The Anthology (1947–1972)

Reception and awards

During his review on the album for Allmusic Guide, Stephen Thomas Erlewine said that "if you're going to be buying two discs to get the full Muddy Waters story, you should get this instead of two separate discs, since it's simply easier.".

In 2003, the album was ranked #38 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time because "the fifty essential cuts... run from guitar-and-standup-bass duets to full-band romps — and they still just manage to scratch the surface of Waters' legacy."

Track listing

All songs written by McKinley Morganfield except as indicated.

Disc one

Disc one features 16 out of the 20 songs previously released on His Best:1947 to 1955, as well as the songs "Gypsy Woman", "Mean Red Spider", "Standin' Here Tremblin'", "You Gonna Need My Help", "Little Geneva", "Walkin' Blues", "Country Boy", "Stuff You Gotta Watch", Who's Gonna Be Your Sweet Man When I'm Gone" and "I Want to be Loved"

1. "Gypsy Woman" – 2:35
2. "I Can't Be Satisfied" – 2:43
3. "I Feel Like Going Home" – 3:12
4. "Train Fare Home Blues" – 2:48
5. "Mean Red Spider" – 2:19
6. "Standin' Here Tremblin'" – 2:27
7. "You Gonna Need My Help" – 3:03
8. "Little Geneva" – 2:48
9. "Rollin' and Tumblin' Part One" – 2:59
10. "Rollin' Stone" – 3:08
11. "Walkin' Blues" (Robert Johnson) – 2:58
12. "Louisiana Blues" – 2:54
13. "Long Distance Call" – 2:41
14. "Honey Bee" – 3:22
15. "Country Boy" – 3:13
16. "She Moves Me" – 2:58
17. "Still a Fool" – 3:19
18. "Stuff You Gotta Watch" – 2:51
19. "Who's Gonna Be Your Sweet Man When I'm Gone?" – 3:04
20. "Standin' Around Cryin'" – 3:23
21. "Baby Please Don't Go" – 3:18
22. "Hoochie Coochie Man" (Willie Dixon) – 2:48
23. "I Just Want to Make Love to You" (Dixon) – 2:52
24. "I'm Ready" (Dixon) – 3:05
25. "Young Fashioned Ways" (Dixon) – 3:02
26. "I Want to Be Loved" (Dixon) – 2:42

Disc two

Disc Two starts off with "My Eyes (Keep Me in Trouble)" plus three further tracks from His Best:1947 to 1955. Sixteen more tracks on the disc were on His Best:1956 to 1964 - the four tracks excluded are "All Aboard" (though the remake from the 1969 album Fathers and Sons is present), "She's Into Something", "You Need Love" (later made into "You Need Loving" and "Whole Lotta Love"), and "My Love Strikes Like Lightning". The other tracks on disc two were featured on The Chess Box.

1. "My Eyes (Keep Me in Trouble)" (T-Bone Walker) – 3:12
2. "Mannish Boy" (Morganfield, Mel London, Ellas McDaniel) – 2:58
3. "Sugar Sweet" (London) – 2:31
4. "Trouble No More" – 2:42
5. "Forty Days and Forty Nights" (Bernard Roth) – 2:53
6. "Just to Be with You" (M. Kalfin, Roth) – 3:15
7. "Don't Go No Farther" (Dixon) – 2:56
8. "Diamonds at Your Feet" – 2:26
9. "I Love the Life I Live, I Live the Life I Love" (Dixon) – 2:52
10. "Got My Mojo Working" (Preston Foster, Morganfield) – 2:53
11. "Rock Me" – 3:13
12. "Look What You've Done" – 2:24
13. "She's Nineteen Years Old" – 3:19
14. "Close to You" (Dixon) – 3:07
15. "Walking Thru the Park" – 2:47
16. "Take the Bitter with the Sweet" (James Burke Oden) – 3:08
17. "I Feel So Good [Live]" (Big Bill Broonzy, Richard Thompson) – 2:58
18. "You Shook Me" (Dixon) – 2:44
19. "My Home is in the Delta" – 4:00
20. "Good Morning Little School Girl" (Sonny Boy Williamson) – 3:15
21. "The Same Thing" (Dixon) – 2:44
22. "You Can't Lose What You Ain't Never Had" – 2:57
23. "All Aboard (Fathers & Sons)" – 2:53
24. "Can't Get No Grindin'" – 2:45

Personnel

Per Allmusic.