It was some blues supergroup. Steve Winwood and Ric Grech, late of Blind Religion; Rory Gallagher, then rising from Style as a solo guitar hero; rhythm and blues-flavored pop chart common Georgie Fame; and Mitch Mitchell, former drummer with the Jimi Hendrix Expertise. That’s earlier than you add a frontman that they in all probability couldn’t imagine they had been accompanying at I.B.C. Studios in London. The Chess Information album in query was The London Muddy Waters Periods.
The LP was recorded in December 1971, when Muddy travelled to the UK with harmonica participant Carey Bell Harrington and guitarist Sam Lawhorn and teamed with this admiring assortment of blues disciples. The album is seen by many followers as a missed alternative, and Muddy himself later expressed disappointment with the classes. Nevertheless it’s nonetheless attention-grabbing to listen to these takes on such favorites as “I’m Gonna Move To The Outskirts Of Town” and “Key To The Highway.”
A studio dream workforce
Winwood performed on these two songs and just one different, “Sad Sad Day,” whereas the classes additionally included vocals by Rosetta Hightower on “Walkin’ Blues” and a horn part that includes trumpeters Ernie Royal and Joe Newman, Garnett Brown on trombone, and Seldon Powell on tenor saxophone. Ian Inexperienced and Esmond Edwards produced the set; Fame was listed as “Georgie Fortune,” likely for contractual causes.
The London Muddy Waters Periods is one thing of a lesser-known entry in Muddy’s catalog as a result of, surprisingly, it didn’t chart on both facet of the Atlantic. In truth, to this present day, the blues large has, shockingly, by no means had a UK chart album.
A second consecutive Grammy
However the document could be very notable for an additional motive, because it gave Muddy the second of his six Grammy Awards, and his second trophy in consecutive years. In 1972, he had received Finest Ethnic or Conventional People Recording for They Name Me Muddy Waters, and took the identical award for the London album. Waters would win that very same Grammy 4 extra instances between 1975 and 1980.
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