Koko Taylor - Royal Blue (2000)

Artist: Koko Taylor
Album: Royal Blue
Rating AMG: 3
Release Date: Jun 6, 2000
Label: Alligator
Genre: Blues, Styles: Modern Electric Chicago Blues, Chicago Blues, Vocal Pop
Time: 53:08
Format/Bitrate - mp3, 320 kbps
Size: 80 + 48 Mb

Вновь в Клубе Koko Taylor. Этот диск был записан в 2000-ом году после семилетней паузы. Номинировался на Грэмми.

Titles:
1. Save Your Breath
2. Hittin' on Me
3. Bring Me Some Water
4. But on the Other Hand
5. Don't Let Me Catch You (With Your Drawers Down)
6. Blues Hotel
7. Fuel to Burn
8. Man Next Door, The
9. Old Woman
10. Ernestine
11. Keep Your Booty Out of My Bed
12. Keep Your Mouth Shut and Your Eyes Open

Personnel: Koko Taylor (vocals); B.B. King (vocals, guitar); Keb' Mo' (vocals, National steel guitar, harmonica); Criss Johnson, Kenny Wayne Shepherd (guitar); Matthew Skoller (harmonica); Mark Colby (tenor saxophone); Johnnie Johnson, Ken Saydak (piano); Dolpha Fowler Jr. (organ); Kenny Hampton (bass); Kriss T. Johnson (drums).

Principally recorded at Chicago Recording Co. and Streeterville Studios, Chicago, Illinois.

ROYAL BLUE was nominated for the 2001 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album.

Продолжение текста / More text
For her first album in seven years, Koko Taylor returns with a flurry of gritty material and a roster of guest royalty befitting the Queen of the Blues. Kicking things off with the fiery "Save Your Breath," Taylor keeps the temperature high with swaggering originals like the stop-start "Don't Let Me Catch You (With Your Drawers Down)" and the gutbucket blues "Ernestine" (featuring Johnnie Johnson's supple piano playing). The most impressive self-penned number is "The Man Next Door," a duet with Keb' Mo' with a stripped-down arrangement featuring a reigned-in vocal turn by Taylor goosed along by Mo's twangy National Steel guitar and wailing harmonica.
Elsewhere, the Queen mixes it up with young hotshot Kenny Wayne Shepherd (a searing cover of Melissa Etheridge's "Bring Me Some Water") and meets up with regal counterpart B.B. King (the crackling "Blues Hotel"). Taylor also has fun leisurely tearing into Ray Charles's "But On The Other Hand" and maintaining her bawdy image with the no-nonsense "Keep Your Booty Out Of My Bed."

Review Al Campbell, AMG:
Royal Blue is the first Alligator release from Koko Taylor since 1993's Grammy nominated Force of Nature. This is a mainly up-tempo set with excellent support from several guest appearances by B.B. King, Johnny Johnson, Ken Saydak, and Kenny Wayne Shepherd who contributes some scorching guitar on the Melissa Ethridge-penned hit "Bring Me Some Water." Taylor not only co-produced this release but wrote four of the 12 tracks, including the acoustic "The Man Next Door." On this track, the combination of Koko's passionate voice with Keb Mo's gritty Delta slide guitar makes you wish she would move further in this direction on future releases. Royal Blue proves Koko Taylor is still the undisputed queen of the blues.

Rolling Stone (9/14/00, p.180) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...ROYAL shows that this blues lioness still has her bite, and plenty of roar."
CMJ (5/29/00, p.26) - "...The pipes may be all of 65 years old, but the Queen of Chicago Blues can still rip it up like nobody else."
Down Beat (9/00, p.64) - 4.5 stars out of 5 - "...A major production number, complete with guest stars and contemporary material....The interaction of B.B. King and Koko is classic stuff..."
JazzTimes (11/00, p.68) - "...[She] roars with a gale force....Taylor is in classic earth-shakin' form....A lot of versatility.


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