BLUESBUSTERS: The greatest of the...

BLUESBUSTERS: The greatest of the blues greats was Muddy Waters, who gets his due Nov. 7 when MCA Records releases a boxed-set of 72 classic Waters performances. Besides his many hits, the collection will offer 10 previously unreleased tracks, most notably a 1948 gem, “Good Looking Woman,” a live version of “Country Boy” and a 1959 outtake of “Take the Bitter With the Sweet” complete with raucous in-studio dialogue between Waters and legendary Chess producer Leonard Chess. The box also features a wealth of rare photos and memorabilia, including a 1975 birthday telegram from his biggest fans, the Rolling Stones, saying: “We are all thinking of you. If it had not been for you, we would never be where we are today.” (Now if only the Stones could donate a tiny percentage of the mega- mega- bucks they’re making on their U.S. tour to help get Mississippi’s Delta Blues museum off the ground). . . . And this month’s Truth in Advertising Award goes to Columbia Records, whose full-page ads touting Bob Dylan’s “Oh Mercy” album include a Musician magazine review that is excerpted to read “. . . A masterpiece.” Only one problem: Mark Rowland’s actual review reads “It’s tempting to tout a strong album like ‘Oh Mercy’ as . . . a masterpiece. It would be the easy thing to do--but as the philosopher Richard Nixon once pointed out, that would be wrong.”