Hard Again

Hard Again I didn’t know the version of Mannish Boy used in Goodfellas came from this album. Aside from the exemplary electric Chicago blues guitar, a couple of things really struck me with this. Firstly how great his voice is, resonant and authoritative and utterly compelling, and secondly that this came about in the late 70s under the eye of Johnny Winter, with that organic 70s feel, rather than say in the mid 80s where you can imagine synths, gated drums and digital production overwhelming it. The band is excellent too, Willie Smith on drums and Charles Calmese on bass are great. They hit excellent pockets on Bus Driver and Crosseyed Cat in particular. However it is pretty samey to my ears over what feels like quite a long 45 minutes. I know that it is an excellent example of electric blues, but structurally the songs are pretty formulaic and tend to stick to two tempos, slow and not so slow. Each song taken individually is actually great, but as a whole I felt the drag by side 2, which means it doesn't quite reach a 4. 💧💧💧 Playlist submission: Mannish Boy

After the album ended, Spotify autoplayed “I just want to make love to you” and now that song is stuck in my head instead of anything I heard on Hard Again. This album just kind of washed by. Standard blues chords, lyrics…nothing really stood out—except the Tracy Morgan-esque line “the blues got pregnant and named the baby rock n roll”. It was fine.

It's a 5 from me. Clear as Muddy Waters

6 stars. This man is in a class of his own.

Oh Muddy Waters, what a delightful little album filled with so much soul

One individual song from this album is a 4/5; hearing the same song for 45 min. is torture. I never realized how much I don't like this type of Blues until this list has compelled me to listen to it. I can't even say "Goodbye Forever, Chicago Blues", since there is no escape from this type of Blues.

the title made me laugh because penis

a genre that has been criminally and conspicuously absent on this project

This album made me realize that I like RnB, I like jump blues, I like soul and gospel and psych rock and countless other genres influenced by the blues, but straightforward blues itself is a genre that I respect and appreciate but is just not for me. Most of the tracks here sound identical, being married to the 12-bar blues progression that the whole genre seems bound to. It gets very tiresome for an entire album. The whole thing is carried by the guitar work and singing, which is admittedly very strong, but not really strong enough for me to be passionate about this album.

This version of Mannish boy goes incredibly hard Muddy Waters is appropriately named, because this is absolutely filthy. Swaggering, warbling excellence. Really enjoyed this

Placeholder

Decent album, not really my taste but I can see how many would enjoy it.

I really like Johnny Winter's Progressive Blues Experiment but this is just alright. Some songs are good. A lot of blues music is repetitive which is the main downfall of the genre.

Nie widzę w tym nic interesującego dla mnie…

This guy may have mastered the ability to force one to do a stank face. The solos across this album are insanely cool and impressive, album in general had a lot of momentum. Interesting how much more present electric guitar was here than his live album. Feels like you can see the funk rock developing. I want to be loved #2 was my favorite

This was well enough executed but surely not a very ambitious album by 1977. Leans heavily on a genre that doesn't hit me as hard as I'd like Highlights: "Mannish Boy", "The Blues Had a Baby and They Named It Rock and Roll"

Big big start, clearly great to lots of people but not to me.

Old

Lively and fun. Haven't listened to much blues but I enjoyed it for the most part. A lot of the songs sound kinda similar from an instrumentation standpoint. Lost me a bit at "little girl'. Overall though, it's pretty good. Favourite song: Crosseyed cat.

This album scratched an itch I didn't know I had. Is it my favorite blues album? Not necessarily, but it's still damn good. Excellent start to this project.

A very rolicking blues album. Muddy Waters has a booming voice and everyone seems to have a lot of fun performing. Though I understand blues' significance in music culture, I'm not a fan of this super-repetitive version.

Pretty middle of the road, not bad by any means though. 2.5 stars.

Standard blues album, not sure exactly why it would be on this list over other blues albums? Maybe I’m missing something, but good regardless. Two stars only because I don’t know if this is a central listening.

Bluesy as hell, Muddy's voice is like molasses and fits super well. Enjoying it! A bit repetitive after a while, but definitely a nice listen

Iconic opening track but the rest of the album is arguably better. A bit repetitive, but the sound is great.

nope

well i'm not hard

Wonderful

Sufficiently raucous

Blues

So influencial it almost seems like a stereotype. Clearly it isn't. It grooves with an inner fire. Not a ton of variety, but that's the nature of I-IV-I-V

Rock and roll blues, really good. 4

Sure the blues is formulaic, but it's a great formula and there's no greater electric bluesman than Waters, with his huge voice and reliable ear for grooves and riffs.

