​Koko Taylor (from the album Crown Jewels

​Koko Taylor (from the album Crown Jewels

​Koko Taylor (from the album Crown Jewels available on Alligator Records) (by Danny McCloskey)
Honoring and curating the musical output from the Queen of the Blues, Alligator Records releases a compilation, Crown Jewels, featuring the songs of Koko Taylor. Namechecking the gang of rabble-rousers that groove to the Blues, Crown Jewels welcomes in Razor-Toting Jim, Automatic Slim, Butcher Knife-Toting Annie, Fast-talking Fannie, Washboard Sam, and Pistol Pete into the album’s opening track, “Wang Dang Doodle”. The Willie Dixon-written song was a huge hit for Koko Taylor in 1966. She was sitting in for vocals at Silvios, a West Side Chicago club, when she was first heard by Willie Dixon, who signed her to Chess Records, and produced 10 singles as well as two albums for the laidback woman with the big voice. 
Borrowing the Booker T Jones and Willliam Bell song, “Born Under a Bad Sign”, Koko Taylor is joined by Buddy Guy on vocals and guitar for the cut. Pinetop Perkins is on the piano for her version of Floyd Dixon’s “Hey Bartender” while Mighty Joe Young’s guitar backs “Voodoo Woman”. Crown Jewels is an instant reminder of the power behind Koko Taylor’s voice. Her take on “You Can Have My Husband (But Please Don’t Mess with My Man)” is a Soul-shout command while Koko Taylor’s live performance of “I’d Rather Be Blind” burns with a slow-moving, all-encompassing, fire. Queen of the Blues is an apt nod to the power and presence of Koko Taylor, and Crown Jewels serves as a reminder of exactly why she wears the bejeweled headpiece. She screams out the message in “I’m a Woman”, teases with seduction on a sturdy backbeat for “Come to Mama”, searches for her man on the hammering Blues stomp of “Mother Nature”, and exits the album on the come-on-let’s-go vibe of “Let the Good Times Roll”. (by Danny McCloskey)
Listen and buy the music of Koko Taylor from AMAZON
For more information and purchase options, please visit the Koko Taylor website