Muddy Waters - Hard Again

The Blues...How do white kids from Nebraska find out about "the Blues"? It's ODD. But, for me, there's been many ways. For a lot of people, we hear blues shuffles in many different aspects of Rock, Country and Jazz. So, we've heard it and it's in our consciousness. But, I wanted to find out more about it. Hold on as I explain my journey of musical discovery. In my early teens, my friend-Mick got me turned on to Van Halen. I soon became interested in everything VH. I would buy monthly copies of Hit Parader magazine to read more about VH and other bands of the Hard Rock/Heavy Metal genre. In my reading about Eddie, I found out that his primary guitar influence was Eric Clapton(especially the Cream years). So, I began a discovery of the music of Eric Clapton and the myriad of bands he's played with. Well, anyone who knows Clapton know of his outspoken love of the blues and artists like Robert Johnson, Howlin' Wolf, BB King and Muddy Waters. So, I followed the lineage backwards and found my absolute favorite blues album by a genuine bluesman-McKinley Morganfield-AKA Muddy Waters and the album HARD AGAIN!!

Honestly, the first time I heard the first track Mannish Boy was my freshman year of college in 1985 when my college roommate Rick had the soundtrack to the Movie Risky Business . I have never seen the entire movie....never been a big Tom Cruise fan. Anyway, Rick played me Mannish Boy and I remember being taken in by the deep, raspy, rich, bluesy bass vocals of Muddy Waters.
Fast forward a couple years later in 1987 when I started working at Dustys Records. There was a CD copy of the album we would listen to for in-store play. I've written before about the intangibles when describing music that hits me just right and resonates deep within me. This is one of those albums.
At this time, my musical exposure to the blues was limited to white artists covering Black artists like the Blues Brothers, George Thorogood, Clapton, the Stones and Led Zeppelin. But, this album was different. It was simple, yet fun, yet relaxing to something unsettled deep within me.
Muddy Waters-Hard Again was released in 1977 and produced by the whitest bluesman(he's an albino) Johnny Winter. In fact, Winter's contribution is one of the things I love about this album.
We start of the album with Muddy's deep voice......

"Ooooooh Yeah!......"(blues guitar lick)
"oh yeah!......"(guitar lick) "WHOOOOOOOOO!"
"Everything..everything...everything goin' be alright this morning....(Johnny Winter yelps.....) "YEEEAAAAAHHHH!"
"Oh Yeah....WHOOO.....Yeah!"

The band kicks in with Muddy, Johnny, James Cotton(on Harmonica), Pinetop Perkins(on piano), Willie Smith(drums) and Bob Margolin(guitar) and Charles Calmese(bass). It's the interplay between the band that is the greatness of this album. But, it's Muddy, Johnny and Cotton that make this absolute blues magic!
This was produced and recorded very intimately with all the musicians in the same room where you can hear everybody's instruments bleeding into each other's mics in the studio.
Johnny Winter is whooping and hollering between songs as Muddy tells Johnny "We goin' hear some!" as he plays that slide guitar with solid authority. As Johnny plays, we hear James Cotton blow the harp in unison with the guitar. This is a wonderful cooperative sound. As I write this, I am amazed how these musicians work together and communicate both verbally and instrumentally. This is one big chugging Blues machine and the conductor is Muddy as he calls out to "Johnny" and "Cotton" and "Pinetop".
I remember thinking how simple the drumming of Willie "Big Eyes" Smith is (and was). But, it fits the music and it's not aggressive as say John Bonham's playing the blues with Zeppelin. When he hits track #5, I Can't Be Satisfied, it's a new twist with an acoustic dobro with slide and "Big Eyes" playing some primitive drums on cans(?)...not sure..but I like it.
When an album is really good, the time flies by. I remember putting this album many a time at Dustys at the end of the day to make time go by. I had it in my memory that this was only 30-35 minutes in duration. But, the original album clocks in at 45 minutes. There is an unreleased track on the 2004 remastered version that makes it 49 minutes. But, this album chugs along with one great song into another.

Track 6 is Muddy's music history lesson to inform us that The Blues had a Baby and they Named it Rock n' Roll. It sounds a little hokey. But, I always felt it was vital to know where the music came from and (to me) that says it all.

A couple of memories of this album are from my days at Dustys Records. One late Sunday afternoon, Forrest and I were working and our co-worker-Bob had gone home to his hometown for the weekend. It was the end of the work day. It was slow and we were wondering if Bob was back yet. So, we called him. He wasn't home. So, we talked to his answering machine for about 5-10 minutes while Hard Again played in the background. As Forrest would talk, I was doing the Johnny Winter "Oh Yeah's" and "Yeaaahhhs" in the background. Well, we ended up filling a big chunk of answering machine tape. We thought it would be funny to watch Bob come home and sit and listen to 10 minutes of answering machine ramblings and "OH YEAH's"...Sorry Bob....Sorry Dusty for wasting time at work.

My other memory is from Kearney's resident Tie-dye artist and stinky hippy-Jim. I had stated one night while Jim was in the store while Muddy played that I liked this album in that it somehow relaxed me. He said that he felt the opposite way and that made him want to go to the bar and start a fight. Honestly, Jim was such a small guy. I don't think he would have survived any fight.

As I said, this album relaxed me because of what a well-oiled blues machine the band is on here. As I drove home from work tonight listening to this, I began to feel that it also filled me with a certain sense of confidence too. That is what great music is all about!