Muddy Waters
Hard Again

Hello boys&girls. Let's talk a little about Blues.

So, Muddy Waters – you know him? Legendary bluesman Muddy was perhaps the main architect of the electric turn of the Blues, the urban Blues, the Chicago Blues. But now I want to talk to you about an album that came after that fantastic Blues era, albeit equally legendary. Here comes Hard Again, the 1977 album that marks the beginning of the collaboration between Muddy and the guitarist Johnny Winter.

Johnny at the time was one of the most spectacular rock'n'blues guitarists around, but his true passion was the old Blues, you know? The good one, full of feeling. So, taking advantage of Muddy temporarily being without a record label - after a life with Chess - he proposed recording something together for the Blue Sky label (a Columbia Records subsidiary). Soon a band was put together that would give you chills, a true blues band, tough as nails, with well-seasoned musicians, many of whom had been playing with Muddy for a long time: Johnny Winter on guitar and slide, Bob Margolin on the other guitar, Pinetop Perkins on piano, the sublime, divine, and almighty James Cotton on harmonica, Charles Calmese on bass, and Willie 'Big Eyes' Smith (no, not the prince of Bel Air) on drums. Muddy on vocals, and that's it, in fact this time he doesn't play the guitar, he just sings, but damn what a voice! 

He keeps the guitar close by, that beautiful red Telecaster, like a talisman, but he doesn't play it, all the guitar parts are done by Winter and Margolin. Johnny's idea was to make an old-fashioned record, that sounded genuine like those good old Blues records. So, they all moved to Connecticut, to the Schoolhouse studio, a homey studio, let's say, very spartan, with only the essentials, no isolation booths for the different musicians, and Johnny decided that everyone would play together, in the same room, simultaneously, to create a live atmosphere. This was further emphasized by using a couple of nice microphones placed on the ceiling in the center of the room to capture the room's sound. Muddy at the core, the heart, the others around... and let's start the party.

The first day was just a soundcheck because Margolin, Cotton, Smith, and Calmese had stayed up late the night before and were utterly out of it. The actual recordings happened over the next two days, only a couple of days indeed to cut this great Blues album. Johnny, besides playing, was also the producer of the album, so between takes, he would go to the console to listen to the results, a real jack-of-all-trades, he worked his butt off, as they say in Oxford. Nine songs were recorded, and another track was added to the remastered CD.

The record kicks off strong with what I personally consider The Classic of Blues: "Mannish Boy". Let's clear things up a bit, the bluesmen always loved to quote each other, reworking others' stuff, etc., and this is kind of the case with Mannish Boy. It all stems from "Hoochie Coochie Man" by Willie Dixon, first recorded by Muddy Waters and Dixon on bass. Then came Bo Diddley, who based on that, did "I'm a Man". Then Muddy came with his "Mannish Boy" as a response to I'm a Man. Ultimately, you could say that Mannish Boy derives from Hoochie Coochie Man, filtered through Diddley. I mean, in the end, as they say, the song remains the same, the song is always the same, but with different titles, parts of the lyrics, and interpretations.

As if there wasn't enough of a mess already, years later George Thorogood came along and placed "Bad To The Bone" on this whole tangle, practically a bastardized and angry version, for truckers and cowboys, of Mannish Boy, or of I'm a Man or of... enough already. The track remains one of those legendary and immortal blues hits, with a groove that grabs you from the start with that tara rarà, a simple and damn, obsessive and hypnotic riff that repeats throughout and a Muddy singing with the authority only the greats can afford. Pretty tough essentially, almost exhilarating, powerful, straightforward, a true killer song.

Next up is "Blues Driver", a classic twelve-bar slow blues, and here Cotton starts getting serious with his fiery harmonica. Yes, the absolute protagonist of the album, after Muddy, is Cotton. The guitars here are splendid, delightful, there are great interplays between the six-strings and between them and the piano, but the harmonica reigns supreme here and throughout the album. The album continues with the upbeat and cheerful "I Want to be Loved" where guitars and harmonica perform the same riff together. The crushing solo by Cotton in "Jealous Hearted Man" is nothing short of explosive. In "I Can't Be Satisfied" the main focus is on the acoustic guitars, with a great slide solo by Winter, and this time the harmonica takes a break.

With "The Blues Had a Baby and They Named It Rock 'n' Roll", it goes into boogie, nicely driven by a prominent rhythm section and granite-like drums. Perkins' piano is always there, in the background, but creating very effective bluesy soundscapes, which is very evident, for example, in "Crosseyed Cat". The two guitarists certainly don't stand by idly, there are phrases and brief solos, but they're constant; without going overboard, they do their thing, with little fuss and lots of substance, all taste and substance anyway, like a snack, but better than a snack.

At the end of the listen, the hierarchies seem quite clear - there's space for everyone on the album, but the absolute stars remain Waters and Cotton, with Winter and the others right behind, and the result is an album with peaks of notable excellence and virtuosity, yet also choral, engaging, and intense. Between tracks, you can hear the musicians talking and often during performances, you can hear them cheering each other on, bearing witness to the joyful and excited atmosphere in which the album was created.

Pure, fiery, and vigorous, Hard Again oozes Blues from every groove. And then, dear kids, Muddy's voice is the voice of the Blues, just that initial "Oh Yeah" is enough to make you swoon. Considering this Blues Colossus is accompanied by fantastic musicians, and it's recorded like a live session, with a full, rich, yet at the same time essential sound, well, then, you can't help but give the highest rating. After this album, the collaboration between Winter and Waters continued with two more albums, I'm Ready and King Bee, both of excellent quality, but this first chapter of the trilogy remains perhaps the best, the freshest, the most inspired and then there's Cotton, who is not there in the other two. If you like the Blues, you have to make it yours.