Search - Muddy Waters :: Breakin It Up: Breakin It Down

Bringin' It Back

Morgan Broman | Alexandria, VA United States | 06/14/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Muddy Waters' work on Chess Records from the late 1940s to the early 1970s is truly amazing. He was the most powerful blues artist and one of the best songwriters. Many fans think he was in decline in the mid-1970s when "Breakin' It Up, Breakin' It Down" was recorded. This concert document should dispel those thoughts. It might have taken Muddy longer to build up a head of steam, but when he got rollin', he was as "mannish" as ever. With old pal James Cotton blowing away on harp and Johnny Winter (who ignited Muddy's revival by producing his later records on Blue Sky Records) as his co-stars on the 1977 tour, Muddy was pushed to the heights he regularly reached in his 1950s and 1960s heyday ("Pinetop" Perkins on piano, and Bob Margolin on guitar also shine). The live version of "Can't be Satisfied" - the second cut on the disc - is as strong as any live recording in his career. I saw this band at Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. and the three stars were on fire and having a whale of a time. When I bought "Breakin' It Up, Breakin' It Down," I thought, "there is no way this recording will be as good as I remember the show." But not to worry, it's all here and hearing it again made me smile at the memories of Muddy, James, and Johnny pouring out electric blues. A rousing "Got My Mojo Working" (the encore) finishes things up nicely. Someone once said, "In Muddy Waters' hands 'the blues' is a misnomer.""

As wonderful as you'd expect

A. Pickering | CA USA | 06/14/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"They were only together for one album and tour, but the Hard Again band was the most kickass assemblage of blues talent there has ever been. They simply never played anything, either live or in studio, that was not of extraordinarily high quality. This disc absolutely smokes, and it's a welcome treat that Cotton and Winter each get a couple turns on lead vocals. It's very encouraging that there's still this much great stuff left over after after the two disc edition of Muddy "Mississippi" Waters, because that means there's likely more on the way."

RICK SHAQ GOLDSTEIN SAYS: ?WHAT DO YOU GET WHEN YOU MIX, MUD

Rick Shaq Goldstein | Danville, Ca, USA | 07/13/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This cd is a new release of a concert tour in 1977 with Muddy Waters, Johnny Winter and James Cotton. I vacillated for days before I bought this. I have deducted, that listening to the thirty second sound bites, are worthless, especially when making a decision on electric blues. In 30 seconds, the guy might not even be done tuning his guitar! I'm going to attempt, to help you, not to have to go through, the anguish, that I went through, before I made the decision to buy this cd. First of all, you can tell how much these three guys like each other. Since this is a live performance, you hear them kidding each other throughout each song. One guy sings: "Your mother ought to know..." And one of the guys not singing lead, is yelling: "Yea tell em!" or you hear enthusiastic screams like: "Ow!" "Yea" "Do it James!" "Do it Johnny", etc. I personally think James Cotton, and his mind blowing "harp" (For you non-experienced blues neophytes, that's his harmonica! Please make a note of that!) steals the whole show. That magic harp of his, is either screeching, scratching, waling, and always cooking. If I were to try to draw a verbal picture for you, of the type of blues these fella's are playing, I'd say, think about an old black and white detective movie, and you're inside a bar, smoke is slowly circling its way to the ceiling, and in the background you hear the blues. That's the kind of blues on this cd. James Cotton, when he's not blowing the "harp", showcases a voice, that sounds like its seen, a lot of cigarettes, a lot of whiskey, a lot of women, and left it with the blues. This entire cd, is old-time "roadhouse", feeling good, blues. There are 11 songs, totaling just under sixty minutes. This is a classic taste, of old-time jamming, ELECTRIC BLUES, with the "harp", being the pulse, that never misses a blue beat! Buy this!





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