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Red Dog Tracks
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Chip Taylor Album Review:
Love it. at 2006-07-14
This is really nice stuff. If you dont listen to blue grass but think you might like to, this wont let you down. Give it a try!
Chip Taylor Album Review:
Americana at 2006-03-09
In an age of cookie cutter music of all genres, it is a pleasure to listen to the unconstrained. Carrie Rodriguez has the voice of an angel; which should provide great listening for decades. Red Dog Tracks is a very good product; if you like John Prine, Iris Dement, Jerry Jeff Walker and Loretta Lynn give this some consideration.
Chip Taylor Album Review:
Red Dog Tracks is an Incredible CD at 2006-02-24
This was my first introduction to Chip Taylor and Carrie Rodruquez and it is a CD that I listen to over and over again. I must confess that my favorite track is Big Moon Shinin and just find it a very incredibly great song for slow dancing, sitting with your lover, whatever. Ive since gone on to purchase almost the entire collection by this duo and havent been disappointed by any of them. I hope to be able to see them in concert sometime.
Chip Taylor Album Review:
absolutely beautiful at 2005-11-07
Last weekend I had the pleasure of seeing Chip and Carrie once again at the Old Town School of Folk Music. When I first saw them about two years ago I was startled at how well they sang together. Listening now to them sing Once Again, One Day...Will You Be Mine is an unbelievable experience. Jaw-dropping and shiver-inducing. I only wish they were the headliners so they couldve had more time. (I stayed for the second show too.) The story that Chip tells about how he saw Carrie for the first time just playing fiddle and when he asked her if she could sing she said No just seems unreal when she starts singing on stage. This is truly some of the prettiest and sexiest music Ive ever heard. Wow.
Chip Taylor Album Review:
Chip Taylor and Carrie Rodriquez - Red Dog Tracks at 2005-10-19
BEST OF THE BEST - WITH HONORS!!Definitely my kind of music! Without a doubt on a par with AKUS, Lonesome River Band, Dave Para and Cathy Barton, Roland White,Del McCoury and Willie Nelson!! Would recommend these artists music to any Bluegrass/American Folk music fan!!Tom Norris, Sr.Iowa City, IA
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Angel of the Morning
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Chip Taylor Album Review:
On your way to Sweden, please stop for a show in Chicago! at 2004-10-16
I have had the pleasure of seeing Chip and Carrie only once here in Chicago (actually Berwyn, at Fitzgeralds)and they were absolutely fantastic. They put on a great show and together their voices were achingly beautiful. This EP highlights a little of that experience. Both of their studio CDs are fabulous also. If you havent heard them yet, do yourself a favor and check them out. And by all means go to see them if they come to your town, you wont be sorry.
Chip Taylor Album Review:
A lovely appetizer - but I want more! at 2004-10-12
This is a Special Ep, with one new studio track (Angel of the Morning) and six live tracks from the great duo sensation Chip and Carrie - my favourite artists ever since I first heard them live. With only a few more tracks it could easily qualify as an album, but I guess they only wanted to release a appetizer since their third studio album is due to be released next spring. It surely is just that. It wets my appetite, yet it leaves me wanting much more. The new version of Angel of the Morning is very sweet with som lovely steel guitar from Lloyd Maines and great vocals by Carrie. The live tracks are all wonderful and showcases two different backing bands, one from Scandinavia and one used at a concert in Texas, with John Platania on guitar. I would say that the first, less stellar, band is actually the best. They play hot and loose on tracks like Laredo and Do Your Part. They also deliver the lovely, slow live rendition of Lets Leave This Town. I am probably biased because I saw this group at a fantastic show in Stockholm a few days before the Oslo date featured here. The Texas band is also great and from them we get a tight version of Dont Speak in English and We Come Up Shining from the latest album. Also featured is the old Chip Taylor song I Wasnt Born in Tennessee which is great fun! Its all good, but I miss a lot of gems from their live shows. I think some of Carries great solo spots should have been included, especially the superb western swing number Extra, which has been a highlight on every show Ive seen (3 so far). I will even knock of one star for this omission. Chip and Carrie - you should release a complete live show, because you are truly outstanding on stage. And please come back to Sweden soon!
