Customer Reviews

Beware of the Dog

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The most famous Hound Dog Taylor quote was: "When I die, they'll say: 'He couldn't play sh*t, but he sure made it sound good.'" This is a man who understands his appeal. Taylor played a beat-up guitar, and he cranked on the thing, playing distorted, screeching notes. But god, it DID sound good. And as the quote implies, he had the personality to go with the raucous, raw music that he played. Which is why this album is so good. It's live, so you can hear the sound imperfections, the screaming crowd, and Taylor's off-kilter banter and sense of humor. And that's probably the perfect way to listen to Taylor. To put it all another way: He plays a version of "She'll Be Coming 'round the Mountain" that makes you want to get up and dance.

Hound Dog's albums are all much of a piece: raw, stripped-down, exuberant "punk blues" that lack finesse but have feeling to burn. If pressed, I'd pick this one as his finest, because he and the HouseRockers ironically get a fuller and more powerful sound outside the studio -- this is a live album -- and, in the interplay between the tiny club audience and The Man, you can hear how much pure and simple joy he derived from his work. And, by returning that uplifting energy through his music, he was elevated to greatness.

Hound Dog Taylor (1916-1975),the six fingered man (yes,just look at the picture,he really got six fingers on the left hand !) was a giant of the Chicago blues.His guitar playing and his singing mostly remind of Elmore James.Here he is recorded live with his Houserockers, Ted Harvey on drums and Brewer Phillips on bass,at the Northwestern University of Evanston,Ill,and at the Smiling Dog Saloon,Cleveland,in 1974.Great versions of Elmore James' classics,"dust my broom" and "the sun is shining",and awesome originals like "kitchen sink boogie","let's get funky" (remember Magic Sam ?) or "it's allright". Hound Dog is one of the very underrated great Chicago bluesman, with J.B.Hutto.Let's have a ball with him now !

This is just a great classic album - It's like walking into a small club and hearing low down slide guitar and tough blues - I got this first on LP when it came out in 75 and it still sounds fresh and alive. Awesome.

This is the Hound Dog Taylor you should have seen live. But thank God for this awesome recording, you get to hear it, and you'll swear it's like you were really there. Raw, raw, raw sound that's always imitated but never duplicated; "Beware of the Dog" is definitely one of the top ten best live blues recordings ever made, EASILY. He and Philip Brewer and Ted Harvey set the standard for a blues power trio.

This album features the wild and rambunctious Hound Dog Taylor, who is most definitely the Ramones of the Blues. In other words, while his guitar playing is sloppy, his lyrics are sometimes unintelligible, and his music is monotonous, he is a lot of fun to listen to and keeps you tapping your feet. To those who are approaching the Blues from a technical guitar-playing angle, I do not recommend this album at all; you'd be much better off with Earl Hooker's "The Moon Is Rising". For those who like Punk Rock or maybe Heavy Metal, you'd probably be very pleased with this release. For aspiring slide players, this is a great pick. Though this music certainly doesn't have the lyrical content that a J.T. "Funny Papa" Smith or Blind Willie McTell disc might have, it's fun to "rock out" to this stuff. I recommend buying this disc.

Recorded in 1974, and released in 1976, shortly after Hound Dog Taylor's death in December, 1975, this is a terrific recording of Hound Dog Taylor and the Houserockers live in concert.

Hound Dog plays his customary enthusiastic slide guitar with the sawed-off leg of a kitchen chair, fellow guitarist Brewer Phillips gets off a couple of surprisingly good and coherent solos, and the fidelity is excellent.
The set opens with a tight, powerful rendition of Hound Dog's best (semi-)original song, the swaggering boogie "Give Me Back My Wig", and "It's Alright" and a cover of the classic "Rock Me" are almost as enjoyable. And we also get the customary gritty "Dust My Broom"-cover, and a somewhat absurd but quite irresistable "Comin' 'Round the Mountain" played as a (sligthly demented) up-tempo hillbilly-rave up!

Hound Dog's cheap Japanese guitar sound like hell as usual, but the sheer enthusiasm of it all, and Hound Dog's good-natured fooling around and silly comments in between songs, makes this quite irresistable, at least for those who are already fans. Newcomers should probably start with either "Hound Dog Taylor and the Houserockers" or "Natural Boogie".

This is a great live blues album. It's just a raw slide guitar masterpiece. The songs are varied. The audience is "into" the performances. There really ought to be more albums like this -- but this ranks right up there with the likes of the Stone's "Get Your Ya Yas Out" or live Johnny Winter. Not for everyone, and I only gave it four stars because the recording quality is poor, but it is a great addition to any music collection. You can definitely party to this music. I heard that Hound Dog Taylor had six fingers on each hand ... more better to hold a mixed liquor drink!

Hound Dog Taylor -Beware the Dog!, Muddy Waters -Live at Mr Kelly's, John Lee Hooker -Gold, The Nighthawks - Open All Night, Jimi Hendrix - RedHouse...these albums shaped my teen years and inspired me to play. Listening to Hound Dog and other blues greats led to my appreciation of jazz and made me a better listener, musician, and a better human being. Thanks Hound Dog!

These guys epitomize everything I like about the blues. It's a very stripped down band, just a drummer and two guitarists, no bass. Hound Dog had a dirt cheap guitar and a Sears amplifier. Most of the songs are very simple rhythms. This is not art rock.

And they played primarily just for the love of the music. For most of their careers they had day jobs. They played in local clubs in the evenings. They very seldom rehearsed if at all. They just liked playing blues.

This CD is a live recording. The band didn't know at the time that their performance was being recorded for an album. This was just a selection of songs from a typical performance. As you listen to this, imagine the smell of cigarrette smoke, and imagine being surrounded by a couple dozen smiling, laughing, joking and jiving people.