Search - Taj Mahal :: Recycling the Blues/Oooh So Good N Blues

Double Your Pleasure

Ron Dragano | Saugus, Ma USA | 12/28/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Two albums, long unavailable, now are combined on one CD- sweet deal. Early Taj, bright and shining- a master of the roots of the blues and heart of folk tunes - no band or orchestral arrangements, mostly just Taj and guitar or banjo or piano or kalimba or whatever - intimate, with vocals -raspy, sweet and sexy deep and always soulful.

This is the stuff that put him on the map. Though artists need to explore, change, evolve, it's a shame we couldn't freeze him into sticking with these early years as he revives the music of the Delta, Texicana and the Piedmont in his own unique way. Taj brought something into the arena of pop music that was almost lost, that some of us dreamed of when we heard the likes of Patton or Son House, Etta Baker - Here's one guy playing the blues so bad it hits your stomach like wine from the vine of joy somehow sprouting up, bursting through the rocks of hard times, bad times and sorrow."