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Gasoline
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Chip Taylor Album Review:
a classic at 2004-03-01
So good to see Chip Taylor writing and performing again - I have seen him four times since 1998. Hes a lovely guy. Hed find it hard to top his early seventies recordings though, especially this one and Last Chance. Londonderry Company is just a great song.
Chip Taylor Album Review:
great fan at 2001-04-15
I have listening to this music for more than 25 years. in this 25 years I saw chip taylor only once in a live concert in paradiso in Amsterdam. I enjoy his performance he is such a normal guy. I asked him to bring out gasoline on cd and so he did, I wanna thank him for that because I lost the original album, thank you thank you I always waiting for his new album that he is gonna bring out in march
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The Trouble With Humans
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Chip Taylor Album Review:
A bone-deep resonance at 2004-02-06
I once saw John Prines best lyrics described as somehow sneaking in the back door of the mind and staying there, teasing you with meanings. Thats how this teams music feels, but without Prines sardonic edge. Lyrics like some words should fall on the air like silence are only part of the reason. You couldnt find two more different voices (I wont even add that stay in key because Taylor doesnt always; with his gruff, aging voice it hardly matters). They play this music with their voices, from their hearts. Her perfect voice and delivery combine with his rough edges to somehow amplify everything good about these mostly simple tunes, with their mostly not-so-simple lyrics. On a second or third hearing I got pulled into the music with a feeling like I was sharing something very personal. Not just listening to a couple of very original artists but actually sharing something with them that went deep into emotional territory. I wish I knew how they do that. I hope this unlikely duo is far from done exploring their potential together. They seem to just keep getting better.
Chip Taylor Album Review:
Country Music like it Oughta Be at 2005-09-14
Chip Taylor and Carrie Rodriguez have made four albums and they get better with each. This is the second. Chip writes most of the songs, sings lead, and plays guitar and harmonica. Carrie joins in the singing with a twang that would curl a tuning fork -- think about Iris Dement -- and plays a mean violin.Chip and Carrie dont sing together as much as they take turns with verses and choruses. Their songs are literate and kind of a mixture of folk and country -- with a cello joining in on several tracks to add an additional touch of class to an already classy act. Theyve achieved a sound thats not quite like anybody else. All the twelve songs on this CD are good -- and a 13th playful tune is hidden at the end as a bonus. I especially like the uptempo Curves and Things and the rollicking Laredo and lines like she gets that feelin in her jeans...and whats hers is his. This is good sounding music thats smart and complex enough to listen to over and over.Smallchief
Chip Taylor Album Review:
Trouble With Taylor at 2004-11-02
Based on the positive reviews, I had high hoped for this disc. There are definitely some good songs, and I like Carrie Rodriguezs singing and fiddling; however, Chip Taylors voice is so far gone that I find his singing nearly unlistenable. There are so many interesting people in this genre (Darrell Scott,Kim Richey, Radney Foster to name a few) that I would pass this disc by in favor of any of the above artists work.
Chip Taylor Album Review:
Chips in his true haven! at 2006-02-04
Ive been following Chip since Big River in the early seventies. And after his long hiatus hes finally back; it started with The living room tapes and just keeps getting better than ever. His teaming up with Carrie has been nothing but phenomenal! and The trouble with humans fits right in there with their other work. His songwriting, their singing and musicianship, and the help of all the other great people contributing on this project is just outstanding. I love him, and her, and them together!
Chip Taylor Album Review:
I love their duets! at 2005-10-05
What an intensity! And what a moving way of singing of both Carrie and Chip! Simply a new meaning of the word duets.....I had the pleasure to see and hear them live in Oslo some weeks ago. What an awsome night!!!Please hurry to make another album - I play the three youve made over and over again. My next trip to Austin, Texas will have to correspond with their tour plans....Reidar, Norway
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Let"s Leave This Town
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Chip Taylor Album Review:
electrifying new talent at 2002-09-11
For my money practically no singer plays acoustic guitar better than ex racetrack gambler Chip Taylor. But the avowed purpose of this album is to introduce Carrie Rodriguez, and it is she - her voice and fiddle - that do indeed take this recording to its zenith. I like some tracks here better than anything Ive listened to in a long time, and I listen to a lot of music of this genre. Whatever genre that is, because theres a mix. However I suspect Carrie will ultimately sail to superstardom with Say Little Darling bluegrassy type tunes. Youll think Allison Krauss but hey this is Texas fiddle, and Carrie has a vocal persona all her own and very, very enchanting indeed.
