Customer Reviews

Old School

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Koko has never sounded better.This is the best cd since Queen of the blues.Five orginials,a couple of Willie Dixon's and a great cover of Magic Sam's All your love.

Her band is great and with Billy Branch on harp and a few with Steady Rollin' Bob Margolin on slide guitar they really cook.This is the best Chicago blues cd so far this year.

Old School is the new release from blues diva Koko Taylor, and just as the CD title declares, it's all about music that's the real deal. The atmosphere takes the listener right back to a simpler yet arduous era in time. As the vocal legend states on the CD liner, "This album is hardcore blues, down in the basement, far as you go. This album is the kind of blues I was listening to down south and when I first came to Chicago." She's talking about 1951. Seated at the back of a Greyhound bus, Koko arrived with no money and nothing but a box of Ritz Crackers. She left behind an existence of hard times and hard labor in the southern cotton fields and farms, only to find herself in a new life that wasn't much easier. However, the Chicago clubs on Saturday nights spurred excitement with the live shows of Little Walter, Muddy Waters, Otis Spann and others. Frequenting those clubs was her shining light.

An interesting thing about a new release from a seasoned blues veteran such as Koko Taylor, other than Koko herself, is that you know there's going to be some brilliant players on it. Musicians new and old makeup the three bands used to record this collection of old school music. To say there are a few fine guitarists on the CD is an understatement for sure. Brookline, Massachusetts' own Steady Rollin' Bob Margolin, of Muddy Waters and Johnny Winter fame, plays guitar and slide, while longtime Koko Taylor guitarist Criss Johnson, known also for his stints with Roy Buchanan and Otis Clay, plays guitar and shares the Producer role alongside Alligator President Bruce Iglauer and Koko. Vino Louden is on the record as well, Koko's lead guitarist and bandleader for the past ten years, as is Japanese born and bred Shun Kikuta, a well-known player in the Chicago area. Billy Branch's harmonica playing is incredible, and it often contains that James Cotton ruggedness. The piano skill of Brother John Kattke, also a prominent windy city pianist and guitarist, is truly amazing throughout. He adds stylish eloquence to much of the material. I could fill a page naming all of the fine musicians and others involved in making this record, but what's important is that it's Koko Taylor.

Koko invokes the spirit of the Chess Records era once again with five original compositions and seven others in Old School. She's certainly the purveyor of the 'feeling' she has for this fine American music. Without a doubt one of the great living blues icons, it's good to hear that her health problems of recent haven't gotten the better of her, and that she still possesses her potent vocal talent. Albeit it's her first recorded release in seven years, but Koko Taylor proves once again she's still the Queen of Chicago Blues.

Its been several years since Koko Taylor has had a new album. This is remedied by the new Alligator release, "The Old School." As the title suggests, the recording is directed to hard-hitting, old-school Chicago blues and includes five interpretations (most definitely not copies) of older songs along with some originals that Chicago's Blues Queen handles in her own hold-nothing back style. One track is by The Blues Machine, and the other eleven tracks have a studio band led by Criss Johnson and drummer Willie `The Touch' Sutton and guest appearances from Bob Margolin, Billy Branch an Kaz Kazanoff. Most of the new tunes are from Koko and 'Gonna Buy Me a Mule' is a striking song as she tells her man she's gonna take the place of him and the jaunty warning 'You Better Watch Your Step,' with Billy Branch (excellent through) playing some Jimmy Reed inspired harp. Bob Margolin adds slide guitar to Memphis Minnie's 'Black Rat,' and Lefty Dizz's 'Bad Avenue.' The arrangements of both tunes are a bit cluttered and the performances come off as too hectic. Criss Johnson who did the arrangements on this album, would have done well to have listened to Koko's first Alligator album, "I Got What It Takes," and have allowed more spaces in the backing, and not have come across overbearing like so much recent Chicago styled blues of the past few decades. I have no fault with Koko's performances as she sings really well here sounding so at home with the material. Its also nicely programmed with very nice covers of a couple songs associated with Muddy Waters, "Don't Go No Further," and "Young fashioned Ways." Just wish the attempt at being `old school' by the band had a bit more of a lighter swinging groove than they play with here. If I was giving this stars, 4 1/2 to Koko and 3 for the backing, or overall 4 stars.

And Koko Taylor continues: "...This album is the kind of blues I was listening to down South and when I first came to Chicago".

This is real blues, in other words. Gritty, greasy Chicago blues a la Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf. Biting drums, clanging R&B piano, and about half of these twelve tracks are graced by the presence of harpist Billy Branch as well.

