This
project is coming from audios and videos of this show recently received; the main
idea was to clarify the tracklist for the Montreux shows with Bill Wyman
guesting with the famous bluesmen Muddy Waters, Junior Wells and Buddy Guy. The
line-up consisted of: Bill Wyman on bass, Muddy Waters on vocals and guitar, Buddy
Guy on guitar, Junior Wells on harmonica, Terry Taylor on guitar, Pinetop
Perkins on piano and vocals and Dallas Taylor on drums.
The correct
running order is not known or 100% confirmed, but using all these sources it is
assumed as shown here.
For this
show there were 4 recordings:
Source
#1: is a video published in 1991 Messin’ With The Blues (BMG Video 791 051)
which contained 4 songs:
-
Hoochie Coochie Man
-
Mannish Boy
- The
Same Thing, on which 23 gaps have been deleted!
- Got My
Mojo Working [+reprise] on which two gaps at 0’15 & 1’10 were deleted.
Source #2: 6 tracks appear on the ‘Blues By Year - 1974’-collection, published
by ‘letsgo’ on Dime in April 2021.
The concert
was broadcasted by a few assorted radio stations incl. France Inter. The sound
is average and with a strong rumble. Lots of noises have been deleted and the
sound amplified. The tracks that overlap with the official releases showed that
this recording has to be decelerated by -0,6%
- an
instrumental blues and the band introduction by Muddy Waters
- a medley
from Still A Fool/Catfish Blues/She’s All Right on which have been deleted or
attenuated lots of flaws but many remained and cannot be deleted without
ruining the track.
- Howlin'
Wolf on which a 5 second repetition was edited out at 2’03.
- Electric
Man (titled here They Call Me Muddy Waters)
- Making
Friends
- I'm Ready
Note that
these last tracks are incomplete.
Source #3:
is a poor-quality video coming from an unknown French TV program. This video
comes with lots of cuts but it’s very interesting because it includes the
complete second part of the show and helps to determine the order of the played
songs.
Source #4:
4 tracks were released in August 2021 on the official cd The Montreux Years
(BMG BMGCAT519CD) with Jean Kaehr as sound engineer and the audio restored by
Tony Cousins, but Mannish Boy, I'm Ready, The Same Thing and Electric Man is
not because officially released.
On Disc
One: Making Friends (#2 & #3 for the 22 first seconds), Got My Mojo Working
[+ reprise] (#1 & #3 for the 19 first seconds), I’m Ready (#2 & #3 for
the 19 last seconds) faded in: the beginning appears in #3 but it deteriorates,
Kansas City (#3) (without Junior Wells) patched from 0’18 to 0’19 but 2 flaws
remain from 0’27 to 0’29.
On Disc
Two, Part One: The Blues By Years source suffered from a strong rumble, so it
was decided to use a slight rumble reduction (very slight so it won’t alter the
music); Part Two: to control the speed for the 2 videos sources, a merge with
Hoochie Coochie Man was tested: both recordings were perfectly in synch, but the
result was interesting so it has been decided to add 3 of them as bonus
(Mannish Boy, The Same Thing and I’m Ready were too much damaged in #3 to make
a merged version interesting!)
07 -
Making Friends (with patches at 0’09, 0’31, 1’18, 1’35, 5’52, 6’30, 6’37, 6’52
& 7’33)
08 -
Hoochie Coochie Man (with the first 4 seconds coming from #3 and patched at
0’23)
09 - Got
My Mojo Working (with the first 19 seconds coming from #3) with patches coming
from #2 at 0’08, 0’19, 0’29, 1’14, 1’51 and 1’59. The overall sound is
acceptable despite all the issues found, making it possible to listen to this
rare recording. Particularly nice are the merged versions on Disc Two, on Hoochie Koochie Man and Got My Mojo Working Bill Wyman's bass really stands out.