Chip Taylor Album Review:
A superb debut by an odd couple at 2005-09-17
Chip Taylor is probably more than 60 years old and Carrie Rodriguez looks about 15, but is probably 20. He writes songs, plays guitar and sings -- although hell never win a voice contest. Carries twang would make an opera teacher cringe but she can carry a tune and might do well in a fiddle playing competition. Together, they make great music in an acoustic, down-home country way with an urban, big-town tinge to a few songs. Taylor wrote Angel in the Morning about a century ago and His Eyes is a similar song with a cello and strings backing up the warbling of the comely Ms. R. The title track is a playful country number, as is Sweet Tequila Blues. Say Little Darling has a bluegrass flavor. Rodriguezs violin is especially poignant -- think Ashoka Farewell -- on the instrumental Midnight on the Water and Taylor proves he can sing passably on Was That for Me. Chip and Carrie have now made three studio and one live CDs and every one of them is outstanding. Taylors songs and Carries voice are the standouts of this duo. They are backed up by superb musicians and excellent arrangements that contrive successfully to appear relaxed. Smallchief
Chip Taylor Album Review:
Just Good Time Music! at 2003-01-19
Great duets and a-soon-to-be-classic Sweet Tequila Blues make a great record. Along with Billy Joe Shavers Freedoms Child CD, the best Texas gave in 2002...
Chip Taylor Album Review:
A wonderful new talent and some truly great songs! at 2002-09-20
Carrie Rodriguez is a wonderful, fresh new voice in country and folk music. Thank God Chip Taylor convinced her that she should sing. They sound really great together. Carrie is also a skilled musician who can play anything from snappy Texas fiddle to classical violin. Add the fact that she is beautiful beyond words, much more so than the lovely photographs in this Cd really convey (I just saw a concert with her and Chip and I was spellbound by her). I am also spellbound by some of the great songs on this lighthearted, fun cd. The titletrack, the western-swing flavoured Extra, the sweet ballad Theres A Hole In The Midnight, the groovy Do Your Part and the magnificient Sweet Tequila Blues are all songs that I play over and over again. And even when I dont play them I cant get them out of my head. The only reason I dont give this a 5 is that some of the songs are somewhat overproduced with unnecessary string arrangements (especially His Eyes and You Are Danger) These songs dont radiate with the lovely, laid-back spirit that can be heard on the rest of the record. Anyhow, I sure hope they do another cd togeher. Or maybe Chip could produce a solo album for Carrie. Please do Chip! The world sure needs to hear a lot more from her.
Chip Taylor Album Review:
Fine debut from a newly formed duet at 2002-09-13
Hes a songwriter whos still better known for his 60s classics (Wild Thing Angel of the Morning) than the fine country-folk material hes written and recorded in subsequent years. Shes a 23-year-old fiddle player (and Berklee School of Music graduate) whose Austin upbringing has steeped her in Texas twang since childhood. A chance meeting at last years South By Southwest music conference turned into an opportunity for the latter to play and sing support on domestic shows with the former. This turned into a deeper partnership on a European tour, with Rodriguez finding her voice (at Taylors urging) and graduating to singing partner. The culmination is this album of duets, mostly written by Taylor specifically for the project.For her part, Rodriguez is a fine fiddle player, with a singing voice that takes in the plaintive Southern side of Lucinda Williams and Kimmie Rhodes, but with a bit of the blue-yodel edge shown by the Dixie Chicks Natalie Maines. Taylors always had the sort of rough-hewn voice that Kris Kristofferson and John Prine have used to such great affect. The difference in their tone, also reflecting the difference in their ages, is what makes their duet singing so appealing to the ears.The music sticks almost entirely to the acoustic, with stellar guitar and mandolin playing from John McGann and upright bass from Jim Whitney. The tunes ranges from old-timey influenced folk country to Texas swing and acoustic jazz. Taylors new songs are accompanied by a pair of traditional covers (Say Little Darlin and the instrumental Midnight on the Water), and a reprise of his own Storybook Children (a 1968 hit for Judy Clay and co-writer Billy Vera), the song that sparked this duos act on stage.With SXSW having become something of a meat market at which artists display their wares to labels, its pleasing to find something grow organically from the chance meeting of musicians, unbrokered by A and R flacks.
