Search - Muddy Waters :: Hard Again

Bus driver...

howlinw | California USA | 01/22/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Muddy Waters sounds looser here than I've ever heard him. This sounds like some friends getting together for a jam session at someone's home, with dialogue around some of the tracks, spontaneous-sounding vocal contributions from some of the musicians, and just a general laid-back feel. It's loud and raw, great jamming all around, and shows us that not only the young make great music. Waters IS the blues, and this is THE blues record. See if you can find it on vinyl if you're of that persuasion (I liek some thinsg better that way), otherwise it's damn cheap on CD. My local indie record shop was selling it for $8, and amazon's price is great too. Any price would be good for this one. Roll on, Muddy, wherever you are."

One of Muddy's Best

Mr. Blues | 11/17/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

""Hard Again" is one of Muddy's greatest works. This album is one of several that is produced by Johnny Winter and features Johnny on the guitar and James Cotton on the harp. The opening song "Mannish Boy" is packed with that great swagger that i always loved about him and Johnny howls in the backround. The best tracks are "Mannish Boy", "Bus Driver" and "I Can't Be Satisfied". "I can't be satisfied" has Winter doing some impressive guitar solos on his steel-bodied National guitar. "The Blues Had A Baby...." is also another impressive song with Muddy telling is version of the story of Rock and Roll.

This is a must have in your blues collection."

4 3/4 stars. A magnificent comeback

Docendo Discimus | Vita scholae | 12/08/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Muddy Waters may have recorded better songs than most of the ones on this album, but the super-competent backing band and sympathetic production still makes this a really fine blues record.



The three Muddy Waters classics which were re-recorded for this release ("Mannish Boy", "I Want To Be Loved" and "I Can't Be Satisfied") are certainly the highlights of the album, but the rest is more than worth a listen as well, and the "traditional" acoustic rendition of "I Can't Be Satisfied" is worth the price of the CD alone. Johnny Winter's incredibly catchy acoustic slide guitar riff sounds like the very best of the 40s, only with all the benefit of the technical equipment of the 70s.



Also, the opening rendition of "Mannish Boy" is probably the definitive reading of this one-chord classic, with some supremely confident vocals from Muddy Waters, and a rock-solid beat laid down by drummer Willie 'Big Eyes' Smith.



The eight-minute slow blues "Bus Driver" may be fundamentally generic, but it benefits greatly from som sublime lead guitar playing by Johnny Winter, and James Cotton's smouldering harp winding its way through the song, and these grade-A arrangements are a big part of what makes this album so good.

Cotton plays some really magnificent harp all through this album, alternating between solos and Rice Miller-like blasts and fills. Johnny Winter's and Waters' guitar playing is flawless. And Willie Smith holds everything together with some subtle, yet powerful drumming.



Mmmm....blues!"