Otis Taylor - Fantasizing About Being Black download free

Without a doubt, Otis Taylor is one of the most interesting artists you’re ever gonna run across, and if you’re a blues fan, Otis lays down what I can only describe as a sort of ‘Trance Blues’ that’s essentially hypnotic, encompassing, and once your work your way into the lyrics, totally riveting. Taylor is one of those artists who does so much with so little, relying on simple guitars, banjo, fiddle, minimal percussions, and a ghostly female voice [Anne Harris] that floats in from out of nowhere, and will haunt any song she’s part of. I’m not sure if this is a good thing or not, certainly not lazy … where on several albums, including this one, Taylor reinvestigates and reinvents several of the songs you’ve come to know and love from previous releases. Also, as on other albums, Fantasizing About Being Black [his fifteenth formal release] is themed, this time he tells the story of black people in America from the time of slavery to the present … where a black man could be killed just for making eye contact with a white woman, civil rights marchers being attacked by dogs and abused when arrested, about children being taken away or given up for adoption, and yes, about slavery, where black people would often go insane from endless days in the relentless sun. Yet what is so beautiful about Taylor’s presentation is that he weaves these stories into a sonic bewilderment of near intoxication, presented with conviction, without anger, and often filled not with angst, but a feeling of being so eternally tired, as these attitudes in America seem never to end. So yes, the album is awash with emotion, though devoid of pretentiousness, deeply drenched in the atmosphere and the humidity of the Mississippi Delta.Fantasizing About Being Black builds and ebbs slowly, with a sense of purpose and stance, yet there’s also an element of uptempo John Lee Hooker raunch, delivered by the slide guitar work of Jerry Douglas, while other songs are enlightened by divinely inspired psychedelic flourishes that float effortlessly, meandering in and out [as Jimi Hendrix did with the song “Hey Joe”, a number that Taylor covers on his album Blue Eyed Monster] in order to allow the listener to drift off, lost in the stories, the music, or both.This is a fine release, one that certainly follows in the footsteps of what’s made Otis Taylor so deeply respected and admired by so many fans and musicians alike. If you’ve never seen him live, it’s an event you will not soon forget.Review by Jenell Kesler