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Black and Blue America
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Chip Taylor Album Review:
WELCOME BACK!! at 2002-12-18
HOW GREAT TO HEAR CHIP TAYLORS VOICE ONCE AGAIN!! IVE BEEN A FAN FOR YEARS, I STILL HAVE ALL THE OLD ALBUMS ON VYNL!!! THERE ARE SOME GREAT SONGS ON THIS C.D, HOWEVER, I COULD LIVE WITHOUT THE CLIPS IN BETWEEN SONGS!!! IM SURE OL CHIP IS TRYING TO MAKE A POINT HOWEVER, I FIND IT A BIT ANNOYING!! IVE EVEN WENT SO FAR AS TO BURNING MY OWN COPY AND TAKING ALL THOSE PARTS OUT!!ANYWAY, I STILL LOVE THE MUSIC!! CHIP IS KEEPING EMOTIONAL SINGING ALIVE!!!
Chip Taylor Album Review:
Ewwww...! at 2001-11-27
Just when I thought we could FINALLY forget about Angel of the Morning -- tied for Ultimate Ickiest Lyrics Of My Generation only with Afternoon Delight -- heres more? Oh please go back to talking with horses, only horses, and spare us poor humans.
Chip Taylor Album Review:
This Is Taylors Best CD Yet, And Thats Saying Something! at 2001-11-09
Something that matters: Chip Taylor wrote the following songs - Wild Thing, I Cant Let Go (Hollies, Ronstadt), Angel of the Morning, Try (Just a Little Bit Harder) (Janis Joplin), Son of a Rotten Gambler (Anne Murray, Emmylou Harris).Something that doesnt matter and which may not even be true, but its interesting: Chip Taylor is Jon Voights brother and consequently Angelina Jolies uncle.What is really important: Black and Blue America is Chip Taylors solo masterpiece. Like fellow veteran Billy Joe Shaver, Chip Taylor is finding his best music well into a long, illustrious career by simply relaxing and being as direct as possible in presenting his music. The songwriting skills are sharper than ever, and by taking a laid back approach to the arrangements which fits perfectly with the styles of his two most prominent guests, Lucinda Williams and John Prine, he capitalizes on his own strengths as a vocalist.Before allowing a sense to develop that Black and Blue America is a nonchalant venture, it must be said that this recording is very well planned. Each of the sixteen original songs is preceded by a brief introductory segment which could be an historical speech clip or a phone message related to the topic of the song being presented, at least indirectly. The songs themselves are a mix of some very serious topics with very un-serious topics. Humor mixes with indignation, the potent phrase mixes with the flippant. Here is a man bothered by those things which make America black and blue but who knows that reality requires humor and that concern not buffered by nonchalance will drive a person crazy.Its the humor which will first draw a listener into Black and Blue America. As Prine and Taylor exchange verses and quips on The Way of It, everything cool about John Prine becomes clear in Chip Taylor. As Lucinda Williams duets with Taylor on Could I Live with This, everything unique about Lucinda Williams becomes clear in Chip Taylor. What surprises about both instances is that Chip Taylor seems so in charge, as if hes the one who taught Prine and Williams to do the things they do, as if he was the original wild thing and they are simply walking in his footsteps.Here again the worlds of Billy Joe Shaver and Chip Taylor collide. Both have been around any number of blocks any number of times (as witnessed by the wit of Fort Worth Thursday Night here), and both have finally reached the point where simply letting those experiences come through their natural gifts for songwriting results in music several notches above that of the music around them. When the New Country movement began in the late seventies, fans discovered the music of country outlaws like Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings and realized quickly what experience meant in terms of good music. Billy Joe Shaver and Chip Taylor are the current outlaws, and the comparisons to Jennings and Nelson can be extended because Shaver resembles Jennings rough-edged back to basics sound while Taylor resembles Nelsons more whispered approach to simple acoustic country. If black and blue America wants to discover two country artists who deserve having their work recognized, America couldnt do better than to sing the praises of both Billy Joe Shaver and Chip Taylor.Black and Blue America is every bit as vital as Willie Nelsons Red-Headed Stranger. A complete work in concept and execution, Black and Blue America blends a folk touch with country in a way that differentiates it from