110. Hound Dog Taylor and the HouseRockers - Hound Dog Taylor and the HouseRockers (1971)
The debut album of Theodore Roosevelt "Hound Dog" Taylor, one of my top 10 all-time favorite blues albums and one I never get tired of hearing. Sort of like John Lee Hooker crossed with Elmore James, backed by another guitar player, cranked up through some cheap amplifiers with generous helpings of distortion and fuzz, with a drummer pounding out a primitive, steady beat. The opposite of slick, smooth, sterile, boring blues... this is the real stuff... straight, no chaser and a kick like a mule!
"When I die," Taylor once said, "they'll say, 'he couldn't play **** but he sure made it sound good.'"
He sure did make it sound good! And a hell of a lot of fun too!