Album Review // Taj Mahal and The Phantom Blues Band // Time
4/5 stars
Recorded over 15 years ago but just released last month, Taj Mahal isn't doing anything groundbreaking on this album. He is doing what he has done so well since the 1960s – which is everything. This Grammy-winning artist has delightfully navigated through dozens of releases by flexing his mastery of root blues, soul, reggae, and Caribbean genres. The gift isn't just Mahal's musicianship and songwriting, but also the talent and skill of The Phantom Blues Band who are more than just a backup band. Most notable and exciting is Mahal's treatment of the uplifting and unreleased Bill Withers demo "Time." The simplicity of the track blows away all the heavy dust of the day-to-day stress of our exhausted hearts. Other tracks move beyond blues to soulfully conjure shadows of Wilson Pickett, Clarence Carter, and Otis Redding – all channeled through the unmistakable vessel of Taj Mahal's smooth raspiness. With it, he makes the other cover songs uniquely his own, like Charles Sheffield's "It's Your Voodoo Working," Lovin' Spoonful's "Wild about My Lovin'," and Bob Marley's "Talkin' Blues." Mahal again reminds us there's no guilt in sitting with friends on the front porch to share a laugh and no shame in dancing barefoot in the kitchen by yourself.
