"The most famous Hound Dog Taylor quote was: "When I die, they'll say: 'He couldn't play sh*t, but he sure made it sound good.'" This is a man who understands his appeal. Taylor played a beat-up guitar, and he cranked on the thing, playing distorted, screeching notes. But god, it DID sound good. And as the quote implies, he had the personality to go with the raucous, raw music that he played. Which is why this album is so good. It's live, so you can hear the sound imperfections, the screaming crowd, and Taylor's off-kilter banter and sense of humor. And that's probably the perfect way to listen to Taylor. To put it all another way: He plays a version of "She'll Be Coming 'round the Mountain" that makes you want to get up and dance."
Hound Dog rocks da house!!!!!!!!!
Duane Dandy | Pittsburgh | 09/27/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Hound Dog's searing slide guitar and vocals tear you to the quick with a depth and passion unequalled nowadays. This rocks!!"
The Wild And Rambunctious Hound Dog Taylor
Daniel B. Pepper | New York | 08/22/2008
(4 out of 5 stars)
"This album features the wild and rambunctious Hound Dog Taylor, who is most definitely the Ramones of the Blues. In other words, while his guitar playing is sloppy, his lyrics are sometimes unintelligible, and his music is monotonous, he is a lot of fun to listen to and keeps you tapping your feet. To those who are approaching the Blues from a technical guitar-playing angle, I do not recommend this album at all; you'd be much better off with Earl Hooker's "The Moon Is Rising". For those who like Punk Rock or maybe Heavy Metal, you'd probably be very pleased with this release. For aspiring slide players, this is a great pick. Though this music certainly doesn't have the lyrical content that a J.T. "Funny Papa" Smith or Blind Willie McTell disc might have, it's fun to "rock out" to this stuff. I recommend buying this disc."
Terrific sound on this steamy live album
Docendo Discimus | Vita scholae | 04/07/2009
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Recorded in 1974, and released in 1976, shortly after Hound Dog Taylor's death in December, 1975, this is a terrific recording of Hound Dog Taylor and the Houserockers live in concert.
Hound Dog plays his customary enthusiastic slide guitar with the sawed-off leg of a kitchen chair, fellow guitarist Brewer Phillips gets off a couple of surprisingly good and coherent solos, and the fidelity is excellent.
The set opens with a tight, powerful rendition of Hound Dog's best (semi-)original song, the swaggering boogie "Give Me Back My Wig", and "It's Alright" and a cover of the classic "Rock Me" are almost as enjoyable. And we also get the customary gritty "Dust My Broom"-cover, and a somewhat absurd but quite irresistable "Comin' 'Round the Mountain" played as a (sligthly demented) up-tempo hillbilly-rave up!
Hound Dog's cheap Japanese guitar sound like hell as usual, but the sheer enthusiasm of it all, and Hound Dog's good-natured fooling around and silly comments in between songs, makes this quite irresistable, at least for those who are already fans. Newcomers should probably start with either "Hound Dog Taylor and the Houserockers" or "Natural Boogie"."