Blues File: Muddy Waters "Authorized Bootleg"

Record companies hate bootleg albums, but Geffen Records apparently sees some marketing value in the appeal of illicit releases. A Muddy Waters album with the curious title "Authorized Bootleg" vaguely suggests bootleg product with its grey sleeve and a small picture of Muddy made to look like it is taped on the cover. 

There is a prominent Anti-Piracy warning on the back cover. Released in conjunction with Wolfgang's Vault, a site that offers authorized recordings of concerts promoted by the storied concert promoter Bill Graham, Authorized Bootleg gives us Muddy Waters with a fabulous band at the Fillmore in San Francisco on three November nights in 1966.

Muddy Waters was one of the major root causes of the musical earthquakes of the 60s. He was one of the earliest blues visitors to England-- in 1958 -- and he frightened some of the audience at the 1960 Newport Folk festival not prepared for his version of folk music. His shows at the Fillmore in 1966 completely bypassed his new album "Muddy, Brass, & the Blues" and drew from the well of songs that established him in the 1950s, like "I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man."

In the years following these performances in 1966, Muddy made two goofy albums that attempted to psychedelify his blues and then a bunch of fine albums that would be beyond compare -- for anyone other than Muddy waters -- but for him they were really just the work of an artist whose job had become a sinecure. The performances on "Authorized Bootleg" are important because of their time in his life, and in our musical history -- and mostly because they reflect the power of the great Muddy Waters in full bloom.