- 1 Chainey Do
- 2 Sweet Mama Janisse (1970 Version) (1970 Version)
- 3 Yan-Nah Mama-Loo
- 4 Tomorrow May Not Be Your Day (1970 Version) (1970 Version)
- 5 I Pity the Poor Immigrant
- 6 Jacob's Ladder
- 7 Ain't Gwine Whistle Dixie (Any Mo')
- 8 Sweet Mama Janisse
- 9 You Ain't No Street Walker Mama, Honey but I Do Love the Way You Strut Your Stuff
- 10 Good Morning Little Schoolgirl
- 11 Shady Grove
- 12 Butter
- 1 Runnin' by the Riverside (Live at The Royal Albert Hall, London) (Live at The Royal Albert Hall, London)
- 2 John, Ain't It Hard (Live at The Royal Albert Hall, London) (Live at The Royal Albert Hall, London)
- 3 Band Introduction (Live at The Royal Albert Hall, London) (Live at The Royal Albert Hall, London)
- 4 Sweet Mama Janisse (Live at The Royal Albert Hall, London) (Live at The Royal Albert Hall, London)
- 5 Big Fat (Live at The Royal Albert Hall, London) (Live at The Royal Albert Hall, London)
- 6 Divin' Duck Blues (Live at The Royal Albert Hall, London) (Live at The Royal Albert Hall, London)
- 7 Checkin' Up On My Baby (Live at The Royal Albert Hall, London) (Live at The Royal Albert Hall, London)
- 8 Oh Susanna (Live at The Royal Albert Hall, London) (Live at The Royal Albert Hall, London)
- 9 Oh Baby, Why Do You Wanna Make It Fat (Live at The Royal Albert Hall, London) (Live at The Royal Albert Hall, London)
- 10 Tomorrow May Not Be Your Day (Live at The Royal Albert Hall, London) (Live at The Royal Albert Hall, London)
DISC 1
DISC 2
About
In celebration of his 70th birthday, The Hidden Treasures of Taj
Mahal 1969-1973 is the first of a series of volumes issued by
Legacy that will eventually encompass his entire Columbia catalog.
Hidden Treasures consists of a studio disc and a live one. The
studio set contains a dozen tracks that were rejected from the
final versions of Mahal's albums for various reasons, as well as
alternate takes. All tracks are unreleased. The quality of the
material can be slightly uneven, but that's to be expected (being
rejects after all). That said, disc one is not without sufficient
charm, and even revelatory moments. Its first four tracks feature
Mahal and guitarist Jesse Ed Davis in the company of Jim
Dickinson's Dixie Flyers. "Chainey Do" and the first of the two
alternate takes of "Sweet Mama Janisse" are excellent showcases for
Davis in the company of a stellar garage band. Other standouts on
disc one include "You Ain't No Street Walker Mama, Honey But I Do
Love the Way You Strut Your Stuff," with its studio intro where
Mahal instructs the band on how to make it cook. And it does. The
band includes a five-piece horn section that stars tuba masters Bob
Stewart and Howard Johnson. Mahal's banjo playing works beautifully
in the extended jam on "Shady Groove." "Butter" closes the disc and
features Mahal fronting the band on harmonica, playing a sweet,
instrumental version of "People Get Ready." Disc two, recorded at
the Royal Albert Hall in 1970, is worth the purchase price alone.
Mahal plays his National Steel guitar and harmonica, and is backed
by a band with the late, great Davis on lead guitar. This set
reveals Mahal as a musical shaman early on. He was even then able
to skip across centuries, traditions, forms, and singing, telling
tales and jokes without hesitation or faltering. He fully inhabits
each musical persona he takes on as his own, yet they are all part
of a single but multi-limbed lineage in his musicology. The disc is
by turns rousing, rocking, and intimate. Whether it's in the a
cappella take on the traditional "Runnin' by the Riverside," a
cover of the Band's "Bacon Fat," the funky, gritty, original blues
of "Big Fat" and "Sweet Mama Janisse," or the definitive version of
"Tomorrow May Not Be Your Day," this is all-killer, no-filler. Fans
of Mahal's -- especially of his Columbia period -- will greet The
Hidden Treasures of Taj Mahal 1969-1973 with cheers. ~ Thom Jurek
Distinctions :
Le top 6 JAZZ NEWS (October 2012)
To discover
On the same theme
Genre
Blues in the magazine
-
Sarah McCoy Calms the Rage
Sarah McCoy's Blood Siren is in Hi-Res 24-Bit on Qobuz!
Read the article -
Back to Blues
For some years now, Barbara Hendricks has had the blues.
Read the article
News
-
Rustin Man: A Dreamer
Rustin Man's Drift Code is in Hi-Res 24-Bit on Qobuz
Read the article -
Ralph Alessi and his Imaginary Friends
Ralph Alessi's Imaginary Friends is in Hi-Res 24-Bit on Qobuz!
Read the article
