Alligator Records was launched in 1971 with this rough and ready album from guitarist Hound Dog Taylor. It was an auspicious debut for both parties. The gruff-voiced Taylor, a Natchez, Mississippi native, had only recorded two 45s at the time, but he was a popular fixture on the Chicago blues scene. A natural born storyteller, Taylor would intersperse his shows with crazed, rambling tales before launching into drawling slow blues or riotous boogies. Guitar-wise, he's one of the few
Elmore James devotees able to maintain the manic energy of James's slide guitar style without mere replication. Taylor's grinding, gnarly tone personalizes "It Hurts Me Too" and "Wild About You Baby" with solos that possess a succinct narrative structure which uses James as a foundation rather than a goal. Along with guitarist Brewer Phillips and drummer Ted Harvey, Hound Dog Taylor cranked out fuzz-toned good-time music like the raucous "Give Me Back My Wig" and "Phillips' Theme" that are part raw, rough bar-band blues, part power trio.