Koko Taylor has penned five of these twelve numbers herself; the rest include two songs by Willie Dixon and one by Magic Sam. Fidelity is uniformly excellent, as are the arrangements, and the band is just about as good as it gets. Taylor's long-time guitarist Criss Johnson, "Brother" John Kattke at the piano, and several appearances by the aforementioned Mr Billy Branch and by Muddy Waters' former guitarist Bob Margolin, who plays howling slide guitar on a powerful cover of Memphis Minnie's "Black Rat". This is one of five or six tracks to feature both Margolin and Branch, and the combination is deadly!

There aren't any great surprises here, just hard and heavy, no-frills electric blues. Not every song is equally distinctive, sure, but when everything is so well arranged and played with such gusto, even a basically generic blues can come off sounding fresh and vibrant. And Taylor's voice is still strong, full of grit and character.

Highlights include the tough, swaggering "Piece of Man", the swinging piano-boogie of "You Ain't Worth a Good Woman" and "Better Watch Your Step", and Willie Dixon's irresistable, boasting "Don't Go No Further". But there are really no "lowlights" to be found; everything, from the slow grind of "Bad Avenue" to the harp-driven "Hard Pill to Swallow" is worth a listen. Many listens.

It is good to know that Koko Taylor is still around, still playing the blues. A lot of what people like to call "blues" these days is really rock, R&B or even pop, but this is the real thing. No posing, no sleekness, no overly slick production, just the blues, deep and raw and authentic.

The title of Koko Taylor's new CD, Old School, is a reaffirmation of the obvious. Taylor's formula hasn't wavered since she recorded Willie Dixon's "Wang Dang Doodle" in the early sixties. She makes no concession to modern musical styles, and she doesn't trouble herself with musical nuances like changes in dynamics: this is traditional, full-bore, overdriven Chicago Blues dressed in the same clothes it wore when it got off the Greyhound from Memphis.

So that begs the question: Given that unwavering consistency, why add yet another Taylor to the blues shelf?

The most compelling reason is the backup band. Although most of the arrangements here are typically too busy--it seems every musician has to be there on every beat--there are moments when Bob Margolin and Criss Johnson's guitars sting through the mix to remind us that there's yet some room left in the tradition-bound twelve-bar form for a bit of unique expression and exceptional fretwork. Most remarkable of all is the harmonica accompaniment of Billy Branch. Branch's full-throated harp on pieces like "Black Rat" is reminiscent of James Cotton's standout work with Muddy Waters, who was once Koko's male counterpart in the Chess rotation. Branch's work on "Money Is The Name of the Game," gives the tune a much-needed plaintive quality that Taylor's flat-out stridency (and tendency to lead the beat rather than lag it) fails to provide.

The benchmark of the album is the closer, Willie Dixon's, "Young Fashioned Ways." It's the only tune on the album where Taylor is backed by a band billed as "The Blues Machine." Sparse and muscular, The Blues Machine leaves space in the music where Taylor's energy has room to seep out. In this revived Dixon number, the 1950's Chess Records machine roars back to life.

Koko Taylor:

After seven long years of fans waiting for a new release from the Queen Of The Blues, it was worth the wait. Koko coming back from a gastrointestinal bleed in 2003 leaving her in the hospital for six months barely making it to stay alive. Well the soul of Blues Queen Taylor would not let her die. She starts off with Heyyyyyyy Ya'll on "Piece of Man" which is an original written by The Queen herself. This song has you patting your feet from the first second to the last.

Next is "Gonna Buy Me A Mule" which is another Koko Original. It has a nice "Old School" sound of the 1950's. The third song "Black Rat" more of an older traditional type of Blues song and a Memphis Minnie original is tough to beat. After that "Money Is The Name Of The Game" a slower (my favorite) takes you deep down into the basement and has you take a walk in her shoes. The fifth one "You Ain't Worth Good Woman" is another Koko Taylor Original which lifts you up with its upbeat tempo all throughout the song. The sixth track "Better Watch Your Step" is another upbeat tradiitonal style blues song that shows that the Queen isn't going to take any mess from her man!

"Bad Avenue" is a Muddy Waters classic which is exactly how Taylor sang this song, in Muddy Waters style. This song will take you back to the 1950's -1960's even if you weren't alive then. "Bad Rooster" asong written by E.G. Kight an upcoming Blues Queen, is where Taylor shows that she still has a lot of her vocal strength and that she's gonna "lay that bad rooster on the chopping block". "Don't Go No Further" is an upbeat Willie Dixon song which was done so perfectly by Taylor that you play it over and over again because of the line " If you looking for love Don't Go No Further and Bring It on Home To Me". "All your Love" a Magic Sam classic now becomes a Magic Sam/Koko Taylor classic and I'll leave it like that.

