Hard Again [Expanded] [Remaster]

Performer: Muddy Waters
Artist: Johnny Winter; James Cotton; Pinetop Perkins
Engineer: Dave Still; Dave Still
Producer: Johnny Winter; Johnny Winter; Al Quaglieri (Reissue)
Distributor: Sony Music Distribution (

Notes: Also available in a 3-pack with I'M READY and KING BEE. Personnel: Muddy Waters (vocals, guitar); Johnny Winter (guitar, background vocals); Bob Margolin (guitar); James Cotton (harmonica); Pine Top Perkins (piano); Charles Calmese (bass); Willie "Big Eyes" Smith (drums). Personnel: Muddy Waters (vocals, guitar); Muddy Waters; Johnny Winter (guitar); James Cotton (harmonica); Charles Calmese (bass instrument); Bob Margolin (guitar); Pinetop Perkins (piano); Willie "Big Eyes" Smith (drums). Audio Mixer: Chris Theis. Liner Note Author: Bob Margolin. Recording information: 10/1976. Photographers: David Gahr; Richard Avedon; Walt Casey Jr.; Jim Marshall . After a string of mediocre albums throughout most of the 1970s, Muddy Waters hooked up with Johnny Winter for 1977's Hard Again, a startling comeback and a gritty demonstration of the master's powers. Fronting a band that includes such luminaries as James Cotton and "Pine Top" Perkins, Waters is not only at the top of his game, but is having the time of his life while he's at it. The bits of studio chatter that close "Mannish Boy" and open "Bus Driver" show him to be relaxed and obviously excited about the proceedings. Part of this has to be because the record sounds so good. Winter has gone for an extremely bare production style, clearly aiming to capture Waters in conversation with a band in what sounds like a single studio room. This means that sometimes the songs threaten to explode in chaos as two or three musicians begin soloing simultaneously. Such messiness is actually perfect in keeping with the raw nature of this music; you simply couldn't have it any other way. There is something so incredibly gratifying about hearing Waters shout out for different soloists, about the band missing hits or messing with the tempos. Hey this isn't pop music, it's the blues, and a little dirt never hurt anybody. The unsung star of this session is drummer Willie "Big Eyes" Smith, whose deep grooves make this record come alive. The five-minute, one-chord "Mannish Boy" wouldn't be nearly as compelling as it is if it weren't for Smith's colossal pocket. Great blues from one of the dominant voices of the genre. ~ Daniel Gioffre Muddy spent much of the late '60s and early '70s engaging in crossover attempts, achieving varying degrees of critical and commercial success. But no matter what far-flung paths his studio efforts took, his live performances remained unadulterated. It took the savvy of blues-rocker Johnny Winter to put Muddy's from-the-heart style back where it belonged: in the studio. Produced by Winter, the appropriately titled HARD AGAIN finds Muddy and his regular band pounding into the old material with all the fury of their '50s heyday. For his part as guitarist, Winter successfully straddles the line between reverence and enthusiasm, laying back enough to let the master strut his stuff, but nevertheless goading Muddy on with highly audible verbal exhortations. This is as close as a studio album gets to a "live" feel. Hearing Muddy burn through a chestnut like "Mannish Boy" with the vim and vigor of a man decades younger, one begins to understand the nature of his artistic consistency and preternatural staying power. HARD AGAIN is Muddy's most compelling post-'60s studio effort. The importance of Muddy Waters' 1977 album Hard Again cannot be overstated, and its place as a near universal favorite in the Muddy Waters catalog is no mistake. Recorded in the last decade of his life, Hard Again was the first studio collaboration between Waters and guitarist Johnny Winter, who acted as producer on his last four recordings -- the others are I'm Ready, King Bee, and Muddy "Mississippi" Waters Live -- for Blue Sky, a Columbia subsidiary. The true revelation here is Waters, whose vigor and fire are renewed; he's hungry for the music and completely in possession of his prowess and power as the true King of the Blues. At 62, Waters was revving up for one final go and Winter recorded him like the champ he was. The Muddy Waters Blues Band was one of the crack outfits on the scene at the time and included guitarist Bob Margolin, pianist Pinetop Perkins, and drummer Willie "Big Eyes" Smith were on this session. Winter was on board playing guitar in addition to producing, and Waters asked James Cotton to play harp on the session and he brought his bassist Charles Calmese for the date. The twin-guitar attack featured here is one of the most complementary and symbiotic ever recorded. According to Margolin's amazingly warm and informative anecdotal liner notes (he deserves a Grammy for them), Waters never picked up his guitar during these sessions. It hardly matters, from the opening roar of "Mannish Boy," with shouts and hollers throughout, with incendiary guitars to the old-style Delta blues of "I Can't Be Satisfied," with a killer National steel solo by Winter to Cotton's screeching intro to "The Blues Had a Baby," to the moaning closer "Little Girl," Hard Again is rock solid. Its live feel (recorded in three days from pre-production to final session) heralds back to the Chess days, its scary fine cooperative musicianship and intimate, good time vibe have rarely been replicated since that time -- and never on a major label. The expanded reissue includes one bonus track, an outtake called "Walking Through the Park," that could have been part of the original album without a problem -- the other outtake ended up on King Bee. Margolin's notes state that while the album has been remastered, it was not remixed because its sound holds up. He's dead-on. This has the feel of an old-time blues record and the listener can hear -- even on CD -- the sound of the wood room it was recorded in as well as the camaraderie of the players. Hard Again showcased Waters as a blues lion, and in its grooves lies all the evidence for the legend he remains. ~ Thom Jurek

Rolling Stone (p.95) - 4 stars out of 5 - "[T]here's a lot of virtuosity here..." Q (p.134) - 4 stars out of 5 - "For students of the post-war blues, a guaranteed delight." Down Beat (p.68) - 4 stars out of 5 - "Singing, he's playful and proud, brawny and insistent, his free-flow of inspiration spreading to his superlative road band..."

Originally a Delta bluesman in the vein of Son House, Muddy Waters moved north in the 1940s and became the leader of the first--and greatest--electric Chicago blues band. Waters' abrasive guitar, impassioned singing, and commanding stage presence inspired generations of disciples, and hits like "Hoochie Coochie Man" and "I've Got My Mojo Workin'" are now indisputable classics.

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