Never really got in to genuine American black blues. My first meetings with the genre was in the sixties with white blues artists and early hard rock, through covers sometimes rightly credited but as often shamelessly stolen. Then unaware of origins or copywrite issues I let that popularized approach set my youthful taste and in a way I'm still there, not entirely able to connect with the old masters. With that in mind it's no surprise Taj Mahal (born Henry Saint Clair Fredericks 1942) was and remains one of my foremost black blues preferences - in a way very traditional but at the same time carried by an atmosphere I'd got acustomed to from rockier remakes. For exemple this debute album has all the honesty and emotion of black blues though production and arrangements are of a whiter shade more reminding of early Yardbirds or Cream. But while those have a slightly tidier, more civilized outcome, the core here is more wild and naked bursting with deeper emotions. So I get the real thing, but packaged in a way easier for me to take in. This UK mono probably made from the original US tapes. So big, natural, well balanced and separated it'd be impossible to fake and it also has a reference to the US mono number on label. Be aware some of these Direction issues of the album were stereos with mono label and cover. If You care and wanna be absolutely sure to get the right format, better check matrixes or listen. Premiere US on Columbia (CL 2779/CS 9579). Mono version reissued on vinyl 2005 by Sundazed (LP 5196). First UK had label as shown here and laminated cover. (YMÖ*)(DÄJ*)
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