Search - Otis Taylor :: Pentatonic Wars & Love Songs

Pentatonic Wars & Love Songs
Otis Taylor
Pentatonic Wars & Love Songs
Genres: Country, Blues, Pop
 
No one ever accused blues singer/composer/multi-instrumentalist Otis Taylor of overindulging in the brighter and happier aspects of the human condition. His songs are often peopled with characters whose emotional landscape...  more »

     
?

Larger Image

CD Details

All Artists: Otis Taylor
Title: Pentatonic Wars & Love Songs
Members Wishing: 2
Total Copies: 0
Label: Telarc
Release Date: 6/23/2009
Genres: Country, Blues, Pop
Styles: Contemporary Blues, Electric Blues, Acoustic Blues, Modern Blues
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 089408369025

Synopsis

Album Description
No one ever accused blues singer/composer/multi-instrumentalist Otis Taylor of overindulging in the brighter and happier aspects of the human condition. His songs are often peopled with characters whose emotional landscape - no matter how raw or dark - is laid bare for all to experience, and the story is often less than pretty.But if love - in any or all of its joyous and painful variations - is somewhere amid that confusing emotional swirl, he'll go there too. The result will by no means be syrupy, over-simplistic ballads obsessing over romantic love. Instead, Taylor's love songs take a hard, realistic look at the relative benefits and costs of what is perhaps the most confusing and unnerving of forces within the human heart.Taylor's new recording, Pentatonic Wars and Love Songs, throws a light on the complexities of love in all of its forms. In addition to Taylor's trademark haunting vocals and simple but stirring guitar riffs - a combination often referred to as trance blues - the album also features guest appearances by Irish blues-rock guitarist Gary Moore (previously heard on Taylor's Definition of a Circle in 2007) and jazz/hip-hop pianist Jason Moran.Within these songs of love are tales of tragedy and loss, misunderstanding and deception - but often a glimmer of hope as well. "That's just my nature," says Taylor. "I may write love songs, but they aren't always going to be happy and pretty. Look at songs like `Teen Angel' or `Ode To Billy Joe.' Those are love songs, but they aren't exactly happy. So why shouldn't my songs be considered love songs?""This is a different kind of endeavor for me," he says of the new recording. "I found myself saying, `What can I do after making a banjo album? What will people want to listen to?' My answer was love songs. I'm doing things here that I didn't have the opportunity to do on previous albums, things that people wouldn't normally expect from me, compared to what I've done so far. I think it's one of my best works because it has such unusual elements."

Similarly Requested CDs

 

CD Reviews

Hats off to Mr. Taylor
E. Taylor Atkins | Sycamore, IL United States | 07/07/2009
(4 out of 5 stars)

"I've been a fan of Otis Taylor's music since White African and Respect the Dead. Those albums had a raw power that was missing from so much contemporary blues. Taylor combines the best aspects of the blues at its most "primitive" musically and lyrically, as exemplified by John Lee Hooker -- wicked riffs and dark grooves, relatively stark and simple lyrics that search out new wrinkles and nuances with each repetition. To these he added new instrumental textures (electric mandolin, for instance) and a sophisticated command of African-American history, with which he constructed story-songs. With each subsequent album, he has pushed himself as an arranger and added new instrumentation: cellos, violins, cornet, organ, trap drums, and here on Pentatonic Wars, African hand drums. This tendency always makes me approach a new Otis Taylor album with trepidation. I'm not always sure I like it as instantly as I did White African. BUT repeated listens have always proven Mr. Taylor's genius. By the third listen, I'm totally in awe of his abilities to maintain those core elements that first drew me to his music, while still expanding his range as a musician and arranger.

I used to DJ a public radio blues program in downstate Illinois. Whenever I played country blues or piano blues, someone would call in and complain; they had a very narrow sense of what "blues" is, meaning they insisted on loud electric guitar solos and thought Chicago blues was all there was. If you are one of "those" people, don't bother with Otis Taylor. But if you can accept blues as a sensibility rather than a "genre" of music, Otis Taylor is your man. I will continue to give him my money and let him guide me on his blues journey."
Absolutely Incredible
H. Carson | Crawford, CO | 06/27/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)

"The title (AFI) says it all. Otis has done it again. Though he describes his music as "Transnational Blues," it's more "Trans-Galactic Interspatial Harmony." Some of the sweetest but heart-breaking music, followed by tunes that may me want to pay tribute to him as the Pharaoh Sanders/Sun Ra of the banjo Gary Moore on lead accompanies on many of the songs. I have had the pleasure of seeing him and his daughter Cassie (bass player and vocalist with the sweetest voice imaginable) here in Paonia at the Paradise Theater (he'll be back Aug 1). I play him regularly on my jazz and blues shows on the local public radio station at kvnf.org.



Hugh Carson

[...]"
Simply Beautiful
R.L. Marcus | Roseville, MN USA | 09/12/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)

"This cd has some of the most beautiful music I have heard in a long time. And if you have a CD player or receiver that decodes HDCD it is even better (yes, it is recorded in HDCD but not labeled as such - at least with my eyes). The music is dreamy, the sounds float in and out and tickle your brain. I have 4 other CDs and to me, this is the best yet. I saw Otis and band at the Bayfront Blues Festival in August - Otis, Cassie Taylor, Anne Harris and Chuck Campbell. It was a highlight of the weekend. I did not know this CD was released before that. So glad I found out. Amazing live, amazing recorded."