Search - Eddie Taylor :: Long Way From Home

A fine live album from an underrated performer

Docendo Discimus | Vita scholae | 07/12/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Singer/guitarist Eddie Taylor played rhythm guitar behind Jimmy Reed on numerous waxings, but as a solo performer he never achieved anything like the commercial succes of Reed, who regularly outsold men like Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf.



That was not due to any lack of talent, however. Eddie Taylor (1923-1985) was a supremely versatile blues guitarist, equally capable of playing the greasiest, grittiest grooves imaginable, and tearing off into a burning single-string solo. And he was a strong, expressive singer as well...perhaps the only thing missing was the kind of exceptional material that Willie Dixon penned for Waters and Wolf (and which they, along with men like Elmore James and Rice Miller, were perfectly capable of churning out on their own). Eddie Taylor was a great songwriter when his muse was in, but he seemed to have a hard time coming up with enough truly excellent material to compete with the exceptionally prolific Willie Dixon and that force of nature Aleck "Rice" Miller.



On this aptly titled 1977 live recording (it was cut in Japan), Taylor is backed by brothers Louis and David Myers on 2nd guitar and bass guitar respectively, and by veteran drummer Odie Payne, a powerful, versatile percussionist who played with everybody who was anybody on the Chicago blues scene at one time or another.

The set opens with Eddie Taylor's classic 1955 single "Bad Boy", and other highlights include the fiery "You're Gonna Look For Me", the swaggering groove of "There'll Be A Day", a smouldering "Blow Wind Blow" (not the Muddy Waters-song), and a slow, yet very muscular "My Sometimes Baby" which prominently features Odie Payne.

Also, Taylor and Louis Myers both get off a couple of great solos on "Going Down Slow" (that's Eddie Taylor in the right speaker), and this rendition of "Crossroads" is one of the finest electric versions of that classic song I have ever heard. Taylor even sounds like Robert Johnson.



There is a lot of sizzling blues guitar playing here, and some wonderful drumming by Odie Payne as well. The sound is fine, and the liner notes are quite good. And "Long Way From Home" is a really enjoyable live album by one of the finest, most talented sidemen on the Chicago blues scene, the great Eddie Taylor."