Personnel: Muddy Waters (vocals, guitar); Muddy Waters; Johnny Winter (vocals, guitar); James Cotton (vocals, harp); Bob Margolin (vocals, guitar); Pinetop Perkins (vocals, piano); Willie "Big Eyes" Smith (drums).
Additional personnel: Charles Calmese (bass guitar); Pinetop Perkins, Willie "Big Eyes" Smith, Bob Margolin.
Audio Mixers: Dave Still; Mark Williams .
Liner Note Author: Bob Margolin.
Recording information: The Palladium, New York, The Masonic Temple Theatre, De (03/04/1977-03/18/1977); The Tower Theatre, Upper Darby, PA (03/04/1977-03/18/1977).
Photographers: Jim Marshall ; David Gahr; Paul Natkin; Susan Winter.
Muddy Waters's career was revitalized in the 1970s when he fell in with Johnny Winter, recording the classic HARD AGAIN and a good deal of live material with Winter and singer/harmonica player James Cotton. BREAKIN' IT UP, BREAKIN' IT DOWN culls from these same live recordings, and features material that wasn't included on MUDDY 'MISSISSIPPI' WATERS LIVE or the subsequent expanded version of that album.
Fans of Waters's music (and his '70s work in particular) will find much of the old magic here. Waters lets loose on several numbers, including his classics "I Can't Be Satisfied" and "Got My Mojo Workin'," while Winter and Cotton offer takes on other blues gems (Winter turns in a smoking version of John Lee Hooker's "I Done Got Over It," for example). The recordings feature chops galore, but never at the expense of that vintage South Chicago sound.
Professional Reviews
Dirty Linen (p.79) - "Waters, in particular, was in fine form....This is a very hot, enjoyable souvenir of a wonderful tour."
Living Blues (p.58) - "Blues has seldom been more fun than this; it's a party from beginning to end....Take a journey back to a time when this kind of unfettered enthusiasm could be enjoyed without irony and without reservation. This is the real thing."
