boredop
This late in life release from Muddy Waters is a stone cold classic. The version of Mannish Boy that opens the album is among the great album intros of all time, signaling in no uncertain terms that the master of the blues was back. (It was later used to great effect in the movie Better Off Dead.) This was Muddy's first album with Johnny Winters as producer and lead guitarist, and his production work here makes Muddy sound like he's ten feet tall. The backup band includes Muddy's peer Pinetop Perkins on piano, with the great James Cotton on harmonica, guitar work from Winters and Chicago axe slinger Bob Margolin, and thunderous drumming from Willie "Big Eyes" Smith. Highlights include the aforementioned Mannish Boy, I Want To Be Loved, and Blues Had A Baby And Named It Rock and Roll. Hard Again was one of the great blues albums of the 1970s and ranks among Muddy's very best.