HOUND DOG TAYLOR
and the HOUSEROCKERS
DELUXE EDITION
Alligator 5605
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This is the raw treble infested blues espoused by Hound Dog Taylor. His trademark no bass guitar to be found for miles around, and cheap Japanese guitars played through the even cheaper Sears Roebuck amps, blues with layers of distortion. Backed only by a second guitar, and a wild and tumultuous drummer, this 6-finger slide guitar master produced some of the wildest music to stretch out of the South Side of Chicago. To help this sound achieve its maximum desired effect tuning was not obligatory. This is the way he liked it. Raw Raw Raw. Sounds like the makings of a fine headache, and I guess for some it was. But to his legion of fans (me being one) this is the Blues, as he saw it. This disc just doesn’t stop and allow one to catch one’s breath. It is part of a fantastic new series from Alligator. A series of artist retrospectives, DELUXE EDITION, is just what it claims to be, a remastered, remixed, and repackaged showcase of the best of the careers of these artists. Taylor is one of those rare blues men that wanted you up and dancing from the first notes to the very last squealing, snarling, and bleeding notes of his distorted guitar faded down into an obscure ringing silence, that seemed to have its own corrupted distortion. The only complaint one can have of this disc is that he only recorded for an all too brief 4 years, but this disc culls some of the best of that much too brief career in the studio. As an added bonus on this disc, as well as displaying some of the best from his 5 albums, there are 2 previously unreleased tracks. One of these tracks is a live take of PHILLIPS’ THEME, which lets Brewer Phillips show off his often overlooked skills as a guitarist. The world lost a wonderful performer when Hound Dog passed away, but we are much the richer for his having been here, in more ways than we knew. His wild and woolly blues was the energy force and excitement that caused Bruce Iglauer to
start Alligator Records just to record the excitement he felt that night all these years ago in Florence’s Lounge on the South Side. The sheer raw force that resided in this man that was released in his music is captured on this disc. It is one that should not be missed.
Songs and times
1 WILD ABOUT YOU, BABY - 3:38 - James
2 THE SUN IS SHINING - 4:15 - James
3 ROLL YOUR MONEYMAKER - 4:00 - Taylor
4 GIVE ME BACK MY WIG - 4:36 - Taylor
5 WALKING THE CEILING - 3:16 - Taylor
6 SEE ME IN THE MORNING - 4:58 - Taylor
7 PHILLIPS GOES BANANAS - 2:37 - Phillips
8 IT HURTS ME TOO - 3:52 - Whittaker
9 WHAT’D I SAY - 2:54 - Charles
10 ROCK ME - 3:49 - Broonzy & Crudup
11 PHILLIPS’ THEME - 6:30 - Taylor
12 TAKE FIVE - 2:42 - Taylor
13 SHE’S GONE - 3:49 - Taylor
14 AIN’T IT LONESOME - 5:26 - Taylor
15 AIN’T GOT NOBODY - 3:31- Taylor
HOUNDDOG TAYLOR and the HOUSE ROCKERS
Theodore Taylor - guitar and vocal
Brewer Phillips - guitar
Ted Garvey - drums
Deluxe Edition Produced by Bob DePugh, Bruce Iglauer, David Forte