Not a bad album for my first introduction to blues. Some songs kinda blended into others and kinda got boring after a while. But I enjoyed a good few tracks; like Manish Boy, Bus Driver, and Deep Down in Florida

Hard work

soothing

legendary riffs

I thought I really liked Blues but... I think I hate the harmonica. The entire album I kept BEGGING for the harmonica to STOP THAT. Especially DURING the other instruments solos!!!! I really think that Chicago Blues is so important to music history and this is such a cool album but I really did not enjoy the listening experience!!! Can anyone take out the harmonica and resend me the full album??? I think I'd love it so much more.

Mastery from note one of that guitar and the first utterance of that voice. It’s quintessential Chicago blues, it’s lived in, it’s rich in experience and sex, humor and pathos. He don’t miss

I mean it's nice that he's hard again but tmi

I'm starting to think this man has the blues

very jazzy

4.4 For the most part, blues albums fail to capture the energy/thrill of a live recording or show. This is not one of those cases, the band rips and MW is as good as I have ever heard. Recording sounded great too. Crosseyed cat was a standout

5: I will happily play this album anytime 4: I may occasionally play this album of my own free will 3: I will happily listen to this if someone plays it in the background 2: I will tolerate this if it is playing in the background 1: I will leave the room if someone plays this in the background

I really liked this one, the recording style, I think they were all in the same room. Made it rambunctious, lively and gave it a live feeling.

ahi va muddy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! tremendo albumanzo chabon

That's the blues. That's rock and roll. It's easy to see the impact Muddy Waters and his fellow blues musicians have had on music as whole. As they say, you can't have one without the other, and this is especially true for music. I can't even imagine what music would be like today without pioneers like this.

The OG of Chicago blues, this album has all the classic blues sounds one could want. however for me it gets a little repetitive. Halfway through it is starting to feel like ive been locked into a famous daves after closing.

viby

Impossible to hate. True blues.

Although the genre as a whole holds more depth and breadth than what’s heard here, there’s a reason that this is the sound most people think of when they think of the blues. And Muddy’s right…there would be no rock and roll without the blues!

One of very few pure Blues albums on this list. Beautiful from start to finish.

I see why it was on here based on the first track, but otherwise forgettable.

Is this my favourite album of all time? No. But I bloody enjoyed it.

Pretty cool bluesy album. A lot of it seems to blend into one long song, no real standouts but still a good listen.

I prefer the muddy waters

I know Muddy Waters is hugely influential and all that, but I cannot stand to listen to a whole album of his. The album sounds like 1 long song and the harmonica is much to prevalent for my liking.

Jazzy classic album.

mysjäz

arguably extremely iconic. Classic blues but with enough variety to keep things interesting. I'm not connecting with it much or personally enjoying it a lot. Critically I'd give it a lot of praise, but not enough to actually sway my thoughts much for a rating here.

Starting with a new recorded Mannish Boy and you're off for one of the best blues rides. One downside: you stay on the same road for about 45 minutes. But is a nice road.

No notes

Great energy. 90% of it sounds the same to me. 3.5

I love Muddy Waters, but I’m not sure that I’m an “album straight through” fan

Det är en jäkla skillnad på blues och bluesrock, inte minst belyst genom titeln på den klart sämsta låten på den här skivan. Grundformeln är rätt bra här men det blir lite långdraget och tjatigt, inte minst när låtarna sträcker ut sig en bra b it över fem minuter och det blir alldeles för mycket spelglädje. Kort och rått är melodin när det gäller blues, det borde Det grumliga vattnet lärt sig.

De vevar samma gamla bluestolva i tolv låtar. Men jäklar vilket ställ de får till ändå. Det går rakt in i hjärtat även hos en bluesskeptiker som jag. Det här är en trea som sneglar mot fyran.

Klassisk tung Chicagoblues och inget annat. Muddy och grabbarna vet precis vad de sysslar med. Ett genuint hantverk. Manish boy må vara den stora hiten (än mer tack vare lewisreklamen i skarven 80-, 90-tal), men albumets riktiga toppar hittar vi på B-sidan. Inte minst de tre avslutningsspåren, där bandet verkligen fått ihop det.

Traditionell blues av en bluesman. Ett gott hantverk.

