Essential Taj Mahal

Taj Mahal | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 16, 2005)
• Original Release Date: 2005
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B000A7Q2FA
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,078 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #1 in Music > Blues > Acoustic Blues
  • #13 in Music > Blues > Modern Blues
  • #16 in Music > Blues > Electric Blues

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

52 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 33 years of music in 150 minutes, August 19, 2005

By 

hyperbolium (Earth, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Essential Taj Mahal (Audio CD)

Condensing Mahal's lengthy catalog into a two-disc set is a nearly impossible task. To make it work, Columbia pulled together material from its own vaults (representing Mahal's recordings from 1967 to 1976), as well as sides from Warner Brothers (1977), Gramavision (1986, 1991), Private Music (1991 to 1998) and Hannibal (1999 to 2000). That's a healthy chunk of Mahal's oeuvre, shorting a few children's albums from the late '80s and recent works that are readily available. To insure that the arc of these two discs reflected the self-portrait Mahal painted across his recording career, they left the track selection to the artist.

The thirty-six selections do an admirable job of reflecting Mahal's deep roots in the blues and the excursions of discovery and synthesis that have kept his records vital for over thirty years. Columbia's earlier 3-disc set "In Progress & In Motion 1965-1998" offers more tracks, but many of them were unreleased or rare works aimed at collectors. This Essential set provides a more focused helping of Mahal's regular releases. In comparison, disc one of the Essential set mostly duplicates tracks offered on the box set, adding only "The Celebrated Walkin' Blues" "Country Blues #1" and "Happy to Be Just Like I Am." Disc two, on the other hand, provides 11 (of 18) tracks that weren't on the box. These include works from his year on Warner Brothers ("Love Theme in the Key of D") and several sides released by Private Music and Hannibal. I've always found the earlier sides to be more compelling, but a balanced retelling of Mahal's music requires a spin of the later work.

In addition to stellar blues tracks (including early work recorded with Ry Cooder, Jesse Ed Davis and Al Kooper, and some truly fine National steel-body guitar picking), there are great surprises in Mahal's catalog. Goffin & King's Brill Building classic "Take a Giant Step" (famously recorded by The Monkees") is turned to island folk, and the trucker standard "Six Days on the Road" takes a blues turn that's still suitably pill-fueled. His excellent work with brass (particularly tuba master Howard Johnson) is represented by a 1971 live-at-Fillmore-East recording of "Ain't Gwine Whistle Dixie (Anymo')" and 1972's "Cakewalk Into Town." Also from 1972 is the unusually arranged "Texas Woman Blues," with the Pointer Sisters adding vocal harmonies to Mahal's lone bass accompaniment. The Pointers gospel-influenced vocals also provide the decoration for Mississippi John Hurt's "Frankie & Albert."

Mahal's collaborations with Etta Baker, Hall & Oates, Sheryl Crow, and players from Little Feat and The Hooters turn up on disc 2, along with an ever expanding repertoire that takes in soul and jazz classics such as Otis Redding's "That's How Strong My Love Is" and Horace Silver's "Senor Blues," as well as Caribbean and Hawaiian forms. Like other "Essential" releases of deep-catalog artists (e.g., Johnny Cash), this serves as both a listenable career anthology and a roadmap to exploration of the individual releases. The chronological arrangement of the tracks allows the progress of Mahal's music to unfold organically, and the discographical notes tie each track to its originating album and accompanying musicians. [©2005 hyperbolium dot com]

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Totally satisfied and totally tickled too!, September 6, 2006

By 

Radio Deadon "radiodeadon" (uk) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Essential Taj Mahal (Audio CD)

Aahh yes the Taj!! I've been searching for the track "Satisfied and Tickled too" for years. The original album from the mid 70's just doesn't seem to be available anywhere on cd, so what a surprise when an old friend returns from a holiday in Florida and presents me with the Essential cd and yes folks this really is an essential album. As a previous buyer said there is something about the track Satisfied and tickled too that just makes you want to play it over and over again. Mind you there a quite a few tracks on this collection that also merit the repeat button. This is a great 2 cd compliation, there is a more comprehensive 3 cd set called "In progress and In motion" but basically if your new to the Taj this Essential collection is the perfect start. You really will be satisfied. Long live the Taj.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Satisfied and Tickled, January 23, 2006

By 

Travis Dubya McGee Bickle "elitist duffer" (Texas Quail Hunting Camp) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Essential Taj Mahal (Audio CD)

On a recent NPR segment, they asked people on the street what song they would choose to listen to, if they had to listen to it for 24 hours straight. My song, I think, would have to be "Satisfied N' Tickled, Too"...Don't what it is, but I have a nearly insatiable craving to hear it again after the final notes fade...

But everything you need by Taj is here, from classics like "Take A Giant Step" to more modern fare like "Senor Blues"....it's all there, and it all, dare I say it? satisfies...