"Hard Pill To Swallow" the last Koko Taylor Originial album is a chilling steady tempo song that is sung so well that you actually believe your choking on a large pill. Finally "Young Fashioned Ways" another Willie Dixon classic was the perfect song to end her album because of this one line " I may be getting old, By I got young fashioned ways"

Band:

Bob Margolin on Slide Guitar and Billy Branch on the Harp stands out the most. Criss Johnson who has been recording with Koko Taylor for over 15 years also adds the "Old School" to this album. The horn section was great on all of the songs they played on especially "Don't Go No Further". Bob Margolin's solo on Bad Avenue helped take you back to the 1960's Chicago Blues Scene. Criss Johnson's solo on "Money Is The Name Of The Game" is what helped make it the "Walking The Back Streets" for Little Milton for Koko Taylor.

Overall:

The band players did a terrific job with backing up the Queen of The Blues on her comeback. Even Though the Queen of The Blues shows some wear and tear on some of her vocal qualities (after all of the struggles she had to go through), this album proves that she still is and will remain the Queen of The Blues.

I love this from Koko, I have listen to this everyday since buying it. It's too bad it was the last one from her. She still had a lot of great music left to play.

I had lost my Koko Taylor albums and recently purchased this one. It is nothing short of amazing, add the fact this woman was in her 70's when she recorded it and its over the moon. A must have for blues fans, and Koko Taylor fans alike. This album has some great tracks but #4 is by far my favorite. It has alot of meaning in today's world.

When I saw Koko Taylor's fiery performance at the 2006 Pocono Blues Festival, I knew we had not seen or heard the last of her. Given The Queen Of The Blues had a close brush with death and months in hospital in late 2003 and 2004, the fact that she is still "Fixing to go to work" at age 78 is amazing. Even more remarkable is the strength of her vocals and songwriting skills on Old School. She wrote five vibrant originals and chose seven others with a special meaning to her. Many are about relationships and contain age old blues imagery and analogies. The music on this disc comes with power, forcefulness, and a certain sexiness. It's the Queen's first album in seven years and one that quite frankly Bruce Iglauer "Thought would never be made." In a career that practically spans half a century, she's been recording for Iglauer's Alligator Records for over 30 years and continues to be their monarch.

Born just outside Memphis, Tennessee, Koko Taylor was influenced by the blues music she heard on the radio. At the age of 18, she moved to Chicago with nothing but thirty-five cents and a box of Ritz crackers. There, while singing in a club, she was discovered by Willie Dixon. "I love singing the real, old school blues," asserts Taylor. "This album is the kind of blues I was listening to down South and I when I first came to Chicago." That traditional style of electric blues, which now only attracts a small audience, is commonly misunderstood as boring. However, that isn't how these thrilling tracks come across.

If you've seen Taylor's energized show over the past several years, you'll not require the credits to confirm which adrenalin-laced track features her rockin' road tested Blues Machine band. On every other song, the young contemporaries step aside in favor of a band of lifelong musicians. With bellowing vocals and an unquestionable Chicago blues technique, Piece Of Man contains a classic Taylor sound. Bob Margolin's killer slide and Billy Branch's superb harp can be heard on Memphis Minnie's Black Rat and Lefty Dizz's Bad Avenue. Margolin is an old school aficionado who once referred to it as being a contagious disease. Like water into a sponge, you'll be so absorbed into the slow blues Money Is The Name Of The Game you will experience everything Taylor sings and each note Johnson plays. Now that's the blues.

Most of the songs where Criss Johnson - her long-time arranger - is the only guitarist have a contemporary feel due to his modern-day guitar sound. By nature, Johnson isn't an old school guitarist. On occasion he can't resist playing a practically distorted hard rock style guitar solo. Ironically, distortion was purposely a part of the old school sound thanks to cranked up old amplifiers. Mark Kazanoff's bursting sax, Jimmy Sutton's commanding upright bass, and Brother John Kattke's stellar piano help to keep the structure in the past on Gonna Buy Me A Mule. It and Better Watch Your Step are the CD's strongest selections. The former features Taylor's best vocals of the album. You Ain't Worth A Good Woman - a kickin' and fashionable song - contains Taylor's well known sass, strut, and funk, which is absent from the dragging rendition of Magic Sam's All Your Love.

I initially thought this CD had missed its mark of being an old school blues record because it is quite contemporary sounding. Upon realizing the goal was to create a blues record in the spirit of old school blues, I can honestly say the goal was exceeded two fold.

Koko Taylor was a lately acquired taste as I rambled through the Chicago blues milieu trying to figure out where the blues went after it left the Delta. By that I had became a devotee after Bessie Smith, Memphis Minnie and even Victoria Spivey. No question that Koko is now the reigning queen of that genre. Her big, big booming voice and forthright manner of telling her blues stories tells all as she does some remarkable covers of Willie Dixon tunes. And that is appropraite because if I recall Willie helped discover her for the old Chess Record label. But that is neither her nor there. For those who only know Koko from Wang Dang Doodle or Back Streets Crying then you are in for a treat.