Of all the post-
Fathers & Sons attempts at updating
Waters' sound in collaboration with younger white musicians, this album worked best because they let
Waters be himself, producing music that compared favorably to his concerts of the period, which were wonderful. His final album for Chess (recorded at
Levon Helm's Woodstock studio, not in Chicago), with
Helm and fellow
Band-member
Garth Hudson teaming up with
Waters' touring band, it was a rocking (in the bluesy sense) soulful swansong to the label where he got his start.
Waters covers some songs he knew back when (including
Louis Jordan's "Caldonia" and "Let the Good Times Roll"), plays some slide, and generally has a great time on this Grammy-winning album. This record got lost in the shuffle between the collapse of Chess Records and the revival of
Waters' career under the auspices of
Johnny Winter, and was forgotten until 1995. ~ Bruce Eder