Respect the Dead

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Respect the Dead
Respect the Dead.jpg
Studio album by
Otis Taylor
Released2002
StudioStepbridge
Genre Blues
Label NorthernBlues Music
Producer Kenny Passarelli
Otis Taylor chronology
White African
(2001)		Respect the Dead
(2002)		Truth Is Not Fiction
(2003)

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]

Contents

Production

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

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [14]
Robert Christgau Five Pointed Star Solid.svg Five Pointed Star Solid.svg [15]
The Gazette Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [12]
Ottawa Citizen Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [16]
The Penguin Guide to Blues Recordings Star full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [17]
The Province Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [18]
Regina Leader-Post Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [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

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

  1. ↑ "Otis Taylor Respect the Dead". Life. Times & Transcript. February 27, 2002.
  2. ↑ Bonnell, Scott (March 9, 2002). "Otis Taylor: Respect the Dead". Harbour City Star. p. B2.
  3. ↑ Reed, Bill (July 12, 2002). "Summertime blues". The Gazette. Colorado Springs. p. GO12.
  4. ↑ Wolf, Mark (September 27, 2003). "Boulder's Otis Taylor Colors Blues with Folk". Rocky Mountain News. p. 5D.
  5. ↑ Terrell, Steve (June 14, 2002). "More bitchen blues". The Santa Fe New Mexican. p. P48.
  6. ↑ Shaw, Ted (April 4, 2002). "Acclaim catching up with blues storyteller". The Windsor Star. p. C8.
  7. ↑ Lozaw, Tristram (February 28, 2003). "Otis Taylor Respect the Dead". The Boston Globe. p. C11.
  8. ↑ Lundstrom, Jim (January 30, 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 (April 12, 2002). "From folk and jazz grew a bluesman". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. W19.
  11. 1 2 3 Matheson, Emmet (April 20, 2002). "Respect the Dead Otis Taylor". Regina Leader-Post. p. A11.
  12. 1 2 Regenstreif, Mike (May 23, 2002). "Blues". The Gazette. p. C4.
  13. ↑ Beck, John (February 2, 2003). "Last of the Blues Renaissance Men". The Press Democrat. p. Q9.
  14. 1 2 "Respect the Dead Review by Chris Nickson". AllMusic. Retrieved January 25, 2024.
  15. ↑ "Otis Taylor". Robert Christgau. Retrieved January 25, 2024.
  16. 1 2 Provencher, Norman (March 2, 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. 1 2 Derdeyn, Stuart (July 2, 2002). "Blues". The Province. p. B13.
  19. ↑ Wheeler, Brad (April 4, 2002). "Blues". The Globe and Mail. p. R4.
  20. ↑ "Blues". Billboard. Vol. 114, no. 16. April 20, 2002. p. 25.
  21. ↑ Ellis, Bill (May 23, 2002). "Restarting the Heart of Blues". The Commercial Appeal. p. E1.
  22. ↑ Hime, Geoffrey (January 10, 2003). "Otis Taylor 'Respect the Dead'". The Washington Post. p. WW7.
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