Tuesday, June 29, 2004
Titles: Hard Again Title: I’m Ready Title: King Bee
Artist: Muddy Waters
When it rains it pours…
Telling someone with even a modest interest in “GREAT” music to check out a Muddy Waters album is like telling a baseball fan the New York Yankees have had some good players. In an honest discussion Muddy Waters was the foundation that defined popular music in the 20th century.
If there is any question, allow me to erase it now, Muddy Waters, more than Elvis or Chuck Berry or ANYONE ELSE birthed the sound of rock n’ roll. Oh yeah, Elvis made it sexy and Chuck gave it lyrics but Muddy birthed it and nurtured it. When the Beatles rolled off the boat in the early ‘60’s all the great blues artists and many of the (white) rock artists got rudely shoved aside. When Johnny Winter got signed in the late ‘60’s he was rumoured to have been the first “rock” solo artist to have received a million dollar recording contract. Go figure! Anyway, within a decade Winter was at the recording helm breathing new life into the great Muddy Waters recording career.
In 1977 Johnny and Muddy would release the critically acclaimed album, Hard Again. It was on this album that Waters would re-record his older hits using a ‘modern’ recording studio with one of his great bands including; Pinetop Perkins (piano), James Cotton (harp), Willie ‘Big Eyes’ Smith (drums), ‘Steady Rollin’ Bob Margolin (guitar) and Charles Calmese (bass). I can remember the buzz on this album being so strong that, as a high school senior, going in to purchase the brand new (and only) Sex Pistols album AND the Hard Again…which harkens me back to the time when it was the music that mattered!
So now, much to my own joy, Muddy’s ‘Blue Sky Trilogy’ have all been remastered and reissued; Hard Again (’77), I’m Ready (’78), King Bee (’81). No music collection is complete without a worthy sampling of Muddy Waters and no true music fan’s knowledge is rounded unless they have developed a full appreciation for the greatness of Muddy Waters. Any of these three discs are worth the time and investment although I recommend beginning with Hard Again.
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