High Compression

High Compression

This 1984 album captures the former Muddy Waters Band harmonica powerhouse's down-home and uptown sides. Ten high-energy tunes are split between two bands. A quintet spearheaded by fellow Mississippians Pinetop Perkins on piano and Magic Slim on guitar supports Cotton on Delta-based numbers like the randy "Diggin' My Potatoes" and "No More Doggin'." A funky, backbeat driven octet with a horn section pounds out up-tempo, James Brown-inspired booty shakers like "Ying Yang" and "No More Cuttin' Loose." Cotton handles both styles with righteous vigor, and his coarse sandpaper singing and bold, horn-like harmonica lines - full of fat tones and note-bending virtuosity - demand attention even when the big band's at full throttle. It's unbridled performances like these that made Cotton, who lost his voice to cancer in the '90s, a favorite of '70s and '80s rock audiences.

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