Audio CD review:
Muddy Waters - Hard Again

Muddy Waters - Hard Again

Band: Muddy Waters Title: Hard Again Rating: Release Date: 18 May, 2004 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: Mannish Boy 2: Bus Driver 3: I Want To Be Loved 4: Jealous Hearted Man 5: I Can't Be Satisfied 6: The Blues Had A Baby And They Named It Rock And Roll #2 7: Deep Down In Florida 8: Crosseyed Cat 9: Little Girl 10: Walking Through The Park

Customer Reviews Blues you can dance to! So, when I saw that a Muddy Waters compilation [Anthology] was listed in promotional list of 100 cds you must own, I bought it. A long, long time ago, I listened to a flatmate's LP of this title and immediately liked two songs in particular: "Mannish Boy" and "I want to be loved". Trouble was, the music in Anthology was NOT like I remembered it in Hard Again. For that reason, I'd only give Anthology about two or three stars out of five. So, I basically bought Hard Again on CD [the remastered version] to see if I had misrembered the sound of that cd. I hadn't. The sound is near flawless and has great presence. It is often bold and brassy. In "Anthology" the music is more sedate and not as present. In this album, the music is the offspring of Blues and Rock, and it really is the blues as I now like it. Comparing "Anthology" to "Hard again" is like comparing Bob Dylan to Midnight Oil. Both are socially and politically conscious, but you can dance to Midnight Oil, which is why I always will prefer the Oils to the Bob. The tragedy of The Bob is that other acts always do the definitive versions of his songs. . . poppier or rockier. "Hard Again" has spanking drums, a free-wheeling harmonica, electric guitar, bass, piano line-up, with perhaps a banjo and washer-board or some such on one song. It is also more up-tempo and energetic than the music in "Anthology". "Mannish Boy" is still my favourite Waters' song, and this new version of the song is the king of them all y'all. It's boldy, brassy, swinging and with a big beat. It's a raucous party song. Another song could be renamed "My ol' lady, she done run off with the bus driver blues". It includes an amusingly saucy line to the effect that his ol' lady would be 'riding' the bus driver tonight, or some such. The song features a very cool note picking guitar melody. "I want to be loved" swings more in this cd than in "Anthology" and has that classic 50's style bass sound, which pops up in other songs in this cd. The song doesn't match my memory of it the first time I heard it [i. e. it's not as catchy as I remembered it, but maybe my tastes have changed]. "I can't be satisfied" is probably my second favourite song on this cd. It has a nice swing to it and some cool note picking on the guitar. Not sure if the "wa wa" effect on vocals is just Muddy or a glitch in the recording. . . not a major drawback if it's a glitch. "The blues had a baby and they named it rock'n'roll" is good with some amusing lyrics. . . for instance "Queen Victoria said it-'you know the blues got soul'. Well the blues had a baby and they named him rock'n'roll". "Deep down in Florida" marks a change of pace for Muddy-it's more sedate and has a heavy bass sound. Listening to "Anthology" you are struck by how nearly identical the music is in a few songs [the cliched Blues sound]. "Hard Again" doesn't fall into that trap. . . no recycled sounds. "Crosseyed cat" is a whimsical song. . . not sure if the title is a slang term or innuendo of some sort. It does have another Blues trait though. . . repeating lyrics. This to me is less of a minus than recycling the same music for different songs. "Walking through the park" is another track with the classic 50's style rock'n'roll bass sound. His woman in that song is not to be trifled with either. . . "My girl she may cut you. She may shoot you too". I'd feel safer with her in a walk through the park than with Muddy. . . at least I'd know she could handle herself if my big mouth got me into trouble with some unsavoury types. I wont put up a review of "Anthology" as I am not particularly positive about it. But listening to it I wondered if my pick as the greatest rock band of all time, AC/DC, were influence by Muddy's Blues. In tracks like "I'm ready", I think you can hear its echoes in AC/DC songs like "TNT", "Livewire" - I mean lyrical content wise. Muddy's song "You shook me" is perhaps more obviously echoed in AC/DC's classic [though by now flogged to death on Australian FM stations] song "You shook me all night long". Since I'm not reviewing "Anthology" on its own, I'll just jot some of my notes on that cd here: I think one of my notes says that 5 or 6 songs have the same intro as "Louisana Blues". "Still a fool" has a cool sound with a good riff and cool gurgling/howling vocals. Track 23 [didn't jot down its title in my notes" Muddy's vocals are distinctly different-phlegmy, in fact. Well, that's it for my review. I think Hard Again is the perfect marriage of Blues and Rock and would appeal to the rock crowd easily. Not sure how Blues "Purists" view this album, but to me it is Muddy Waters as I want him to sound. P. S. I've also reviewed at this site Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra and Midnight Oil, amongst others [including punk cds and heavy metal cds]. . Classic Awesome for a comeback. Great album, great to listen to over and over whether in the background chillin with friends or on your own. Only wish it were longer. . . You may notice many now too-familar riffs from rock music today, that originated right here. The Blues Had a Baby, and They Named it Rock N Roll!. Never mind the blues, this is as good as MUSIC gets Muddy Waters? Forceful, energized, professional, singing with the same incomparable power and vigor he possessed in the 50s, and which he had struggled to recapture in the decade preceding this album. There's not really anything about this album not to like. Moreover, he sounds like he's having the time of his life. The phrase "infectious enthusiasm" is very apropos here. Johnny Winter? All he does is handle the equally demanding jobs of lead guitarist and producer, and does both flawlessly. Bob Margolin, James Cotton, Willie Smith, Charles Calmese, Pinetop Perkins? All play in an inspired fashion, driving the songs like a freight train and pushing each other to new heights seemingly by the minute. Cotton's harp screams like no harp before or since, while Smith lays down the kind of pocket that guitarists and bass players dream about at night. Calmese's playing has just enough of a funky '70s edge to make the material sound contemporary and relevant while not detracting from its Chicago roots. Margolin plays with a tastefulness and restraint which belies his young age at the time, and Pinetop is. . . well, Pinetop. Old songs? This isn't a popular sort of thing to say, but the reworkings of Muddy's '50s classics presented here (particularly "Mannish Boy" and "Walkin' Through the Park") sound as good or better than their original Chess counterparts. That's not an insult to Jimmy Rogers or Little Walter, it's just the way it is. New songs? "Crosseyed Cat," "Jealous Hearted Man," and "The Blues Had a Baby" are as good as any blues music ever recorded. Ever. In summation, if you don't already own this album, stop wasting your time with this silly review and buy the damn thing. Right now. . You can see a complete list of all Muddy Waters discography, or go back to the Muddy Waters tabs