Red Headed Stranger but captures no less perfectly that sense of seeing a slice of America with raw honesty. Where Willie went to Americas past for his portrayal, Chip Taylor goes closer to the present, and consequently his inclusion of phone messages and VCR repair talk hits more directly on what ties America today with the America in Willie Nelsons saga. Both Taylor and Nelson find their melodies in simplicity, tapping into melodic ideas which will survive because they take the timeless concepts and embellish them only moderately. Little if anything on Black and Blue America is complex, but the use of the ideas is unique, and thats the confidence that Chip Taylor took into this recording, a confidence shared by his guests John Prine and Lucinda Williams in their own individual work.The pros in the music business ultimately discover that their instincts are right and that, if they follow their instincts, the results will far overshadow any situation where overplanning strips an idea of its real strength. Chip Taylor perhaps never trusted himself as a solo performer as much in the past as he does on Black and Blue America, and the results are palpably evident. Perhaps it is the presence of Williams and Prine which convinced him that he, as a performer, is someone other noted performers admire. But whatever happened, an already solid performer hits his stride perfectly on sixteen new cuts. Cool, casual, and with just a hint of wild thing to it, Black and Blue America is a first class piece of work from a first class singer/songwriter whose time to be noticed for his work might just be now.
Chip Taylor Album Review:
A Fantastic Album - No Matter Who or Where You Are at 2001-08-30
How sadly ironic that after Taylor has come up with a brilliant song-cycle about life in America in the last half century, it is only the European critics and fans who have immediately adopted it as the minor classic that it is. Oh well, maybe we just need some time to catch up. After all, there really is something here for everyone - folk fans will love the elegiac title track, Lucinda Williams fans will latch onto to the two wonderful duets, the new O Brother crowd will cheer Dance With Jesus, Texas frat boys can get drunk to Fort Worth Thursday Night, people who have been waiting for a new John Prine song will eat up The Way of It, and plain old music fans are guaranteed to find at least 10 gems on this sprawling album.Chip Taylor is the real thing and heres hoping that his own country finally realizes it.
Chip Taylor Album Review:
Pretty songs in pretentious package. at 2001-08-14
I own Chip Taylors classic album Last Chance from the seventies and some of the recent efforts following his comeback in the mid-nineties. If you liked The London Sessions Bootleg this is more of the same sprawling stuff but with a much more elaborate and polished sound. Acustic and electric guitars dominate but other instruments like fiddle, steel guitar and keyboards adds color on several tracks. The title track and the spoken intros between every song lead me to expect some kind of concept album about America but this is not the case, in my opinion. Many of the songs are simply love songs or amusing observations of everyday life. The intros are recordings of everyone from Sigmund Freud to Chips brother Jon Voight and adds nothing but length and confusion to this album. But its the songs that count and Chip seems to have a never-ending ability to come up with simple and catchy melodies. Lucinda Williams is a regular guest on Chips albums by now and she adds her magic vocals to a couple of beautiful ballads although they are not as great as their previous duets on Seven Days In May and London Sessions. John Prine is another guest. But the best songs feature Chip on his own: You Left Me Here, Stroke City Girls, Sometimes I Act Just Like A Fool and the fast country-rock of Forth Worth Thursday Night are some of my favourites. Among some pretentious stuff, these songs stand out as the real gems.
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The London Sessions Bootleg
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Chip Taylor Album Review:
STUNNING. at 2000-06-01
This is one phenomenal set of discs -- cant stop listening to it. As with all of Chips work, the songs are beautifully written and performed, and very heartfelt and haunting. The acoustic duet with Lucinda Williams will break your heart! More people deserve to know about this album. Buy this one...you wont regret it.
