black and blue hued blues

ted taylor - houston town

oh the blues...

and in this case, the black-and-blue-hued blues.

super soul blues volume 1 on paula records: i introduced myself to this album ten years ago. i played it nonstop for weeks.

so much of it is memorable:
ike and tina turner burn down a whisky roadhouse together in 'shake a hand'...
cicero blake extols the virtues of philandering in 'dip my dipper'...
bobby rush fantasizes out loud in 'bowlegged woman, knock kneed man'...

but what got under my skin like a bittersweet, addictive drug was ted taylor's 'houston town'.

super soul blues indeed. all the conditions are right: it's raining, ted's 'broke, busted, belly-empty', pleading with god to get him out of houston town. and it only gets worse from there.

with an irrisistible blend of warm syruppy instrumentation, a few great backup singers and BAM! i wannna be right there in houston town where the drama unfolds.

but that was another time, another space. the closest i'll get for now is this. apologies - my copy at home is better quality - be prepared to hear a lot of snap, crackle, pop on this vinyl.

ted taylor - houston town:
the compilation might be hard to track down. try amazon.