Muddy Waters: Hard Again (Blue Sky)
Gary Kenton, Circus, 28 April 1977
IT IS NEVER an easy task to record a legend. What, after all, could Muddy Waters — at the age of 60 — do on vinyl that might enhance his standing as one of the premiere bluesmen America has produced? Wisely, producer Johnny Winter does not attempt to provide Hard Again with a modernized relevance that Waters' timeless blues do not already possess, but rather brings us into the studio for a semi-live, unfettered session with Muddy giving energetic performances of both new and classic material. If Hard Again does not rank among the artist's very best recordings, it is still one of the year's most pleasant surprises.
Total word count of piece: 375