Search - Koko Taylor :: Jump for Joy

Only Time will Tell

JLD | 11/19/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Only Time will tell and can't let go are some really good songs. But those songs shouldn't be the reason you buy this album. Buy this album because Koko can sing and she sings what happens everyday. Koko sings the truth and I encourage you to buy this album."

The Best of the Queen!

Ricardo Neves Gonzalez | Petrópolis-R.J. Brazil-bluesfan@ig.com.br | 11/22/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is the best album Koko's had recorded yet! She really knows how to choose some of the best guests to enrich any set of records! Specially here Ray Allison(drums);Billy Branch(harmonica);Gene Barge(saxes);and Lonnie Brooks(guitar)...gave a constelation quality to this work.Marvellous in all the ways!"

Good enough, but not one of her best

Docendo Discimus | Vita scholae | 06/20/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Famed Chicago blues queen Koko Taylor has yet to make a bad album, really. "Jump For Joy" is probably the least of her eight Alligator records...the production is too slick and there are too many mediocre songs, but even second-rate Koko is worth a listen, and there is some really good stuff to be found here. Taylor's own "Stop Watching Your Enemies" is one of her best self-penned songs, and her rendition of Paul Gayten's soulful slowie "Time Will Tell" is equally fine.



Both of those songs are included on Taylor's Alligator compilation "Deluxe Edition", though, so their inclusion isn't enough to make this album a must-have. There are a couple more really good songs here, like the swinging "The Eyes Don't Lie" and the gritty "I Don't Want No Leftovers", but much of this material is a little too generic. There is nothing bad on this disc, not at all...it just isn't all that great, either.

A duet between Koko Taylor and Lonnie Brooks ought to be something to savour, but the corny "It's A Dirty Job" is a wasted opportunity. Maybe my expectations are too high, but I have all of Taylor's albums, and almost all of them are so good that you kinda get spoiled!



"Jump For Joy" is a solid record, it just isn't as remarkable as, say, "Force Of Nature" or "I Got What It Takes" or "The Earthshaker".

Fans will certainly want to pick it up, but casual listeners ought to start elsewhere."