Top Artists – Taj Mahal

Taj Mahal – The Natch’l Blues

More Taj Mahal

More Electric Blues

  • Taj Mahal’s sophomore release debuts on the site with INSANELY GOOD Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) grades on both sides of this vintage Columbia pressing – fairly quiet vinyl too
  • The sound is huge – big, wide, deep, and open, with a punchy bottom end and rhythmic energy to spare, as well as cleaner, smoother, sweeter upper mids and a more extended top
  • Dramatically richer, fuller and with more presence than the average copy, and that’s especially true for whatever godawful Heavy Vinyl pressing is currently being foisted on an unsuspecting record buying public
  • 5 stars: “‘You Don’t Miss Your Water (‘Til Your Well Runs Dry)’ and ‘Ain’t That a Lot of Love’ … offer Taj Mahal working in the realm of soul and treading onto Otis Redding territory. This is particularly notable on “You Don’t Miss Your Water,” which achieves the intensity of a gospel performance and comes complete with a Stax/Volt-style horn arrangement by Jesse Ed Davis that sounds more like the real thing than the real thing.”

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Taj Mahal – Giant Step / De Ole Folks at Home

  • KILLER sound throughout with Shootout Winning Triple Plus (A+++) sound or very close to it on sides two, three and four, and solid Double Plus (A++) sound on the first side
  • On the acoustic side the harmonics of the stringed instruments — banjo and guitar — ring out clearly and naturally
  • Two complete LPs worth of material: the first electric, the second acoustic, something for everybody — it even includes the Monkees hit “Take A Giant Step” if you can believe it
  • 4 Stars: “Parties searching for an apt introduction when discovering Taj Mahal’s voluminous catalog are encouraged to consider Giant Step as a highly recommended reference point.”

The best copies are not hard to spot. They have the richest, breathiest, most present vocals, surrounded in the most space. The balance between the guitar, bass and drums on the electric side is correct. On the acoustic side the harmonics of the stringed instruments — banjo and guitar — ring out clearly and naturally.

A sweeter midrange, with less grit and spit on the vocals, was especially welcome and helped propel three of these sides right into the final round of the shootout, with side three eventually coming out on top. (more…)