The first word that comes to mind when I think of Hound Dog Taylor’s music is “fun”. His boogies and shuffles make you want to shake your ass, make you want to move any way you can. When he hit a groove, it was infectious. But he also played slow blues. They are songs that lilt along while his aching slide guitar cries out to be heard. Everything about his music has a down-to-earth feeling. There is nothing very complicated about the music from a technical point of view, but the performances are raw and honest without a hint of pretension. He played an inexpensive Japanese guitar with a slide made from the leg of a chair.
Hound Dog Taylor’s name may not be as instantly recognizable as that of Muddy Waters’, or Howlin’ Wolf’s, but his career had many parallels to those of several post-war blues giants. Hound Dog (Theodore Roosevelt) Taylor was born in Natchez, Mississippi in 1915 and he started playing guitar in 1935. He moved to Chicago in 1942 after plying his trade around the Delta and with such luminaries as Sonny Boy Williamson. (For those whose leanings are towards rock music, Williamson wrote “Bring It On Home” which Led Zeppelin covered on their second album.) Music was a part time endeavor for him until 1957 when he made music his full-time occupation, playing virtually every blues club in Chicago. It was around this time that Taylor ran into blues legend Elmore James who would be a great influence on his own music. In 1959, Taylor invited fellow Mississippi transplant Brewer Phillips to join the Houserockers on second guitar – they had no bassist. In 1965, Chicago native Ted Harvey became drummer. And in 1971, when Taylor was 56, they recorded the first album for the new Alligator Records.
Their debut record was eponymous titled and is a loose, jam-packed disc of ass-shakin’ grooves. At this time, Hound Dog and the Houserockers played all over Chicago on weeknights and had residences at two clubs on the weekends. The album seems to represent an approximation of what those three or four hours shows were like.
The album kicks into gear with “She’s Gone.” It has a persistent, throbbing rhythm underneath Hound Dog’s vocals and slide guitar flourishes. Despite the rather somber tone of the music and the lyrics about a man losing his lover, there is a sense of fun nonetheless which is quite evident when, in the middle of the song, Hound Dog laughs a bit while trying to sing. The song marches on and climaxes at the end with Taylor “It’s alright!!!” and his adroit fingers slide up and down the neck bringing the point home.
“Walking the Ceiling,” an instrumental, follows. It is pure boogie with Hound Dog going crazy on the slide while Phillips and Harvey provide a busy, yet steady beat. It is not hard to imagine Hound Dog having played something like this in a juke joint in Mississippi during the late 1930’s. The first slow blues and first of four Elmore James covers, “Held My Baby Last Night,” is next. A few lonely notes, second guitar, and then the drums enter. I think that this is one of his best performances ever. The verses are tender, though not in a sappy way, but it is when Hound Dog tears into his solo about halfway through the song, that when things really get interesting. His solo is so fragile, the notes are searing and penetrating. I won’t go into formalism vs. expressionism or the psychology of music, but, if the electric guitar could ever cry, could ever relate tears, it is here. Simple yet extremely powerful and moving.
“Taylor’s Rock” kicks things up a notch again. Another instrumental aimed at getting people moving on the dance floor. Taylor tears things up again and Harvey lets loose during this tune several times as well. Like “She’s Gone,” “It’s Alright” is an up-tempo blues number. In it Taylor professes his love for a woman, hoping all the while she feels the same. His vocals are a bit rough but perfect just the same. More great soloing here.
“Phillips’ Theme” is a slow burning instrumental. It sort of lumbers along while Hound Dog solos. Despite its repetition, you still feel like you never quite know where the song is going to go next. The second Elmore James song follows – “Wild About You, Baby” – and it too is a mid-tempo blues but it has a real swing to it. There is also some spirited singing here along with gorgeous, tense slide work.
“I Just Can’t Make It” quickly fades up from silence instead of crashing in like the songs before it. It is a fast bit of blues. Taylor really belts out the words here and his playing is more restrained here than on the previous few songs. Still, he puts in some fantastic soloing which has a different feel to the rest of the album. He repeats a note several times before moving the slide, giving the playing a choppy, staccato feel instead of the smoother feel of the slide moving up and down the neck of the guitar.
Hound Dog’s take on “It Hurts Me Too” by Elmore James comes next. Another mid-tempo song with some really tasteful slide playing. Very faithful to the original yet it has Harvey’s busy drum work to add something new to it. The last Elmore James tune, “44 Blues,” follows. It is a whole lotta fun with the slide work being less showy, more workmanlike. “Give Me Back My Wig” is up next and it moves! It was my introduction to Hound Dog Taylor and it gets you moving with its bouncy rhythm. The lyrics are very funny and it just oozes fun. The solo is rollicking and keeps the mood of the song going and even takes it in a different direction. The album closes with “55th Street Boogie.” Hound Dog and the Houserockers played at the Expressway Lounge which was on 55th Street. It is an instrumental but, like “Give Me Back My Wig,” it really moves. It begins with Taylor saying, “Look out Ted! Let’s do this!” As the song churns onwards, Hound Dog can be heard blurting out comments throughout the song. It just exudes the feeling of being at a party.
Hound Dog Taylor and the Houserockers is a fantastic album and should appeal to blues aficionados and people who just wanna dance alike. It is full of energy and spirited performances and even the slower numbers have this raw feeling of exuberance to them that makes one want to move. None of the band members are really virtuosos at their instruments but this is perfectly fine. They are more than proficient and hit the right notes at the right time. Taylor put great feeling into his playing and this is obvious here. Brewer Phillips laid down a solid backing for Taylor and even showed off a little bit on occasion. Harvey was an exciting drummer, much in the way Keith Moon was, albeit a bit more restrained. He kept a steady backbeat but also threw in drum fills which added to the excitement of the music without being distracting. I cannot recommend this album enough and, indeed, the rest of Hound Dog’s albums which are far too few as he died in 1975 after recording just one more studio album, also on Alligator.
(This was originally published at The Green Man Review back in 2003-08.)
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