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Comment by markrages | Hacker News Reader

'Electric mud' was Muddy Waters' 1968 attempt to create a psychedelic record to connect with the youth of the day. He did not even play guitar on the record.

Despite the sneering of blues traditionalists, it is a great record.

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At the other end of the spectrum, his acoustic album, Folk Singer, with Buddy Guy is some of my absolute favorite Muddy.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folk_Singer_(album)

I saw the title and thought that it was about Muddy Waters and was disappointed when I clicked through. BTW. The Electric Mud album was recorded using Muddy's regular band and then the psychedelic tracks were remixed in. If you listen carefully you can hear Pinetop Perkins, Willy Smith and the rest of the band. I remember hearing a remastered version without the psychedelic tracks and it was much better.

It was Marshall Chess taking daddy's record label out for a spin.

Surely you weren't actually disappointed this was about electron conductive bacteria as opposed to the psychedelic folk album?

I am a blues guy. Sure, electron conductive bacteria are cool, but not as cool as Muddy singing "I've got my mojo working".

Listening now, thanks.

https://open.spotify.com/album/7cDLEVoIhkfKqaiKAPp7vL?si=0pF...

Oh wow. I didn't know that existed. That sounds like a fascinating cultural experience. I don't know why those odd-ball one-offs are so fascinating, but they are.

Often they have a great story behind them. I like it when artists take some risks even when I don’t love the results.

Check out Dukes of the Stratosphere. It’s an alter ego of XTC, a British alt pop band from the 80s, making classic/psychedelic rock. Some of XTCs other work is great too, especially Skylarking.

One of my favorites: Sweetheart of the Rodeo. The Bryds were decidedly psychedelic, and for whatever reason let Gram Parsons make an album for them. Well worth the listen even if you're not into country music.

They barely let Gram Parsons make an album for them -- they fought with him during its creation, and he left before it was released. Because he immediately formed The Flying Burrito Brothers with Chris Hillman, another Byrd, I suspect Hillman was an ally in trying country after five psychedelic albums. Remember, this was an era when musicians were fleshing out what rock music could be (you can see this in the Beatles' 1960s albums from simple poppy songs to Indian drones, jazz chords, and multitrack madness) and seeing what else you could cut it with (Indian, folk, etc.).

Super insightful comment

In that spirit, the self-titled album, The Great Speckled Bird, is worth checking out. The songwriters and vocalists are Ian and Sylvia, probably most famous for Four Strong Winds.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Speckled_Bird_(album)

English Settlement is a really interesting eclectic mix of XTC’s various sounds.

I wonder if those responsible for the story's headline knew about this. I'm betting not.

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