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Get the latest - possibly the greatest...you decide! 11 cuts, full band recordings featuring the Blues Wrecking Crew with Rick Holmstrom, Colin Linden, Jeff Turmes, Gary Davenport, Richard Bell and Stephen Hodges!

Barbara Blue has been the resident singer for ten years at Silky O'Sullivan's on the legendary Beale Street in Memphis, Tennessee, entertaining and enthralling those visitors fortunate enough to catch her show. This release comprises mainly original material, but also maintains the style and tradition of R&B standards, featuring some fine musicianship, with great solos on tenor-sax, harp and piano adding some dynamic performances. Barbara was once invited to perform at a Janis Joplin memorial celebration, and the parallels drawn in vocal power and performance, particularly on the ballads, are entirely warranted. This is a truly unique album of the best of her recordings to date. Shout. 2007.

Amazon.com
Go ahead and call it a comeback. Despite her advancing years and frail health following a 2003 hospitalization, Old School shows that the Queen of Chicago Blues has no intentions of abdicating her throne just yet. Koko Taylor isn't terribly prolific--this is only her third album in 14 years--but she's also never released a lackluster effort, and this is no exception. As the title suggests, you should be prepared for tough, rugged Chicago blues sung by one of the masters of the genre, regardless of gender. Taylor's legendary booming voice does show some wear, but her husky pipes, wang-dang-doodle attitude, and sheer enthusiasm will convince any skeptics that the singer is far from phoning in her performance. The disc is split evenly between originals and covers of Willie Dixon, Magic Sam, and others, all powered by a gritty yet professional no-nonsense band featuring guitarists Steady Rollin' Bob Margolin and Criss Johnson, along with the harmonica great Billy Branch. Musically, there aren't many surprises, but at this stage Taylor isn't pushing boundaries with her meat-and-potatoes diet of grinding shuffles mixed with the occasional slow blues. Knocking off a tune or two from the hour-long program might have made this a more concise, compact statement, however. Yet with songs as frisky as "Bad Rooster"--possibly an answer to the classic "Little Red Rooster"--and a strutting version of Dixon's "Don't Go No Further," there's no doubt that Taylor remains as passionate and intense as when she was first claiming her crown, nearly four decades ago. --Hal Horowitz

Product Description
With her first album in seven years, the aptly titled Old School, Taylor once again shows the world what she does so well. From foot-stomping barnburners to powerful slow blues, Koko proves in an instant that her blues are joyous and life-affirming, powerful and soul-stirring.

With Old School, Taylor brings it all back home, supported by a band of veteran musicians and young revivalists. Singing like she did for Chess Records early in her career, Taylor belts out a set of material that could easily have topped the blues charts in the 1950s, and will certainly reach the top of the blues world today.

Koko Taylor, guitarist Criss Johnson and Alligator president Bruce Iglauer produced Old School. Recorded in Chicago, the 12 songs (including five new Taylor originals and songs by Willie Dixon, Magic Sam, Lefty Dizz, and E.G. Kight) all hearken back to Taylor's early years in the Windy City. They range from the humorous truth of Piece Of Man to the rocking blues advice of Better Watch Your Step to the tough street scene of Bad Avenue (done in classic Muddy Waters style), to Koko's version of Memphis Minnie's Black Rat, a song she used to sing as a teenager. "I put my heart and soul into everything that I do," says Taylor. "I worked long and hard on Old School, and I want my fans to enjoy it as much as I do."

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