Customer Reviews

Deluxe Edition

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

There's something ironic, if not oxymoronic about 20 bit digital remastering of the music of a man who played on a cheap japanese teisco guitar and amp with blown speakers! But You'll have to admit, the distortion never sounded so good. This is a remastered greatest hits type album, although "Sadie" and a couple others are missing. However, in their place you'll find a couple previously unissued gems. If you're like me, you already have most of these songs, but you can never get enough Hound Dog. And if you want to buy your 1st Hound Dog, this would be a great choice.

A slide guitarist of the Elmore James school, Theodore Roosevelt Taylor and his bass-less Houserockers played raw, nasty-sounding blues n' boogie long on energy and short on subtleties. Other blues guitarists used distortion before Taylor, but he explored it to depths only previously investigated by white rock guitarists, blasting his tonal mayhem through cheap Japanese guitars and Sears & Roebuck amplifiers.

This collection gathers (most of) the best tracks from Taylor's all-too-brief recording career (he died four years after setting foot in a studio for the first time), including the supremely groovy semi-slow blues "See Me In The Evening", the blustery instrumental "Walking The Ceiling", the funky "She's Gone", and takes on Elmore James' "Wild About You Baby", "Shake Your Moneymaker" and "The Sun Is Shining". Tampa Red's "It Hurts Me Too" is here as well, in an incredibly fuzzy, sloppy rendition which somehow still manages to sound compelling.

Taylor's best (semi-)original song is also included, the catchy boogie "Give Me Back My Wig", and a hidden bonus track at the end of the CD features Hound Dog Taylor on-stage telling one of his patented incomprehensible jokes.
"Deluxe Edition" doesn't collect everything of Taylor's that's worth a listen, and a couple of selections are very much debatable, but as an introduction it works very well, and it does manage to include virtually all of his very best songs.

I have a collection of about 300 blues cd's and this is one of the grittiest of my entire collection. He doesn't make it sound pretty or even clean. This is the straight dirty stuff. His energy and enthusiasm for the blues makes him one of my most favorite artists. Definitely an essential for everyones collection.

Maybe I'm biased because I've seen him too. 1974 in a tiny bar on the south side of Chicago. His smile lit the room. I'll never forget it! And that sound! It's just never been matched. Listen for yourself.

I liked this CD. Hound Dog Taylor at his best. The songs on this CD are traditional Hound Dog Taylor. If you like the blues, you'll like this CD.

Imagine if Muddy Waters jammed with Kurt Cobain up in R&R heaven. Playing a department store guitar through a busted amp, Hound Dog creates a joyful noise. Neil Young would kill to sound like this.

This is a great intro to the real blues, by one of the masters. Raw, hard core, and filled with the energy of spontaneous combustion. No slick production here. If this music doesn't make you move then nothing will.

I loved the Hound Dog man even before George Thoroughgood ever heard of him. Hound Dog sounds just like the blues bands I went to see in the 60s in some run down lookin, jivin, juke joint under a bridge some where. The music is raw blues. This cat had the Elmore James sound cookin all the time on his songs. If you love Elmore, you will love "The Dog." In this compilation it sounds like almost all of the recordings were live and I love it when Hound Dog is bantering with the audience...just like the old club days...I am there again. I really think he gets down on "Roll Your Money Maker," and "Give Me Back My Wig." I just ain't ever goin give back my cd of "The Hound Dog and The House Rockers." It is locked in my vaults forever. Buy it and when you play it you will be booging all over the place. Now buy this sucker now before it is too late.

This is a remastered set which serves as an anthology of Hound Dog Taylor's work on the Alligator label. It also contains a couple of unissued tracks and some live cuts. Hound Dog Taylor was a rather obscure blues musician with a few rare singles issued when Bruce Iglauer saw him play at Florence's in Chicago during the early seventies. His music was so energetic, raucous, and raw that Iglauer decided he had to start a record label to record the unjustly obscure Taylor. With much hard work Alligator records was formed and recorded four albums by Taylor before he died. The gregarious Taylor had a trio consisting of himself on guitar and vocals, Brewer Phillips on rhythm guitar, and Ted Harvey on drums. Taylor could play slide guitar like the reincarnation of Elmore James and was adept at either the raucous boogie numbers for which he is well known or slow burning blues numbers. His style influenced such people as George Thorogood, Studebaker John, and Lil' Ed. This disc contains many highlights such as "Give Me Back My Wig", "Take Five", "She's Gone" and "See You In The Evening." A couple of my favorites "Sadie", "It's Alright", "Taylor's Rock", and "Gonna Send You Back To Georgia" were not included. However the disc is still excellent. Lovers of high energy blues and slashing slide guitar playing will become addicted and purchase the rest of Hound Dog Taylor's discs. The Hound Dog Taylor Tribute album on Alligator is also great and contains performances by a number of the musicians who were influenced by Taylor.

even if you think you have all the Hound Dog you need, you need this disc. Stop reading and order it. (I gave it only 4 stars because a) most of the material is available elsewhere, and b) there's always room for improvement.)