Customer Reviews

Music Fuh Ya' Musica Para Tu

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

 

 

What would you think if Taj Mahal took a moderate step outside the blues and tried his hand at calypso music? Well, here is your chance to find out. For my money he pulls it off brilliantly. There isn't a single bad track here. Every song is inflected with steel drums and/or Caribbean rhythms, some more than others, but all to good effect. Even the Elizabeth Cotton blues classic "Freight Train" gets the treatment. Don't let that scare you though; Taj clearly respects the original and his interpretation enhances rather than diminishes it.

If I have one complaint it's that the album is too short.

Track List:
-You Got It
-Frieght Train
-Baby, You're My Destiny
-Sailin' Into Walker's Cay
-Truck Driver's Two Step
-The Four Mills Brothers
-Honey Babe
-Curry

Long ago when I was a cultural virgin & was only remotely aware of the "blues," I somehow infered that this Taj Mahal had something to do with them & bought this. Thirty years later I think this is one of best musical recordings ever & probably led to this white boy being mesmerized by reggae.

From the opening "You Got It," the ubiquitous steel drums anounce "calypso," but you can tell that Taj is truly moved by this music; if I remember the album label, they're all orig. tunes but for Liz Cotton's "Freight Train."

To the newcomer, some of the name allusions may sound foreign: Adam Clayton Powell & Percy Heath from "Walker's Cay" & Rudy Vallee from the album's hi-lite, "The Four Mills Brothers." This is a true orig., tho, although as the previous reviewer noted, it's a bit short.

This has always been my favorite Taj album, but I haven't heard it in years (since my turntable gave up the ghost). Just got a new one that digitizes, so I'm finally hearing it again. And it's amazing how fresh this sounds! It's a nice bridge between his earlier folk/blues/rock and the more recent Hawaiian influenced stuff, which I also love. The steel drums and laid back Caribbean feel behind that great smokey voice is putting a huge grin on my face!

UPDATE: Just found out this has been released as part of a compilation: Sing a Happy Song, which can be downloaded for as little as $13.99.

This is Taj Mahal's masterpiece--his "Astral Weeks" so to speak. Here he is not merely rehashing classic blues, he is giving us great original tunes and a couple covers of more obscure tunes--with a stellar 7-piece Caribbean band that features pan (steel drums), sax, percussion, bass, and drums. This CD is just so pleasant. The only quibble with this CD is that it is very short--it would have been nice if it had a couple of bonus tunes from the same band (such as "Queen Bee"), but is is better to have a CD with every track a gem than to have something like "Sing A Happy Song"--which adds a great deal of filler that completely dilutes the quality of the CD and by that very fact dissuades listening. This is a CD that should never be out of print. It is a classic.

What a great album - I have owned it since it was released over 30 years ago and I come back to it with great fondness several times a year. The island groove with layered steel drum is enough to warm the coldest winter, spice the finest summer day. My LP copy sounds so good - but a CD re-release to lower the high prices now asked would be welcomed.

Look for this one in the used shops and buy it right away!