Muddy Waters is a musical God. At Chess Records in Chicago he pretty well invented blues rock. Seminal. The album is a combination of old songs and new ones. Muddy’s vocals are great. He has a distinctive voice very raspy. It is a great band that plays with Muddy. They are loose and it is clear they are having fun. The guitar is outstanding and the harmonica is excellent. Every song on this album is good. Mannish Boy ( Hard Again) and I can’t be Satisfied are phenomenal. The Blues had a baby and they named it rock and roll offers a history lesson for the listener. All you Led Zeppelin fans out there, Listen to this record and find out what real blues rock sounds like. This is an excellent album. It is nice to see that Muddy got some attention in the later part of his career. Five stars.

um blues bem bonzinho. gostei, mas não amei

Muddy Waters ist natürlich ne Blues-Legende mit einigen Klassikern auf seiner Seite. Trotzdem haftet diesem Genre - zumindest in der hier vorhandenen Ausprägung - einfach eine gewisse Repetivität an, die über knapp 50 Minuten ganz klar zu deutlichen Längen führt. Auch wenn die Songs per se hier nicht schlecht sind: Ich muss mir das immergleiche Blues-Riff mit teilweise dem immergleichen Text, der nur durch ein wenig Gitarren-Gegniedel unterbrochen wird, nicht für 6-7 Minuten am Stück anhören. Das ist wirklich zu viel des Guten. Zudem finde ich die Produktion von Johnny Winter hier etwas zu clean. "Mannish Boy" ist hier der einzige Song, den ich in seiner ursprünglich veröffentlichten Version kenne, wo er wesentlich rougher klingt, aber damit auch wesentlich besser ins Genre passt. Da kann die neue Version nicht mithalten. Ein paar Songs, die es bei einer 3-Minuten-Länge belassen, gefallen mir aber trotzdem ganz gut. Daher ganz knappe 3 Sterne.

Schöner, kurzweiliger Spaß.

Was soll ich hierzu sagen? Ich weiß es nicht. War ganz ok, hat aber auch keinen krassen Eindruck hinterlassen.

Das hat Spaß gemacht und war kurzweilig, allerdings habe ich auch alles nach dem Hören schon wieder vergessen

Great sounding Chicago blues. I guess due to when made the production and recording techniques helped relative to earlier ‘muddier’ blues stuff. Clearly great musicians as well - harmonica, drums, guitar and piano all strong. Slightly surprised how much I liked this - even the crosseyed cat one. 4.3

Preferred to the earlier Waters, appreciated the longer more expansive numbers on this one.

I really enjoyed this, solid blues from start to finish, and an opener for the ages. Short enough that it doesn’t overstay its welcome.

Pleasant to listen to and I enjoyed my time with it but nothing I found extraordinary 3/5 Favorite: little girl

Another really good blues album.

Buen álbum, blues del antiguo, me gustó especialmente la primera canción.

It's muddy waters duh

Blues é bom demais

This was an extremely fun listen - the kind of thing I would love to see live. I’m not very familiar with artists and music like this and want to explore more. 4/5

Outstanding album and will be listening to it again!

Blusey, awesome. Best yet.

I'm not super familiar with Muddy Waters but this seems like late career Muddy Waters? I looked at the year this was released and did a double take. Just kinda plodding, by the numbers blues that feels at odds with the time period and the other artists working at this time. I feel like a jerk not liking this. But yeah, not in love with this one.

The voice is epic, many of the songs recognisable. Not normally huge on the blues and the strangled sound of ?sax? Is sometimes grating but you can't deny the overall impact and joy of this record.

not as good as Joni Mitchell’s Blue

Totally respect Muddy, but it does get a bit samey. And it reminds me of every time I’ve been stocious in the howling wolf. Top bops: Mannish Boy I want to be loved #2

Good rytheme

Very classic blues album. Iconic musician. Just not the most exciting for me really. I enjoyed listening to it, but there wasn't much more to it than that really. Can see the influence, and appreciate the album overall though.

Classic blues. I love the guitar parts even though they aren’t super complicated.

This one really hit home for me today

Fantastic dirty blues, with real electricity throughout. Muddy is such a cat, just carrying all the swagger this material needs to keep it from being repetitive.

Ok

Love my blues!

Tastes like Étouffée and drinks like bourbon; this is rich, smoky, a little dirty, and absolutely not interested in being subtle.

Should be called GOAT Again. I love Muddy ❤️❤️❤️

nothing quite like a seafood boil and the king of chicago blues. still, i'm not gonna pretend i love this album when in reality i just like it. muddy waters might be the king, but he isn't my *favorite* "chicago blues" guitarist (he is, weirdly, from MS, so I'm surprised he went the direction that he did)

Quite a jam. Goes on a little too long, but I’m not sure it would be a classic Blues album if it didn’t.