Wikipedia

Respect the Dead

Respect the Dead is an album by the American musician Otis Taylor, released in 2002.[1][2] Taylor supported the album with North American tour.[3] Respect the Dead was nominated for a W. C. Handy Award for best contemporary blues album.[4]

Respect the Dead
Studio album by
Otis Taylor
Released2002
StudioStepbridge
GenreBlues
LabelNorthernBlues Music
ProducerKenny Passarelli
Otis Taylor chronology
White African
(2001) 		Respect the Dead
(2002) 		Truth Is Not Fiction
(2003)

Production

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Recorded at Stepbridge Studios, in Santa Fe, the album was produced by Kenny Passarelli, who also played bass.[5][6] Eddie Turner played lead guitar.[7] Taylor's daughter, Cassie, contributed backing vocals to many of the songs.[8] All of the songs were written by Taylor.[9] Taylor was chiefly influenced by John Lee Hooker.[10] "32nd Time" traces the history of the civil rights movement in the latter half of the 20th century.[11] "Ten Million Slaves" is about the slave trade, told from the perspective of someone trapped in a fallout shelter.[12] "Three Stripes on a Cadillac" was inspired by a story of a drag race in Mexico that ended in death.[13]

Critical reception

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Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic     [14]
Robert Christgau  [15]
The Gazette     [12]
Ottawa Citizen     [16]
The Penguin Guide to Blues Recordings    [17]
The Province     [18]
Regina Leader-Post     [11]

The Ottawa Citizen wrote that "Taylor's both a history addict and social observer and he's way more interested in relating the stories of a people than he is in bad men- bad women tunes."[16] The Globe and Mail determined that, "while the hard-strummed minimalist brilliance of African is reprised here, Taylor, by giving more manoeuvre to his band, adds backing depth to a musical stream of historical consciousness."[19] Billboard called "Black Witch" "one of the most haunting (and haunted) blues songs tracked by anyone in recent memory."[20]

The Regina Leader-Post said that the songs "are built on driving repetition, one chord over and over towards some sinister end."[11] The Commercial Appeal stated that Respect the Dead "increases the jam-band quotient in Taylor's rootsy blend of Richie Havens folk, Dock Boggs old-time and John Lee Hooker blues."[21] The Province concluded that Taylor's "singing is fierce and his electric banjo work is the twanging-est ever."[18] The Washington Post wrote that Taylor connects "the droning, acoustic sounds of pre-World War II blues to the trance-like, amplified sounds of today's dance music."[22]

AllMusic noted that "Taylor doesn't work within standard blues structures, and his lyrics stray far from the standard blues lines to encompass history and mythology."[14]

Track listing

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No.TitleLength
1."Ten Million Slaves" 
2."Hands on Your Stomach" 
3."Changing Rules" 
4."32nd Time" 
5."Baby So" 
6."Shaker Woman" 
7."Black Witch" 
8."Seven Hours of Light" 
9."I Like You, But I Don't Love You" 
10."Jump Jelly Belly" 
11."Three Stripes on a Cadillac" 
12."Just Live Your Life" 

References

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  1. ^ "Otis Taylor Respect the Dead". Life. Times & Transcript. 27 Feb 2002.
  2. ^ Bonnell, Scott (9 Mar 2002). "Otis Taylor: Respect the Dead". Harbour City Star. p. B2.
  3. ^ Reed, Bill (12 July 2002). "Summertime blues". The Gazette. Colorado Springs. p. GO12.
  4. ^ Wolf, Mark (27 Sep 2003). "Boulder's Otis Taylor Colors Blues with Folk". Rocky Mountain News. p. 5D.
  5. ^ Terrell, Steve (14 June 2002). "More bitchen blues". The Santa Fe New Mexican. p. P48.
  6. ^ Shaw, Ted (4 Apr 2002). "Acclaim catching up with blues storyteller". The Windsor Star. p. C8.
  7. ^ Lozaw, Tristram (28 Feb 2003). "Otis Taylor Respect the Dead". The Boston Globe. p. C11.
  8. ^ Lundstrom, Jim (30 Jan 2003). "Otis Taylor's music gets back to the essence of the blues". The Post-Crescent. p. A4.
  9. ^ Van Vleck, Philip (May 2002). "Otis Taylor Respect the Dead". CMJ New Music Monthly. No. 101. p. 58.
  10. ^ Cristiano, Nick (12 Apr 2002). "From folk and jazz grew a bluesman". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. W19.
  11. ^ a b c Matheson, Emmet (20 Apr 2002). "Respect the Dead Otis Taylor". Regina Leader-Post. p. A11.
  12. ^ a b Regenstreif, Mike (23 May 2002). "Blues". The Gazette. p. C4.
  13. ^ Beck, John (2 Feb 2003). "Last of the Blues Renaissance Men". The Press Democrat. p. Q9.
  14. ^ a b "Respect the Dead Review by Chris Nickson". AllMusic. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
  15. ^ "Otis Taylor". Robert Christgau. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
  16. ^ a b Provencher, Norman (2 Mar 2002). "Otis Taylor's hard poetry is more demanding than pretty". Ottawa Citizen. p. I4.
  17. ^ The Penguin Guide to Blues Recordings. Penguin. 2006. p. 634.
  18. ^ a b Derdeyn, Stuart (2 July 2002). "Blues". The Province. p. B13.
  19. ^ Wheeler, Brad (4 Apr 2002). "Blues". The Globe and Mail. p. R4.
  20. ^ "Blues". Billboard. Vol. 114, no. 16. Apr 20, 2002. p. 25.
  21. ^ Ellis, Bill (23 May 2002). "Restarting the Heart of Blues". The Commercial Appeal. p. E1.
  22. ^ Hime, Geoffrey (10 Jan 2003). "Otis Taylor 'Respect the Dead'". The Washington Post. p. WW7.
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