Muddy Waters – Folk Singer (2xLP, 45rpm, Analogue Productions)

Follow along as writer/professor Wayne Goins explores the creation of Folk Singer, and leads a visual tour of the former Chess Records studios, here.

"The Quality Record Pressing is drop-dead quiet-as silent as the best Japanese pressings from the late 1970s-and the amount of inner detail released is simply astonishing...the sound is sweet, liquid and free of harshness and edge. The dynamics are mind-boggling. When Muddy takes it up ten notches to emphasize a point it's positively explosive in a way the 33 1/3 version only suggests." Music = 9/10, Sound = 10/10! — Michael Fremer, musicangle.com.

"How about a 45 RPM set from Analogue Productions' recently launched Quality Record Pressings Facility, mastered by Bernie Grundman, in a beautiful gatefold jacket with extra sessions shots? It's been ages since I've heard LP surfaces this quiet — as in dead quiet. The expense and effort that Chad Kassem and company put into this venture are immediately obvious. ... Making music together bring this recording to life as never before. It's by far the best sounding and most engaging version yet... analog lovers will be in hog heaven." — Wayne Garcia, The Absolute Sound, May/June, Issue 223

"Worried that the folk-music fad was luring listeners away from the blues, Chess Records directed Waters to record with acoustic instruments. These sessions — by Waters, Willie Dixon and a young Buddy Guy — went astonishingly well, and this pioneering "unplugged" set is beloved by blues and folk fans alike." — rollingstone.com

"...This time, though, it's been given the royal treatment, and not just heavy vinyl. It has been remastered from the original tapes, pressed on Chad Kassem's new hardware and it plays at 45rpm. It is a revelation...It's always been a chillingly 'real' experience. Now, it's overwhelming. Buy it!" Sound Quality: 90% - Ken Kessler, Hi-Fi News, January 2012

Folk Singer has been an audiophile staple for years. It always gets a bunch of play at hi-fi shows. It's a no-doubter demonstration disc. But never before has it sounded like this! Never has it been cut at 45 RPM!

There are a handful of landmark albums in any genre. In the blues, one of them is Muddy Waters' Folk Singer. Originally released in 1964, Folk Singer was the only acoustic album Waters ever recorded, thus becoming the first and perhaps best blues concept album ever. Muddy of course started out playing acoustic blues in the Delta, and he's clearly very comfortable in this return to his roots, which was designed to appeal to the mid-1960s surge of interest in folk music.

Muddy's supporting cast includes a very young Buddy Guy on guitar, Willie Dixon at the upright bass and Clifton James on drums.

This recording has enormous presence with ample room for Muddy's booming voice to resonate.

AllMusic rating: