Published on Jul 30, 2000
I have difficulty saying anything negative about Koko
Taylor.
It’s not that I am afraid to; it’s just that it feels like
anything bad I may say about her would not only be a slap in the
face to the genre of blues, but would almost be like taking a
sledgehammer to the foundations of Chicago itself.
But I’ve spent the better part of a day going over Taylor’s
latest release
Royal Blue, and as much as I hate to say it, I’m going to
have to: this is not Taylor’s best work. Even the plethora of guest
musicians who join in can’t pull this album out of mediocrity.
Oh, sure, things get off to a strong start with tracks like
“Save Your Breath,” a song which harkens back to Taylor’s earlier
days of belting out such songs as “Wang Dang Doodle” and “Come To
Mama”. But sadly, moments such as this one are few and far between
on
Royal Blue.
Mistake numbers one and two: Taylor chooses to cover Melissa
Etheridge’s “Bring Me Some Water,” and has guitar whiz-kid Kenny
Wayne Shepherd sit in. Unfortunately, Taylor doesn’t keep the same
basic musical structure that Etheridge had in the song, and
literally ruins it from its core. And as much as I think Shepherd
is the second coming of Stevie Ray Vaughan, his style of playing
just does not fit with Taylor’s Chicago-style blues. You wouldn’t
put a fiddle player on a Pantera album, would you? (I just don’t
know what went wrong here; Taylor pulled off a great cover of a Ted
Nugent song a few years back.)
Mistake number three: duetting with fellow blues legend B.B.
King on “Blues Hotel”. I love King’s work as much as the next blues
afficionnado, but the material really has to be stellar for a
pairing like this to work, and the song itself is lacking. There
also isn’t a lot of chemistry between Taylor and King – that’s kind
of a surprise.
The best “superstar” pairing, surprisingly, comes with dobro
guitarist Keb’ Mo’; the stripped-down track “The Man Next Door” is
incredibly powerful, capturing the sheer force of Taylor’s vocals
with the bare accompaniment of guitar and vocals from Keb’ Mo’. It
almost makes me wish that Taylor would do an album of songs in this
vein, pairing up possibly with labelmates Corey Harris or John
Jackson.
The bulk of
Royal Blue keeps the listener on a teeter-totter between
above-average and below-average material. For every “Ernestine” or
“Keep Your Mouth Shut And Your Eyes Open,” there is a “But On The
Other Hand” or “Don’t Let Me Catch You With Your Drawers Down”. I
don’t always expect A-list material, but I don’t like being made
part of a musical ping-pong match.
Taylor is a much more capable artist than the material on
Royal Blue dares to suggest. And while this album is a
disappointment in the big picture, it does offer glimpses into some
potentially exciting musical avenues that Taylor may wish to
investigate.