Chip Taylor - Chip Taylor's London Sessions Bootleg (2008)

Tracklist

CD1
01. Head First
02. Same Damn Car
03. I Know Rain
04. The Healer
05. Annie on Your Mind
06. Holy Shit
07. I Hate You Today
08. Farmer's Song
09. Here Come the Animals

CD2
01. Some Old Fools
02. I Ain't Leaving Without You
03. Dalton Days
04. Hard Drive Times
05. Intro Commentary
06. The Ghost of Phil Sinclair
07. Back in '98
08. Bigot's Graveyard
09. Curve Ball
10. Unstable Man
11. Lefty Frizzell
12. Three Alarm Fire
13. Shang-a-Lang a Rainbow
14. Jean Lit the Candle
15. Texas Friend
16. We Just Roll On

Few artists have a résumé as eclectic as Chip Taylor's CV. Best known as composer of AM-radio staples "Wild Thing" and "Angel of the Morning," Taylor was a prolific songwriter who penned hits for a variety of rock, country, and R&B musicians. He also recorded a few cult-classic country-folk albums in the early 1970s (such as Chip Taylor's Last Chance) before embarking on a 20-year stint as a professional gambler. Taylor returned to music in the 1990s, started his own label, and slowly rebuilt a core fan following. This double-disc set proves him to be a quirky and perceptive songwriter in the vein of weathered troubadours like Guy Clark or John Prine. Disc 1, subtitled "London-Electric," has a jangle-rock edge and, though inconsistent in terms of material, offers a couple of gems. Disc 2, however, is the true prize, a wonderful pared-down acoustic set that seems to be the best setting for Taylor's lived-in voice and his very personal, fearless, wistful songs. Lucinda Williams adds her vocal charms on a number of cuts while instrumentalists as diverse as fiddler Tammy Rogers and swing trumpeter Warren Vache (on the simmering blues "Three Alarm Fire") make worthy contributions. The haphazard, off-the-cuff vibe of both discs seems somehow befitting.

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