In August 1975, Chess Records was sold to All Platinum Records and became a reissue label only. It was sometime after this when Muddy Waters left the label and he did not record any new studio material until he signed with Johnny Winter's Blue Sky label in October 1976.
Recording
The sessions for Hard Again were recorded across the space of three days. Producing the session was Johnny Winter and engineering the sessions was Dave Still – who previously engineered Johnny's brother Edgar, Foghat, and Alan Merrill. For the recordings Muddy used his touring band at the time, consisting of guitarist Bob Margolin, pianist Pinetop Perkins, and drummer Willie "Big Eyes" Smith. Other backing members during the sessions were harmonicist James Cotton and bassist Charles Calmese, who performed with both Johnny Winter and James Cotton in the past.
Songs
Three of the songs on the album – "Mannish Boy", "I Want to Be Loved", and "I Can't Be Satisfied" – were re-recordings of songs that were previously recorded for Chess Records. One of the songs recorded, "The Blues Had a Baby and They Named It Rock and Roll, Pt. 2", was co-written by Brownie McGhee and another song, "Bus Driver", was co-written by Terry Abrahamson. An outtake from the recording sessions, "Walking Through the Park", appeared on the 2004 Legacy Recordings reissue CD, while several more unused tracks appeared on King Bee in 1981.
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, Rolling Stone journalist Dave Marsh said "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 attributed the record's intense quality 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 I can't recall a better blues album than this." In a later review for Blender, the critic found Muddy Waters to be in "virile voice" and commented that "all-star musicians and fresh prospects stimulate the excitement promised in the title."