Chip Taylor Album Review:
An eclectic tour-de-force at 2000-03-06
A friend played the first disc of this album for me a few weeks ago and I had to go out and get it. I wasnt expecting that the second disc would be even better. In some ways, it reminds me of Neil Young using both electric and acoustic music to best serve the individual song. And you can tell that Taylor follows his own path - the songs are intelligent and quirky in the best sense of the word. This deserves better than to become an undiscovered gem.
Chip Taylor Album Review:
Likely best of the year at 2000-02-17
Although its obviously very early, I think The London Sessions will end up being my favorite record of the year. I read about Taylor in People magazine a few weeks ago and took a chance with buying the CD. Im glad I did. From the first track, Head First - a top-notch rocker to the final quirky hidden track, it is consistently entertaining and surprising. Just when you think you can peg Taylor into some sort of niche, he comes up with something totally different and cool. Now I have to check out his other previous records to see if this was just a fluke.
Chip Taylor Album Review:
A sprawling masterpiece at 2000-02-09
Finally, a U.S. release for this remarkable record. Over two discs and 25+ songs, Chip demonstrates the wide range of his writing talent. The first disc is full of pop-rock gems, sounding sort of like John Prine on the harder tunes from The Missing Years. And the second disc, while based mostly in alt-country, is stylistically all over the place. Tying it all together is the quality of the writing. An absolute must have.
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Seven Days in May
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Chip Taylor Album Review:
Heartbreaking and beautiful at 2006-01-20
Wow. Chip Taylor does it again. I got into his music after hearing about him and Carrie Rodriguez on NPR. This earlier album is at least as good as the stuff hes doing now.The emotion evident on listening to these songs is so real, so deep, that one almost feels guilty for intruding on the writers private thoughts. The songs are beautiful, both in lyrics and music. The duets with Lucinda Williams are lovely.Buy it. You wont regret it. Only problem may be finding it, since it appears to be nearly out of circulation.
Chip Taylor Album Review:
A Masterpiece. at 2000-07-10
Simply a masterpiece. A hauntingly beautiful album, one of the best Ive ever heard. I bought this because of Lucinda Williams (her duet on Through Their Mothers Eyes with Chip Taylor, track 3, brings tears to my eyes) and Rick Dankos contributions, but instantly became a Chip Taylor fan -- simply some of the best and most heartfelt songwriting Ive ever heard, complemented perfectly by Taylors vocals (reminiscent of Willie Nelsons, but quite distinctive in their own right) and playing. Its rare to hear a man be this emotional and sincere in writing songs -- a truly adult (in the most positive sense) album. Ive loaned this CD and bought it as a gift for friends and family, and everyone Ive shared it with has been as moved as I was. If you are a fan of folk, blues, country, rock or any kind of passionate singer/songwriter work, you will love this.
Chip Taylor Album Review:
Chip Taylor: The Real Thing returns triumphantly! at 1999-09-16
A young girl leaves her fathers farm for the first time and visits the city of the wise, handsome, wealthy and beloved king of the land. When the king beholds the beautiful young visitor, he becomes deeply infatuated with her and sets his heart on winning her love. The young girl, however, is in love with a shepherd boy back home. She withstands the kings amorous overtures and returns home to her hearts true love. Many will recognize this story as the Song of Solomon from the Bible. However, it is also, essentially, the story of Seven Days in May. Chip Taylor, the legendary songwriter and winning gambler of considerable success, is the kings counterpart. Florence, a lovely Parisian beauty visiting Taylors Manhattan stomping grounds for seven days in the spring of 1996, shares the experience of the fabled young farmers daughter. Taylor pulls out all the stops, writing a collection of lovely melodies and heartwrenching lyrics in an all out effort to win Florences love. In short, he fails, and she returns to her true love waiting at home in France. Rather than being a sad ending, this really chronicles the happy prologue to a bigger story- the enduring friendship of Taylor with Florence and her shepherd boy, Guillaume. All the songs are wonderful. If I had to pick a few favorites, Id pick I Will Be Standing Again, a testament to Taylors eternal optimism; Through Their Mothers Eyes, and, If I Dont Know Love, two lovely duets featuring Lucinda Williams; and, One Hell of a Guy, a duet featuring Guy Clark, paying tribute to Florences French Romeo. Taylor wrote Seven Days in May as a tribute to Florence; but it also gives the listener a chance to peer into the fine character of Taylor, himself, apparantly, One Hell of a Guy! During Taylors tour of Texas to promote Seven Days in May, Governor George W. Bush was sufficiently impressed that he commissioned Taylor as an Honorary Texan. Senator Tom Haywood opined, Not bad for a boy from Yonkers! Buy this cd and listen to it in the dark with someone you love!
