Day 0375 - Hard Again

Muddy Waters "Hard Again" (1977) - got it

Muddy let's everyone know how hard he is... thanks Mud'

Muddy had recently parted company with Chess Records after some 28 years and set out to prove that he still had it: spoiler: he did!

I find that the blues... I can take em or leave em. My issue with them is much the same as my problems with reggae, that there is some good material, but that over the runtime of an album it all starts to sound a bit 'samey'.  I belive that part of the draw with the blues is the stories, but as I don't spend much time listening to lyrics, that doesn't elevate the material at all for me.

With that all said, this album is at another level. Hard is in fact one of the better adjectives to describe these tracks, and the arrangements are pretty straightforward.  The vocals are unadorned and passionate, and this music rocks!  There are some tracks here that would give Hendrix a run for his money as far as rocking, deep-grooving blues go.

This is an album that I actually picked up as a result of listening to it for this list.

Day 0281 - Let's Get it On

Marvin Gaye "Let's Get it on" (1973) - got it

Marvin follows up his hugely successful, deeply political "What's Goin' On" with his deeply sexual "Let's Get it On".

Though the politics had gone, this is still not a totally laid-back affair, with Marvin at times desperate and pleading in his desire.  This albums has elements of the 'song suite' approach that Marvin had used on his previous album and would use again on 'Here My Dear'; but unlike the previous release, he doesn't reuse the same musical ideas/themes quite as much, there's a bit more variety, with the Get it On theme only reappearing later in the album.

I read a semi-autobiography on Gaye a while back, and apparently the woman who would go on to be his next wife walked into the studio just before he recorded the title track.  One of his musicians said that with her in the room, his vocals went from 80% to 100%!  That genuine lust and need (along with some loose, burning seductive grooves and slinky bass-lines) make this a benchmark bedroom album.