Customer Reviews

The Real Thing

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Yeah, man, the "official" reviewer just doesn't get it AT ALL. This is one of the best ROOTS recordings EVER - and I don't say that lightly. Remember...this is 1971...LIVE, a 2 LP recording, at the Fillmore...I mean, the Allman Brothers - WITH DUANE - did their recording that same year. Now, how many acts could have gotten away with playing a tune with nothing but a banjo and a TUBA, for cryin' out loud! ("Tom And Sally Drake")? Taj Mahal, that's who. Taj engages the audience as well as anyone ("Gimme some help...GIMME SOME! - You can do it...if you're jacked up to it...) and standouts here are the norm. "You're Goin' To Need Somebody On Your Bond" is the groover, with Taj 'gettin spiritual' with the blues, and doing the back and forth with the crowd. Also a highlight is "Ain't Gwine Whistle Dixie No Mo'", where every band member gets a piece of the action, and my spine tingles at the thought of John Simon groovin' on the piano, and John Hall doing a GREAT guitar solo, and ending, with Taj whistling over the many horns. No, if you don't get it, you don't get it...but I was 15...and I got it. This is Taj's moment in Time, Live - History, I believe it's called - and he grabs on and holds tight. Any fan of blues, jazz, roots, gospel, or African-American music History has to consider this a MUST HAVE CD. Period.

I completely wore out my original double LP album listening to The Real Thing. And "REAL" it is. This is my favorite Taj Mahal album and one of the top five of my favorite blues albums of all time, considering that my Blues LP and CD collection exceeds 350 albums. The ochestration of traditonal blues songs played with by a typical blues band coupled with the backing brass section of Mr. Howard Johnson and friends, is more powerful than a B-52 air raid. I'm going to purchase a second copy of this album for my archives because I know I'll wear out this CD before long.

The "official" review doesn't take into account the power of this album as a whole. The chemistry is there, and this has the raw energy of the best blues. One of my favorite albums of all time.

Taj, an American original, put this band together in 1970 and toured with it during the winter of 1970-71. I saw them in an absolutely amazing concert in which they left an audience of college students hollering for more. After a set of Taj on steel bodied guitar, the four horn players came on stage, each holding a tuba! Blues with tubas! The horn players included Howard Johnson, a legendary sideman, and as you might expect, the tubas were replaced with a more traditional array of horns before too long. I went out and bought this album as soon as the campus record store opened the next day. I wore it out and bought another, which I've kept ever since.

Originally issued as a two record set, this disc consists partially of Taj playing his steel bodied guitar -- "Fishin' Blues" -- and partly cuts by the band -- "Sweet Mama Janisse," "Ain't Goin' To Whistle Dixie No Mo'," and "Goin' To Move Up To the Country and Paint My Mailbox Blue," among others.

Taj on steel bodied is entirely unique; no one does it better, and he has been the premier proponent of this genre of music for many years. These are good live cuts.

The horn band material is casual, even raucous, and entirely ecstatic. The sound is completely spontaneous and upbeat -- it doesn't even sound rehearsed. Don't expect studio sound or deeply introspective performances. This is a band out there jammin' and having fun. To me that's what makes this album special -- there's just no way to be sad while you picture four guys strutting around on stage with tubas, while the leader whistles or plays a penny whistle or harp, with a honky tonk piano on the side. Blues With a Feelin' indeed.

Glad to have this back again. I didn't know how I was going to replace my old vinyl version.

This is an excellent Taj Mahal CD. The album is fun and relaxing and must have been a great show to see. The quality of the music is great considering it was taken from a live performance. Although, a few times on the CD when Taj is talking between songs, the sound drops very quiet for a short time but quickly shoots back up to a good volume. The use of horns is a great change on this album and the other musicians on the stage sound great throughout. This is a good CD which will spice up any blues collection by providing a sound different from most other blues albums.

I'd been waiting for the CD release to replace two well-worn vinyl copies of this energetic, unique live performance. from the first time I heard this recording nearly 30 years ago, its become a treasure.

Taj Mahal and his back up band perform a variety of "great American folks tunes" with an intensity and ease seldom found in any performance. The music, no matter how old the tunes are, sounds fresh and displays a lack of datedness, pretense or restraint.

The instrumentation and arrangements are unusual (a banjo and tuba duet, for instance) and full of joy.

Great music and great fun---this is "The Real Thing"

I saw this concert at the old Shrine Auditorium in Pittsburgh in 1970. The whole building shook like an earthquake when they stuck the microphones down inside FOUR tubas and played.

Back in 1971 I was already a fan...based on the LP, "Natch'l Blues"...this LP saw Taj take a slightly different path albeit to the same destination...But what I remember most was the naturalness and ease of his performance, the haunting horns of Howard Johnson...and the lilting guitar work of John Hall (of the band, Orleans)...his solo on the tune "Ain't Gwine To Whistle Dixie No More"...stays with me still...I can still see them up there on the old Fillmore East stage...a temple to me and others like me from my generation....a brilliant set, by a brilliant artist and a pack of excellent musicians. I was there with my bud, Steve and we both were captivated by the sounds and the spirit of the night...I was also there when John Mayall recorded the genre-defining lp, the "Turning Point"...and both of these concerts remain to be highpoints of my musical youth. Buy it....you will not be disappointed...unless you are soul-less.
Vince DeLucia

An epic, sprawling, roots music masterpiece. This is an artistic statement on the level of Tom Sawyer or The Invisible Man (Ralph Ellison). The power in this music is the way it captures the chaos and tenderness of life in an utterly transcendent and inexplicable way. May sound strange to modern ears, so used to the polished and predictable tropes of the likes of *ahem* lyle lovett, or lucinda williams. This ain't no lucinda williams. This is one of the most slept on albums of all time (IMHO)- if you're one of the millions who bought the Oh Brother soundtrack (not knocking it, I happen to like the album) take it to the next level and check out this wonderful album.

Favorite track: You Ain't No Streetwalker Mama, But I Sure Do Love the Way You Strut Your Stuff.

Epic

Look-
Live albums are raw- there are mistakes/missed notes- but at their best- there's a fire/spirit that takes tunes you know to a whole new level.
This is such an album/experience.
Couple that with the brilliant TUBA section- a stellar rhythm section and (Congressman) John Hall on guitar- as well as the legendary John Simon on piano- and this is well worth your time and money.....