Want to be proud of something from Colorado? Check out
Colorado’s real blues legend’s new album. Recorded in Colorado at
Immersive Studios and mastered by David Glasser at Airshow, this 2LP, 200 gram,
45RPM audiophile recording is an absolute showcase of everything good about our
music scene. Not only is Colorado exploding with young, fresh talent, but we
also have world-class engineering facilities and a legacy artist who is
legitimately one of a handful of REAL blues artists left on earth. Otis Taylor
is the real deal in so many different ways; he is a fiercely independent
musician who makes the music in his head come out in a totally unique way. He
has no precedent or antecedent. Like any of the great bluesmen, one listens to
Otis and has to wonder where this came from. Hey Joe might very well be
Otis’ greatest album. It is singular in his catalog. It flows like one long
dream sequence. Blues, rock, jazz, trance - it all appears from a boiling stew
of angst and slices of the human condition. Somehow, Otis expands the basic
plot and theme of the classic song “Hey
Joe” into various meditations on everything from love to hate to tranvestitism.
Yes, like all of Otis Taylor’s albums it is unpredictable. Just like the
various guest artists who pop up; Ron Miles sounding like Miles Davis in a
Sergio Leone movie, Warren Haynes plays a couple of scorching solos, Billy
Nershi picks some sweet acoustic, Langhorne Slim adds subtle vocals, but the
star remains the Cumulus Nimbus of emotion and talent that is Otis Taylor. He
really is unlike any other performer alive and he’s ours. And his new LP is
OURS. For the time being, Twist and Shout is the only place this beautiful and
collectible LP is available. I cannot recommend this album highly enough. It is
a superlative listening experience, and an important addition to the blues
legacy.
- Paul Epstein
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