Taj Mahal - In Progress & in Motion: 1965-1998
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CD Details
Artist: Taj MahalBrand: Sony
Edition: Music CD
Format: Box set
CD Release Date: 1998-10-13
Music Label: Sony
Soundtracks:
Music CD 1
- You're Gonna Need Somebody on Your Bond
- Corrina [*]
- Checkin' Up on My Baby [*]
- Leaving Trunk [*]
- Buck Dancer's Choice
- Going Up to the Country, Paint My Mailbox Blue
- She Caught the Katy (And Left Me a Mule to Ride)
- Ain't Gwine to Whistle Dixie Anymo'
- Stagger Lee
- Built for Comfort
- Natural Man [*]
- Railroad Bill
- Texas Woman Blues
- Early in the Morning [*]
- Dust My Broom
- Blind Boy Rag
- Oh, Susannah
- Cakewalk into Town
- Fishin' Blues [Live][*] - Taj Mahal, The Pointer Sisters
- Nobody's Business But My Own [Live][*] - Taj Mahal, The Pointer Sisters
- Sweet Mama Janisse
- Little Red Hen Blues [Live][*] - Taj Mahal, The Pointer Sisters
- Mary Don't You Weep [Live][*] - Taj Mahal, The Pointer Sisters
- Sweet Home Chicago [Live][*] - Taj Mahal, The Pointer Sisters
- Frankie and Albert - Taj Mahal, The Pointer Sisters
- M'Banjo [*]
- Statesboro Blues [Take 2]
- Bye & Bye
- Six Days on the Road
- We Gonna Rock [Live]
- Ain't It Funky Now [*]
- Tom & Sally Drake
- Fishin' Blues [*]
- Blues with a Feeling [*]
- Freight Train [*]
- When I Feel the Sea Beneath My Soul
- West Indian Revelation
- Eighteen Hammers
- Johnny Too Bad
- Slave Driver
- Clara (St. Kitts Woman)
- Do I Love Her
- Everybody Is Somebody
- But I Rode Some
- Crossing
- Sentidos Dulce (Sweet Feelings)
- Most Recent Evolution of Muthafusticus Modernusticus
- Curry
- Follow the Drinking Gourd
- Banana Boat Song (Day-O)
- Little Brown Dog
- Se?or Blues
- Ain't That a Lot of Love
- Take a Giant Step
Music reviews of In Progress & in Motion: 1965-1998
Music Review: The Best intro to Taj I've found
Rating: 5 Stars
I bought my first Taj Mahal LP sometime around 1968 and have kept tabs on the dude ever since...because my vinyl collection shows signs of wear (to be expected after 40 years of repeated play) I went looking for replacements for my many Taj recordings, something like 20 total records, and was hard-pressed to find a collection that represented what I felt was his best material. This three-disc offering comes nowhere near covering it all, but is a fine place to start.
Over the years many people have tried to "turn me on" to Taj as someone they just discovered, largely through the many so-called Greatest Hits releases under his name...many folks have the impression that he's a Mississippi blues man, a roots-cliche sharecropper's son whose showcase tunes are things like "Fishin Song," "She Caught the Katy and Left me a Mule to Ride," etc.
This is good for a chuckle to anyone who knows the man and his work...Facts be told, Taj Mahal hails from Springfield, Massachusetts and never picked cotton...the son of middle-class professionals, his father was a musician's musician who though not a well-known name was highly respected by those in the know, who nicknamed him "The Genius" not just for his musical accomplishments, as the man also spoke seven languages. Taj's mother was also steeped in music and held a master's degree in early childhood education. Taj graduated from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, studying science, animal husbandry and veterinary medicine...not a typical background for a blues artist, some would say, and critics have stated that his music isn't truly blues and lacks "purity," whatever that means...a ridiculous claim since the blues historically has been a fluid style, marked by improvisation and interpretation, and Taj Mahal has experimented with styles all his career...he's an artist who defies labels and pigeon-holes.
One of his signature tunes (and one of my favorites no matter how many times I hear it) is "Take a Giant Step." This Brill Building/Carole King song was originally a bubble-gum ditty recorded by The Monkees, believe it or not. Keeping the same tune and lyrics Taj renders this irritating and forgettable Top Ten '60's a.m. radio number into something very special and poetic. That's the kind of magic the man has.
Many of his musical ventures can't be labelled as anything but pure Taj Mahal. His recordings range from delta-style acoustic guitar and harp to sophisticated urban electric blues. Some of his best is pure Reggae. Some is island music, calypso. Some is Rhythm and Blues, and some is buttkickin' Rock and Roll. He's ventured into Motown-style Doo-Wop. Some of his stuff is pure jazz. Sometimes his only accompaniment is his own acoustic guitar, and sometimes he plays backed by orchestras, or by full brass sections. He plays two-piece numbers with his guitar backed by tuba ("Cakewalk Into Town" is one song that always makes me grin). Almost without exception his music works...he never short-changes his audience and although his album releases number in the dozens I'm hard-pressed to find a single mediocre cut.
Whatever he does, whatever gutsy new approach he takes, his music never sounds experimental or contrived--it's instantly recognizable as pure Taj Mahal, and even in his darkest blues numbers his music is somehow joyous--articulate, witty and a master musician, the cat never fails to bring a smile to my face.
In any case, if your only exposure to Taj has been one of the single-disc "Greatest Hits" or "Best Of" collections, you've never heard even a basic sampling of the man's vast body of work. In this three-disc set you still get only the barest of introductions, but it's the best starter collection I've come across and will steer you towards more of what he has to offer. For those unfamiliar with Taj Mahal I'm a little envious--you've got a lot of joy lying ahead.
Description of In Progress & in Motion: 1965-1998
Taj Mahal has become a blues ambassador, carrying the music to new audiences and melding it with other influences. It's altogether appropriate, then, that three of the early tracks on this three-CD set are unreleased from the Rolling Stones 1968 musical experiment, Rock and Roll Circus. This box emphasizes (but is not limited to) Taj's early career--the late-'60s through the mid-'70s--and whether he's playing solo acoustic instrumentals ("Buck Dancer's Choice"), revving up a rock band ("Statesboro Blues"), or weaving his National Steel guitar around tubas ("Sweet Mama Janisse"), the blues element is never far from center. He even brings out the Pointer Sisters, who funkify the blues standard, "Sweet Home Chicago." The latter part of the box ventures into the 1980s and '90s, and features some songs for kids. Taj Mahal makes a world gumbo of the blues, spiced with a nice hot sauce. --Robert GordonGeneral CDs
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