jsREVIEW:

This is the album that Alligator Records was created to release— a smoking, gritty slide-guitar blues album that pretty much defines what electric blues is all about.

And what else is there to say? Taylor’s guitar has a squall to it that would sink ships, and the duo backing him (Brewer Phillips and Ted Harvey) are sharp and capable. They’re essentially playing Electric Delta blues, a rawer and more minimal style than the Electric Chicago blues played by B.B. King and T-Bone Walker. In that way, this album can be seen as a direct bit of music ethnography, tracing the rhythms and sound of the Dirty South as brought to the post-war North, a kissing cousin to Memphis and strangely removed from the Texas and even other Chicago blues of the time.

This is my favorite kind of blues, raw and rhythmic. While there’re a few quotes in these blues, there’s no cliche, and the ragged tones come across as unique where a lesser player might make them sound contrived. And this is one of the few albums where I can definitely say that the vinyl is better— the CD just doesn’t reflect the warmth of Phillips’s backing (which gives Taylor’s jagged riffs a fair contrast).

And “Give Me Back My Wig” is going on the very next mixtape I make, I promise.