Hard Again - Reception

Reception

The album was well received by music critics. John Quaintance of Yahoo! Music called it "a remarkable album" and a "return to form" for Muddy Waters, commenting that "Johnny Winter, ... James Cotton, Pinetop Perkins, Bob Margolin, Charles Calmese and Willie "Big Eyes" Smith are all thrilled to be in the same room with Muddy, and it shows, as they lay down a serious foundation for the old master who struts and brags like it's 1950 again." Q called it "a guaranteed delight" for "students of the post-war blues", while Down Beat stated, "Singing, playful and proud, brawny and insistent, his free-flow of inspiration spreading to his superlative road band". Dan Oppenheimer of Rolling Stone magazine said that "Mannish Boy" sounded like it was recorded live, while both Oppenheimer and Daniel Gioffre of Allmusic state how powerful Willie "Big Eyes" Smith's drumming is. Oppenheimer and Gioffre both share the opinion that Hard Again is Muddy Waters comeback album. In The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004), Rolling Stone journalist Dave Marsh gave the album four out of five stars and commented that "Johnny Winter provided the sensitive production touch otherwise lacking on some of early '70s recordings."

In his consumer guide for The Village Voice, Robert Christgau gave the album an A rating upon its release, indicating "a great record both of whose sides offer enduring pleasure and surprise." He praised its "intensity", which he attributed to "the natural enthusiasm of an inspired collaboration", and remarked on its standing in Chicago blues, "except maybe for B.B. King's Live at the Regal and Otis Spann's Walking the Blues (oh, there must be others, but let me go on) I can't recall a better blues album than this." In a later review for Blender, Christgau found Muddy Waters to be in "virile voice" and commented that "all-star musicians and fresh prospects stimulate the excitement promised in the title."