In the early 1970’s Chess Records sent four of its legendary artists to London to record with rock stars such as Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Bill Wyman, Charlie Watts, and Rory Gallagher. The London Sessions were born.

The musical quality of the albums is quite good; not surprising given the talent involved. I’m not sure if sales were as big as Chess had hoped but there was a lot of buzz at the time.

The album cover art is also quite good. The Muddy Waters cover by Sandy Hoffman has a Peter Max/Yellow Submarine vibe whereas the Howlin’ Wolf cover by Don Wilson of the Daily Planet art group’s is in a timeless style that’s still of its time. Does that many sense? Beats the hell outta me.

I’ve decided to divide the Chess London Sessions into two posts. We begin with Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf. We’ll rock out with Chuck and Bo next week.

Here’s a number from each album: