ABSTRACT
The idea was to approximate a loose jam session with lots of friendly jiving and a party atmosphere, but the results come off as rather forced good humor, and several numbers continue to plow on long after the interesting or original ideas have already been used up. Bo Diddley's tremolo guitar and Muddy's slide are an odd matchup, and Walter's harp is often lost in the mix.Walter's singing is tired, and only one of the cuts he led-"My Babe"---was included on the resulting album. (Versionsof"Juke"and "Sad Hours" were eventually released on the 1992 CD reissue, while "Blues With A Feeling" remains on the shelf.)
"Juke," although taken at a rushed pace, provides an example of how Walter's harmonica stylewas changing. Probably equally influenced by both his increasinglyobvious physical decline and the changes in music in general, his playing was becoming more rhythm-based, relying more on repeated short figures with fewer lengthy single-note excursions. The band here, like most of the bands he'd played with in recent years, makes little effort to interact with him; gone is the tight-as-a-drum ensemble playing of the original "Juke," replaced by the more orthodox "jamming over generic blues backing" style that had for the most part replaced the old 'style that Walter had helped to create. Walter begins "Juke" with its familiar ascending six-note phrase, and from then on improvises an entirely new number, which while far from the groundbreaking original, is not without some interesting moments as he struggles to flex his creative muscles.
