Taj Mahal "Taj Mahal" LP UK org 1968
£
40
$
53
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Description
Taj Mahal "Taj Mahal" LP UK org 1968
Label Direction S 8-63279
Matrix A/1 B/1
Chunky heavyweight Vinyl VG condition (non sounding hairlines, plays excellent)
Ernest J. Day sleeve front VG condition, rear not so good a little grubby
I've always had a soft spot for the Blues of Henry Fredericks from New York’s Harlem (Taj Mahal to you and I) - and this stunning 1968 self-titled "Taj Mahal" debut album still ranks in my books as one of the all-time-greats.
This debut album is the stuff of Blues-Rock legend - an absolute gem. Recorded in August 1967 (released early 1968) and Produced by Dave Rubinson - the band consists of guitarists Ry Cooder (credited as Ryland P Cooder) and Jesse Edwin Davis with veterans James Thomas on Bass and Charles Blackwell on Drums. Taj sang all the tunes and mainly stuck to harp playing except on the brilliant 8-minutes of "The Celebrated Walkin' Blues" where he puts in some great slide-guitar work. Other guests included Bill Boatman on Rhythm Guitar and Sanford Konikoff on Drums.
It opens with a blaster – a cover of a Sleep John Estes classic called "Leaving Trunk" where our hero had better leave before his lady's husband gets home. Immediately you're in the presence of a huge warbling Harmonica and those chucky flicking guitars – it's a fantastic updating of old world Blues – sort of like what Paul Butterfield's band did on Elektra Records a few years earlier. Blind Willie McTell provides us with the Boogie of "Statesboro Blues" where Taj wants his woman to "...wake up mama...turn your lamp down low..." Continuing in that wicked rollicking vein – we get another shuffling winner in the shape of "Checkin' Up On My Baby" written by another great Harmonica warbler Taj deeply admired - Chess Records' Sonny Boy Williamson. The perfection of Side 1 ends with another nugget from the pen of Sleepy John Estes - "Everybody's Got To Change Sometime". Once again the audio is magnificent – loud and ballsy but not too trebled to ruin it. Direction Records tried it as a UK 45 on Direction 58-3547 with "Statesboro Blues" as the flipside – but despite the strength of both sides – no one seemed to notice in early 1968.
Side 2 opens with the only Taj Mahal original on the album "E Z Rider" which Direction tried as a 2nd UK 7" single with "You Don't Miss Your Water" as its flipside (Direction 58-4044) but again it failed to raise a ripple. The band counts in that slide-guitar bar room slasher from Elmore James "Dust My Broom" which oddly enough is good only – more workmanlike than great. Things pick up with "Diving Duck Blues" again from the fertile pen of Sleepy John Estes where an inebriated Estes tells us that "...if a river was whiskey...I'd dive to the bottom and never come up..." (thirsty and dangerous work). But it ends on a tour-de-force – the near nine-minute Slow Blues of "The Celebrated Walkin' Blues". It's a Traditional arranged by Taj and it captures everything that was great about his house band – that chugging Cooder Guitar – sweetly complimentary Mandolin plucking while he warbles on the Harp inbetween pleading lyrics. It's brilliant - and by the time the tune hits that Rhythm Section entry about 2:20 mnutes – you’re won over. Great stuff...the only downer being its too short 33 mins, savour every minute.
UK POSTAGE free
EUROPEAN POSTAGE £6.00
REST OF WORLD POA
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