Word: offing
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Dates: during 1970-1970
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AS HE GROWS Taj Mahal is achieving more by putting out less. From its first song his new album relaxes, and leaves the walls of sound around which he wrote The Natch'l Blues for a looser and quieter feel. Taj cuts his voice so far down in volume that...
"You're Gonna Need Somebody On Your Bond," the strongest song Taj has recorded, begins with two quiet vocal stanzas. It discards the conventional big-band blues structure which starts solidly and builds gradually to a big brassy climax and cuts rapidly out-like "Corinna," the finest song on The...
Taj has discarded the solid wall of sound that modern blues bands use. But though his latest songs thereby become more open and varied, they aren't less unified. Taj's style is closer than ever to the subjects of his songs, more responsive to their nuances of wording and...
BUT TAJ can't go all the way back to his roots in country music and still move his own music forward. De Ole Folks at Home, the companion disk to Giant Step, proves as much. The very title gives you pause: it promises an instant replay of an immense...
Unfortunately, about half the record's songs confirm the presumption of its title. Taj imitates Mississippi John Hurt. Leadbelly, Gray Davis, and others. He's good at it; he can play and sing like John Hurt if he pleases; and you can't help admiring the guts of a man...