This is easily a "super super blues bust." Power trios, of course, were hip in the late '60s -- even at down-home
Chess Studios
, where ad hoc "supergroups" were assembled for 1967's
Super Blues
and its sequel,
Super Super Blues Band
. (No one ever accused
Chess Records
of being subtle.) The band on
included two-thirds of the original
headliners --
Muddy Waters
and
Bo Diddley
-- with
Howlin' Wolf
replacing
Little Walter
to round out the trio. Unlike
Walter
, who was willing to cede the spotlight to
Diddley
Waters
on
,
Wolf
adamantly refuses to back down from his rivals, resulting in a flood of contentious studio banter that turns out to be more entertaining than the otherwise unmemorable music from this stylistic train wreck. Although
duke it out in earnest on the
blues
standards, the presence of
(and his rave-up repertoire) makes the prospect of an ensemble impossible; in the end, there are just too many clashing ingredients (the squealing "girlie" choruses vs.
's growl, Diddley's space guitar antics vs.
' uncompromising slide guitar) to make the mix digestible. Meanwhile, as the three frontmen struggle to outduel each other on every song, they drown out an underused, all-star backing band made up of
Otis Spann
on piano,
Hubert Sumlin
on guitar,
Buddy Guy
on bass, and
Clifton James
on drums. At least it sounds like they had fun doing it. ~ Ken Chang