The Best Of Muddy Waters

The material this artist cut for Chess during this period is nothing short of a blues revelation. There has never been anything quite like it, before or after, and when one has heard Muddy Waters from this period, one has simply heard the best blues has to offer.

The Best of Muddy Waters is a 1958 greatest hits album by Muddy Waters released by Chess Records in April 1958. With gaining popularity for 33 & 1/3 rpms (commonly called LPs) Chess Records started releasing its first LPs in 1958. The Best of Muddy Waters (released sometime in April 1958 according to Billboard magazine) was the third LP that Chess released.

The profile of Muddy Waters on the front of this album is a classic bit of color portrait photography. The bluesman seems to be staring up at something, a glazed look of wonder in his eyes. What could it be? Perhaps a vision of all the different “best of” sets and repackagings of his material that would happen in the future. In the end, it comes down to “That Same Thing” that Waters used to sing about, although he was talking about something else. The material this artist cut for Chess during this period is nothing short of a blues revelation. There has never been anything quite like it, before or after, and when one has heard Muddy Waters from this period, one has simply heard the best blues has to offer. This collection was the first “best of” Chess created, obviously mindful that what they had on their hands was nothing less than a tray of gold.