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The Natch'l Blues (`)

Taj Mahal

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Album Review

Taj Mahal's second album, recorded in the spring and fall of 1968, opens with more stripped-down Delta-style blues in the manner of his debut, but adds a little more amplification (partly courtesy of Al Kooper on organ) before moving into wholly bigger sound on numbers like "She Caught the Katy and Left Me a Mule to Ride" and "The Cuckoo" — the latter, in particular, features crunchy electric and acoustic guitars and Gary Gilmore playing his bass almost like a lead instrument, like a bluesman's answer to John Entwistle. Most notable, however, may be the two original closing numbers, "You Don't Miss Your Water ('Til Your Well Runs Dry)" and "Ain't That a Lot of Love," which offer Taj Mahal working in the realm of soul and treading onto Otis Redding territory. This is particularly notable on "You Don't Miss Your Water," which achieves the intensity of a gospel performance and comes complete with a Stax/Volt-style horn arrangement by Jesse Ed Davis that sounds more like the real thing than the real thing. "Ain't That a Lot of Love," by contrast, is driven by a hard electric guitar sound and a relentless bass part that sounds like a more urgent version of the bassline from the Spencer Davis Group's "Gimme Some Lovin'." The fall 2000 CD reissue includes a trio of bonus tracks: a faster-paced rendition of "The Cuckoo" with a more prominent lead guitar, the slow electric lament "New Stranger Blues" featuring some good mandolin-style playing on the guitar, and the rocking instrumental "Things Are Gonna Work Out Fine," which is a killer showcase for Davis' lead electric guitar and Taj Mahal's virtuosity on the harmonica.

Customer Reviews

Don't Forget Jesse Ed Davis

I'm an American Indian from OK. This album and the "One Step Closer" album has a slide guitarist named Jesse E Daivs on these and other Taj Mahal LP's. Jesse Ed was a Kiowa Indan from OK and was a successful session musician for all the top names in the business including Erice Clapton and George Harrison on his Live at Bengladish album and played with BB King. He even has a bootleg CD he recorded with John Lennon in CA.

just buy it right now

i love this one...hard to believe it's 40 years ago, but it still is among the best modern blues records since 1968. taj really goes into all kinds of blues and shuffles and his supporting cast is great too...jessie ed davis on guitar,,,wow, very cool indeed.

My "Ain't That a Lot of Love" addiction

“Ain’t That a Lot of Love” jacks in to the main nerve of American Pop. I can’t stop listening to it. I’m trying like hell to transcribe his version of the lyrics, which he largely rewrote. Even though I’m a casual fan of Sam & Dave (the original artists) and a Memphian, I had never heard or heard of their version. Ditto on Fabulous Thunderbirds, The Band, etc. Then one day in 2000, when I was house-sitting in rural Mississippi for a Woodstock-generation art professor who was in Europe with her British husband, I came across their VHS of the Rolling Stones Rock & Roll Circus, which features Taj and his band performing this song, minus the horn section. My snide comment about that performance itself was that when a singer and his band get high before a performance, they should all take the same drug. The skinny, pasty musicians seemed distracted or mystified by what they were doing, but still playing well enough. Taj was driving ahead like a drill sergeant who’d eaten coffee straight from the Folgers can. His rhythmic clapping (not in the studio version) seemed more like a high school band director’s desperate attempt to push the tempo than like a percussion effect. Anyhow, the song still put the hook in me, and I eventually bought the 1968 studio track from iTunes. Wow. As far great American best-kept secrets, it ranks with Otis Redding’s majestic, stupefying cover of “Papa’s Got a Brand-New Bag” recorded “In Person” at the Whiskey a Go-Go. My favorite reaction to the song came in 2006, when the ad agency I was working for was trying to land an account with the Memphis Grizzlies (NBA). The art department was putting together a video and slide montage to illustrate fan excitement. I was charged with finding a 20-second segment of “Memphis music” to back it up. I thought about Sam & Dave, Redding, Box Tops, Presley, Rev. Green, etc., but everything that immediately came to mind was either over-used, too distracting, or too flabby (sorry, Memphis Horns) for the “jock rock rolls through Memphis” vibe I needed. So I reached down deep and proposed this track. Taj Mahal is not a Memphis boy, but the song has enough Memphis heritage and Taj does sound a bit like Otis Redding here. I queued the track to 2:55 and handed the headphones to my boss, and the matter was settled immediately. The agency didn’t land the account, but the Grizzlies’ GM for business operations actually stopped their presentation to ask for the song title and artist. Baby, ain’t that a kindness?

Biography

Born: May 17, 1942 in New York, NY

Genre: Blues

Years Active: '60s, '70s, '80s, '90s, '00s, '10s

One of the most prominent figures in late 20th century blues, singer/multi-instrumentalist Taj Mahal played an enormous role in revitalizing and preserving traditional acoustic blues. Not content to stay within that realm, Mahal soon broadened his approach, taking a musicologist's interest in a multitude of folk and roots music from around the world — reggae and other Caribbean folk, jazz, gospel, R&B, zydeco, various West African styles, Latin, even Hawaiian. The African-derived heritage...
Full Bio

Top Albums and Songs By Taj Mahal

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