Record Review - 1 July 01 2000

Among the top tier of established blues artists, the exponents of fully orchestrated big-city blues are led by Chicago lights B.B. King and Koko Taylor. Over the years, both have established a style heavily weighted toward large, multi-layered productions that steam along like the Queen Mary, seductive and luxurious. So it's a nice departure to cue up Taylor's new Alligator release, Royal Blue, and be treated to a healthy platter of loose, agile shuffles, complemented by a sprinkling of "production numbers."

Glowing with tasty guest licks, Blue's particular treats include a go-'round courtesy the aforementioned Mr. King, who contributes his signature, spare lead and monstrous pipes to "Blues Hotel." A counterpoint is slashed out of Kenny Wayne Shepperd's slippery Strat, which jabs through a rambunctious take of Melissa Etheridge's "Bring Me Some Water" as Taylor and Co. growl and squall with bluesrock abandon. Offsetting the rawer numbers are cuts like the thickly upholstered slow groove of Ray Charles/Percy Mayfield's "But On the Other Hand," which bump and roll with easy grace. Other walk-ons include rock piano great Johnnie Johnson on three cuts, and a classic acoustic duet with Keb' Mo' on National Steel and harp.

The new album may indicate that the 64-year-old Taylor's famous, skyscraping vocal power is finally losing a bit of its punch — the reverberating undertones that delivered such fury in 1996's Grammy-winning Force of Nature, for instance, are a bit thinner this time around — but the energy and reach haven't slacked a bit.

And don't forget the cover art. Captured in shades of blue, the stunningly simple photographic portrait depicts the singer at rest, gazing over her shoulder, the slightest trace of a smile gracing her smooth, unlined face and coolly mysterious eyes that seem to hold a promise of ageless wisdom. In the music world, hyperbole is the lingua franca of promotion; even so, both art and title are appropriate in this case. — Greg Land

Koko Taylor performs Chastain Park Amphitheater on Wed., July 5.??