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Chip Taylor"s Last Chance
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Chip Taylor Album Review:
Lost (and found) classic at 2004-03-01
I bought this album on vinyl in a secondhand record shop around 1979, having read about it in the NME Book of Rock. I fell in love with it - it always rated in my top ten. Then somehow, I lost it! I like to think it found its way to someone else who became an equal fan. I spent years looking for it, in every record shop I visited (and I visit lots), and I couldnt believe my eyes when I eventually saw it (on vinyl) in a secondhand shop in Soho. Shortly after (1998), I read that Chip was touring again and I went to see him in Birmingham (England), and bought a copy of Last Chance on CD. The liner notes described it as his lost classic. So true! See if you can listen to Shikshinny without a tear coming to your eye.
Chip Taylor Album Review:
ENJOYING A SECOND LAST CHANCE IN LIFE! at 2000-07-25
Despite the fact that this album eluded me for 27 years, the infectious melodies and meaningful lyrics of its music had become such a living entity in my life that it attained the status of a best friend. You see, I was initially exposed to a buddys vinyl pressing of this classic Taylor album back in 1973. This tantalizing taste of audial ecstasy was fleeting at best because a few weeks later the record was ruined in a basement flood. Not only was I never able to procure another copy for my friend or myself but ironically Chip abandoned the music industry altogether at this time. I hadnt felt such a sense of personal loss over a performer since the death of Buddy Holly when I was age 17. At least I had Hollys legacy on various recordings to enjoy over the ensuing years. But all I had left of Taylors music were distant sounds echoing over that cluttered playback mechanism in the deep recesses of my mind for almost 3 decades! I was thrilled to discover earlier this year that this lost treasure had been resurrected on CD. The passing of time has not corrupted the tone of its pure country-rock strains nor diminished the warmth and inventiveness of its lyrical content. Bless you Chip for this fresh transfusion of The Real Thing and especially for being an unwitting partner in fulfilling my 27-year quest for a second LAST CHANCE!
Chip Taylor Album Review:
Happy to see re-release... at 1999-07-31
It has been many years, (and many miles), Ive spent searching for this once-unavailable album (yes, polyvinyl), for this was probably an early 70s original release. It is remembered for truely haunting lyrics, clear, concise acoustic guitar work, and melodies that seem to stick around long after the music stops. Chip, thanks for finding the many reasons to bring this one back. It has served me well, even if only through memory, and influenced my last 30 years of writing and performing. Austin Ladd Roberts
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The Living Room Tapes
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Chip Taylor Album Review:
Taylors music has always been a favorite of mine. at 1999-05-09
Im glad Chip is once again recording music, and was plesantly surprised with Living Room Tapes. His songs are always creative and heart felt. I love Grandmas White Lebaron
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Hit Man
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Chip Taylor Album Review:
I give this 4 stars unheard at 1998-11-26
Chip Taylors Last Chance was one of my favorite non-mainstream CW albums of the 70s. Of course, everybody knows Taylor wrote Wild Thing(which was covered both by The Troggs and also by a Bobby Kennedy impersonator) and Angel of The Morning, which moved Seattles Merilee Rush out of Parkers and The Spanish Castle and onto the Top-40 charts, but hes less well known for being the brother of actor Jon Voight(Catch-22 and Deliverance). Taylors a gifted songwriter, and Im ordering this collection to go with my scratchy old LPs. Unfortunately, 101 In Cashbox isnt on this disc, which is about Taylors experiences when Angel became a hit, and why I only gave 3 stars. Any Way You Want Me was covered by Bread, before David Gates joined the group, and consigned them to the limbo of elevators and easy listening stations. Joe Bob says check it out.
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