Search - Hound Dog Taylor :: Genuine Houserocking Music

Last of the raunchiest

Docendo Discimus | 10/24/1998

(3 out of 5 stars)

"The last leftovers from the same sessions that produced Hound Dog Taylor & The Houserockers, and Natural Boogie, this album isn't quite as strong but does have its moments, including an absolute must-have version of What'd I Say that could raise the dead."

A good collection of outtakes, but probably mostly for serio

Docendo Discimus | Vita scholae | 04/07/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

""They ran on equal parts brotherly love, vicious adolescent rivalry, and Canadian Club", says producer Bruce Iglauer in the liner notes to this album. "They" being Theodore 'Hound Dog' Taylor and his Houserockers, the rowdy two-man backing band consisting of drummer Ted Harvey and guitarist Brewer Phillips (who was only ever called 'Phillips').



This is electric blues of the least polished kind, really. Middle-aged when he first started recording, Hound Dog had eleven fingers until he amputated one of them himself with a razor blade. He played an ultra-cheap, beat-up old Japanese guitar with the sawed-off leg from an equally cheap kitchen chair for a slide. He started every other song with Elmore James' "Dust My Broom"-riff, and he barked out his joyous boogies and lengthy blues shuffles in his nasal, unvaried baritone. But, like he himself said, "he couldn't play s**t, but he sure made it sound good."



This collection of outtakes was only released in 1982, seven years after Hound Dog's untimely death, but it features material recorded in 1971, 1972, and 1973, but not included on Hound Dog's two Alligator Records LPs. It's a standart batch of rollicking blues n' boogie, with a couple of nondescript instrumentals thrown in for good measure, and one really enoyable one, "Phillips Goes Bananas".

Hound Dog and co. do especially well by Elmore James' "The Sun is Shining" and Johnnie Mae Matthews' "Gonna Send You Back to Georgia", but Hound Dog's own "Ain't Got Nobody" is very enjoyable as well, even if it a total blues cliché all the way through, and the trio do a lively, melodic rendition of Jerry Leiber's and Mike Stoller's "Kansas City" and a pretty convincing "Crossroads", the classic Robert Johnson tune, played as a fiery, mid-tempo swagger. (Well, Hound Dog played almost everything as a fiery, mid-tempo swagger.)



This is almost all covers, and to me Taylor's first two studio albums for Alligator, 1971's self-titled debut and 1973's "Natural Boogie" are ultimately more interesting purchases with a more varied selection (such as it was with Hound Dog) and more original tunes. "Genuine Houserocking Music" is good, solid blues, and there is something quite irresistable about Hound Dog and his unwavering enthusiasm for his craft, but I would advise newcomers to start with "Natural Boogie" or "Hound Dog Taylor and the Houserockers". The live "Beware of the Dog" is recommendable as well, but this one is mostly for serious fans."