Search - Chip Taylor :: Black and Blue America

This Is Taylor's Best CD Yet, And That's Saying Something!

Ronald Taliaferro | Austin, Texas | 11/10/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Something that matters: Chip Taylor wrote the following songs - "Wild Thing," "I Can't Let Go" (Hollies, Ronstadt), "Angel of the Morning," "Try (Just a Little Bit Harder)" (Janis Joplin), "Son of a Rotten Gambler" (Anne Murray, Emmylou Harris).
Something that doesn't matter and which may not even be true, but it's interesting: Chip Taylor is Jon Voight's brother and consequently Angelina Jolie's uncle.
What is really important: Black and Blue America is Chip Taylor's solo masterpiece. Like fellow veteran Billy Joe Shaver, Chip Taylor is finding his best music well into a long, illustrious career by simply relaxing and being as direct as possible in presenting his music. The songwriting skills are sharper than ever, and by taking a laid back approach to the arrangements which fits perfectly with the styles of his two most prominent guests, Lucinda Williams and John Prine, he capitalizes on his own strengths as a vocalist.
Before allowing a sense to develop that Black and Blue America is a nonchalant venture, it must be said that this recording is very well planned. Each of the sixteen original songs is preceded by a brief introductory segment which could be an historical speech clip or a phone message related to the topic of the song being presented, at least indirectly. The songs themselves are a mix of some very serious topics with very un-serious topics. Humor mixes with indignation, the potent phrase mixes with the flippant. Here is a man bothered by those things which make America black and blue but who knows that reality requires humor and that concern not buffered by nonchalance will drive a person crazy.
It's the humor which will first draw a listener into Black and Blue America. As Prine and Taylor exchange verses and quips on "The Way of It," everything cool about John Prine becomes clear in Chip Taylor. As Lucinda Williams duets with Taylor on "Could I Live with This," everything unique about Lucinda Williams becomes clear in Chip Taylor. What surprises about both instances is that Chip Taylor seems so in charge, as if he's the one who taught Prine and Williams to do the things they do, as if he was the original "wild thing" and they are simply walking in his footsteps.
Here again the worlds of Billy Joe Shaver and Chip Taylor collide. Both have been around any number of blocks any number of times (as witnessed by the wit of "Fort Worth Thursday Night" here), and both have finally reached the point where simply letting those experiences come through their natural gifts for songwriting results in music several notches above that of the music around them. When the "New Country" movement began in the late seventies, fans "discovered" the music of country outlaws like Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings and realized quickly what experience meant in terms of good music. Billy Joe Shaver and Chip Taylor are the current "outlaws," and the comparisons to Jennings and Nelson can be extended because Shaver resembles Jennings' rough-edged "back to basics" sound while Taylor resembles Nelson's more whispered approach to simple acoustic country. If "black and blue America" wants to "discover" two country artists who deserve having their work recognized, America couldn't do better than to sing the praises of both Billy Joe Shaver and Chip Taylor.
Black and Blue America is every bit as vital as Willie Nelson's Red-Headed Stranger. A complete work in concept and execution, Black and Blue America blends a folk touch with country in a way that differentiates it from Red Headed Stranger but captures no less perfectly that sense of seeing a slice of America with raw honesty. Where Willie went to America's past for his portrayal, Chip Taylor goes closer to the present, and consequently his inclusion of phone messages and VCR repair talk hits more directly on what ties America today with the America in Willie Nelson's saga. Both Taylor and Nelson find their melodies in simplicity, tapping into melodic ideas which will survive because they take the timeless concepts and embellish them only moderately. Little if anything on Black and Blue America is complex, but the use of the ideas is unique, and that's the confidence that Chip Taylor took into this recording, a confidence shared by his guests John Prine and Lucinda Williams in their own individual work.
The pros in the music business ultimately discover that their instincts are right and that, if they follow their instincts, the results will far overshadow any situation where overplanning strips an idea of its real strength. Chip Taylor perhaps never trusted himself as a solo performer as much in the past as he does on Black and Blue America, and the results are palpably evident. Perhaps it is the presence of Williams and Prine which convinced him that he, as a performer, is someone other noted performers admire. But whatever happened, an already solid performer hits his stride perfectly on sixteen new cuts. Cool, casual, and with just a hint of "wild thing" to it, Black and Blue America is a first class piece of work from a first class singer/songwriter whose time to be noticed for his work might just be now."

A Fantastic Album - No Matter Who or Where You Are

Marc | Philadelphia | 08/31/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"How sadly ironic that after Taylor has come up with a brilliant song-cycle about life in America in the last half century, it is only the European critics and fans who have immediately adopted it as the minor classic that it is. Oh well, maybe we just need some time to catch up. After all, there really is something here for everyone - folk fans will love the elegiac title track, Lucinda Williams' fans will latch onto to the two wonderful duets, the new "O Brother" crowd will cheer "Dance With Jesus," Texas frat boys can get drunk to "Fort Worth Thursday Night," people who have been waiting for a new John Prine song will eat up "The Way of It," and plain old music fans are guaranteed to find at least 10 gems on this sprawling album.
Chip Taylor is the real thing and here's hoping that his own country finally realizes it."

Pretty songs in pretentious package.

Roger Jönsson | Lund, Sweden | 08/14/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I own Chip Taylors classic album "Last Chance" from the seventies and some of the recent efforts following his comeback in the mid-nineties. If you liked "The London Sessions Bootleg" this is more of the same sprawling stuff but with a much more elaborate and polished sound. Acustic and electric guitars dominate but other instruments like fiddle, steel guitar and keyboards adds color on several tracks. The title track and the spoken intros between every song lead me to expect some kind of concept album about America but this is not the case, in my opinion. Many of the songs are simply love songs or amusing observations of everyday life. The intros are recordings of everyone from Sigmund Freud to Chip's brother Jon Voight and adds nothing but length and confusion to this album. But it's the songs that count and Chip seems to have a never-ending ability to come up with simple and catchy melodies. Lucinda Williams is a regular guest on Chips albums by now and she adds her magic vocals to a couple of beautiful ballads although they are not as great as their previous duets on "Seven Days In May" and "London Sessions". John Prine is another guest. But the best songs feature Chip on his own: "You Left Me Here", "Stroke City Girls", "Sometimes I Act Just Like A Fool" and the fast country-rock of "Forth Worth Thursday Night" are some of my favourites. Among some pretentious stuff, these songs stand out as the real gems."