Taj Mahal - Taj Mahal (1968)

In 1967 psychedelia was rampant. Few could escape it, and traditional blues recording artists were no exception. Muddy Waters with Electric Mud and Howlin' Wolf's The Howlin' Wolf Album both tried to jump on the psych bandwagon. Although this new psych-blues was interesting, blues purists were staring to feel as if the "real" blues had been lost to history. But recorded in the summer of 1967, was this gem, Taj Mahal. Reworkings of traditional blues tunes in a modern studio setting, recorded exquisitely, Taj Mahal was an incredible debut record by a talented blues interpreter. Taj Mahal, although only relesaing his first album in the 1968, seems to have the same aurora as Robert Johnson, or Sleepy John Estes, both of whom influencing him enough to have three Estes songs and Johnson song on Taj Mahal. Opening with Mahal's wailing harmonica, "Leaving Trunk" is the first Estes cover, along with "Everybody's Got To Change Sometime", and "Diving Duck Blues." Moving to "Statesboro Blues", which is a rewroking of Blind Willie Mctell's orignial, Taj playing slide guitar. Taj Mahal's recording of "Statesboro Blues" was said to have inspired the Allman Brothers to record it on their legendary live album At Fillmore East. "Everybody's Got To Change Sometime" with its busy bass line and Mahal's growling Howlin' Wolf impression is a very upbeat track. "EZ Rider" is Taj's sole original composition, an exercise in blues lyrics, sounds like a lost Creedence Clearwater Revival song. In 1968, for blues purists and anyone who was just tiring of psych, Taj Mahal must have been a breath of fresh air. Although Taj Mahal recorded many more fantastic records, 1968's Taj Mahal is still his greatest accomplishment, a definite testament of how blues songs can evolve into something entirely new but still be the same.