (I'm Ready, by Willie Dixon, Got My Mojo Working, by Preston Foster and more), giving rise to a tight electric blues recording, in a perfect Chicago style.
The highlights are Muddy's deep black voice and Butterfield's brilliant harmonica lines, while Bloomfield's guitar seems to be a little obscured by such duets.
This record brings back to the listener the genuine atmosphere of the mature age of electric blues, with "vintage" sounds captured in the late 60's.
Riccardo Frau
Italy
Customer Rating:
Summary: Incredible Memories Brought Back to Life!
Comment: 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!
Customer Rating:
Summary: I was there...
Comment: It was in a beautiful theatre in downtown Chicago in 1969. I flew there from Phoenix to see some old friends and to witness what I felt would be a show that could never be repeated. Boy was I right!
I've listened to this record countless times, gone through LPs, cassettes and CDs, and as good as it is, the recorded sound does not approach the beautiful noise those cats made on those two nights.
It's funny. Butterfield checked out early, so did Bloomfield. White boys knew nothing about pacing themselves I guess. The old guys hung on for quite a while.
It was years later that I met Muddy a couple of times when he came through Phoenix. He was always performing, even in his dressing room. He entertained visitors with his little star act, demanding and getting two bottles of the best champagne in the house, just for himself. Refused to share, even with his band.
There was a man!! That's all that needs to be said about Muddy.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Best
Comment: I purchased this album when it first came out. I have owned a copy, in one form or another, for over thirty-five years. To my mind this is the quintessential example of Chicago Blues and is an amalgemation of all that went before it. The studio work is flawless but full of feeling. The live material is the best live Muddy I've ever heard, including Newport.
I think the greatest revelation on this album that is full of them, is Paul Butterfield. I had just started to play harp when I first bought this record and Butter became my favorite player then, and has remained so. Over the years I've seen him in concert many times and owned just about everything he played on, his own and others' records, legitiment and bootleg recordings. This is the best work he ever did. Succinct, soulful, eloquent, technically perfect, his playing on this is beyond compare. I rate his solo on "Same Thing" with "Claire de Lune", Hendrix's "Drifting", "La Boehme", "Amazing Grace".
Should you purchase this cd make sure you have time to listen to it without being interrupted by phone, kids, etc. It deserves that level of attention and you'll be glad you did.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Best of da blues
Comment: The greats such as Otis Spann, Paul Butterfield, and Buddy Miles, who join "papa" Muddy Waters on this album make for some blues in the best tradition. I love jammin' with it on my harmonica. This became my favorite Muddy Waters album after the first time I listened to it. I think you will too.
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