For the middle album of his Johnny Winter-produced, late-1970s musical trilogy, blues giant Muddy Waters brought a new energy and vision to some familiar material. The evolution in Waters' classic sound began by using members of Waters' touring band: pianist Pine Top Perkins, bassist Bob Margolin, and drummer Willie "Big Eyes" Smith.
Winter would subsequently bring the underrated Chicago blues guitarist (and long-time Waters' accompanist) Jimmy Rogers and extraordinary harp player Big Walter Horton to the sessions, and the resulting recording was pure magic.
Muddy Waters' I'm Ready
The songs recorded for I'm Ready offer a blend of new material and vintage Waters' hits like the hard-rocking title cut, the mid-1960s jewel "Screamin' And Cryin'," and the Willie Dixon-penned "I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man." Waters and band provide these well-worn gems with a little new studio polish, but it is on the newer songs here that the performers really shine.
On the powerful "33 Years," Waters punctuates his tale of lost love with snaky slidework, assisted by Big Walter's wailing electric harp. "Who Do You Trust" features some of Waters' down-and-dirtiest vocals, the bluesman growling the song's lyrics while Winter layers his twangy slide-guitar above Horton's harp and Perkins' mournful ivories.
"Rock Me" is an old-school blues number, Waters revisiting this classic cut for the umpteenth time as Rogers and Walter support his vocals with smoky guitar, guest player Jerry Portnoy adding subtle but assertive electric harp to the song. I'm Ready closes with the Sonny Boy Williamson chestnut "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl," the high-spirited Waters sounding in good form as Portnoy's harp flails away in the back of the mix.
The Reverend's Bottom Line
Waters experienced a well-deserved artistic and commercial resurgence at the tail end of his career thanks to the three albums he recorded with producer Winter. Hard Again, I'm Ready and King Bee all brought a harder edge to Waters' classic songs, Winter's production work heavy on the guitar and lighter on a brassy Chicago blues sound that would have sounded unfamiliar to the album's rock-oriented target audience.
Many blues purists readily dismiss Waters' Blue Sky period as unworthy when compared to the legendary artist's 1950s and early-60s Chess Records sides. For the blues-rock fan coming of age during the 1970s, turned on to Muddy Waters through the exclamations of rockers like Eric Clapton or the Rolling Stones, albums like I'm Ready proved to be a gateway drug, opening ears to the universe of the blues. (Blue Sky Records, released June 1978, reissued 2002)
