The Real Thing | 
 enlarge | Artist: Taj Mahal
Label: Sony
Category: Music
List Price: $11.98
Buy New: $6.46
You Save: $5.52 (46%)
New (38) Used (16) Collectible (2) from $4.84
Rating:  16 reviews
Sales Rank: 30627
Format: Live, Original Recording Remastered
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
MPN: 65859
UPC: 074646585924
EAN: 0074646585924
ASIN: B00004XSUY
Release Date: September 5, 2000
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand new Item. CD, DVD, Book, VHS more than 400 000 titles to choose from. ALL days Low Price !
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| Tracks:
| • | Fishin' Blues - Taj Mahal, Thomas, H. | | • | Ain't Gwine to Whistle Dixie (Any Mo') | | • | Sweet Mama Janisse | | • | Going up to the Country, Paint My Mailbox Blue | | • | Big Kneed Gal | | • | You're Gonna Need Somebody on Your Bond - Taj Mahal, Johnson, Blind Will | | • | Tom and Sally Drake | | • | Diving Duck Blues - Taj Mahal, Estes, Sleepy John | | • | John, Ain't It Hard | | • | She Caught the Katy (And Left Me a Mule to Ride) | | • | You Ain't No Street Walker Mama, Honey But I Do Love They Way You ... |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
Taj Mahal's been chasing the blues around the world for years, but rarely with the passion, energy, and clarity he brought to his first three albums. Taj Mahal, The Natch'l Blues and The Real Thing are the sound of the artist, who was born in 1942, defining himself and his music. On his self-titled 1967 debut, he not only honors the sound of the Delta masters with his driving National steel guitar and hard vocal shout, but ladles in elements of rock and country with the help of guitarists Ry Cooder and the late Jessie Ed Davis. This approach is reinforced and broadened by The Natch'l Blues. What's most striking is Mahal's way of making even the oldest themes sound as if they're part of a new era. Not just through the vigor of his playing--relentlessly propulsive, yet stripped down compared with the six-string ornamentations of the original masters of country blues--but through his singing, which possesses a knowing insouciance distinct to post-Woodstock counterculture hipsters. It's the voice of an informed young man who knows he's offering something deep to an equally hip and receptive audience. Soon, Mahal turned his multicultural vision of the blues even further outward. The live 1971 set, The Real Thing, finds him still carrying the Mississippi torch, while adding overt elements of jazz and Afro-Caribbean music to its flame. But it's overreaching. His band sounds under-rehearsed, and the arrangements seem more like rough outlines. Nonetheless, these albums set the stage for Mahal's career. (For a condensed version, try the fine The Best of Taj Mahal.) Today, he continues to make fine fusion albums, like 1999's Kulanjan, with Malian kora master Toumani Diabate, and less exciting but still eclectic recordings with his Phantom Blues Band. --Ted Drozdowski
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| Customer Reviews:
I was there at the Fillmore EAST...when it was recorded... July 2, 2008
Vince Lucie (CT, USA)
Back in 1971 I was already a fan...based on the LP, "Natch'l Blues"...this LP saw Taj take a slightly different path albeit to the same destination...But what I remember most was the naturalness and ease of his performance, the haunting horns of Howard Johnson...and the lilting guitar work of John Hall (of the band, Orleans)...his solo on the tune "Ain't Gwine To Whistle Dixie No More"...stays with me still...I can still see them up there on the old Fillmore East stage...a temple to me and others like me from my generation....a brilliant set, by a brilliant artist and a pack of excellent musicians. I was there with my bud, Steve and we both were captivated by the sounds and the spirit of the night...I was also there when John Mayall recorded the genre-defining lp, the "Turning Point"...and both of these concerts remain to be highpoints of my musical youth. Buy it....you will not be disappointed...unless you are soul-less.
Vince DeLucia
Killer roots music MASTERPIECE June 16, 2008
Kavity Killer (denver, colorado United States)
An epic, sprawling, roots music masterpiece. This is an artistic statement on the level of Tom Sawyer or The Invisible Man (Ralph Ellison). The power in this music is the way it captures the chaos and tenderness of life in an utterly transcendent and inexplicable way. May sound strange to modern ears, so used to the polished and predictable tropes of the likes of *ahem* lyle lovett, or lucinda williams. This ain't no lucinda williams. This is one of the most slept on albums of all time (IMHO)- if you're one of the millions who bought the Oh Brother soundtrack (not knocking it, I happen to like the album) take it to the next level and check out this wonderful album.
Favorite track: You Ain't No Streetwalker Mama, But I Sure Do Love the Way You Strut Your Stuff.
Epic
A Night I Wish I'd been there..... February 4, 2008
Dave Rudbarg (Jersey City,NJ)
Look-
Live albums are raw- there are mistakes/missed notes- but at their best- there's a fire/spirit that takes tunes you know to a whole new level.
This is such an album/experience.
Couple that with the brilliant TUBA section- a stellar rhythm section and (Congressman) John Hall on guitar- as well as the legendary John Simon on piano- and this is well worth your time and money.....
an excellent cd November 22, 2007
Robert B. Pile (St. Michael,Minnesota)
Taj Mahal is an excellent musician.I've seen him in concert, by himself and with his band.This is I think one of his best.If you need a pick me up,or you're feeling blue listen to "Ain't Gwine To Whistle Dixie(Any Mo")
Excellent choice
A-MEN, brother reviewer... September 13, 2003
13 out of 13 found this review helpful
Yeah, man, the "official" reviewer just doesn't get it AT ALL. This is one of the best ROOTS recordings EVER - and I don't say that lightly. Remember...this is 1971...LIVE, a 2 LP recording, at the Fillmore...I mean, the Allman Brothers - WITH DUANE - did their recording that same year. Now, how many acts could have gotten away with playing a tune with nothing but a banjo and a TUBA, for cryin' out loud! ("Tom And Sally Drake")? Taj Mahal, that's who. Taj engages the audience as well as anyone ("Gimme some help...GIMME SOME! - You can do it...if you're jacked up to it...) and standouts here are the norm. "You're Goin' To Need Somebody On Your Bond" is the groover, with Taj 'gettin spiritual' with the blues, and doing the back and forth with the crowd. Also a highlight is "Ain't Gwine Whistle Dixie No Mo'", where every band member gets a piece of the action, and my spine tingles at the thought of John Simon groovin' on the piano, and John Hall doing a GREAT guitar solo, and ending, with Taj whistling over the many horns. No, if you don't get it, you don't get it...but I was 15...and I got it. This is Taj's moment in Time, Live - History, I believe it's called - and he grabs on and holds tight. Any fan of blues, jazz, roots, gospel, or African-American music History has to consider this a MUST HAVE CD. Period.
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