Respect the Dead is an album by the American musician Otis Taylor, released in 2002.[1][2] Taylor supported the album with North American tour.[3] Respect the Dead was nominated for a W. C. Handy Award for best contemporary blues album.[4]

Respect the Dead
Studio album by
Released2002
StudioStepbridge
GenreBlues
LabelNorthernBlues Music
ProducerKenny Passarelli
Otis Taylor chronology
White African
(2001)
Respect the Dead
(2002)
Truth Is Not Fiction
(2003)

Production

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Recorded at Stepbridge Studios, in Santa Fe, the album was produced by Kenny Passarelli, who also played bass.[5][6] Eddie Turner played lead guitar.[7] Taylor's daughter, Cassie, contributed backing vocals to many of the songs.[8] All of the songs were written by Taylor.[9] Taylor was chiefly influenced by John Lee Hooker.[10] "32nd Time" traces the history of the civil rights movement in the latter half of the 20th century.[11] "Ten Million Slaves" is about the slave trade, told from the perspective of someone trapped in a fallout shelter.[12] "Three Stripes on a Cadillac" was inspired by a story of a drag race in Mexico that ended in death.[13]

Critical reception

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Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic     [14]
Robert Christgau  [15]
The Gazette     [12]
Ottawa Citizen     [16]
The Penguin Guide to Blues Recordings    [17]
The Province     [18]
Regina Leader-Post     [11]

The Ottawa Citizen wrote that "Taylor's both a history addict and social observer and he's way more interested in relating the stories of a people than he is in bad men- bad women tunes."[16] The Globe and Mail determined that, "while the hard-strummed minimalist brilliance of African is reprised here, Taylor, by giving more manoeuvre to his band, adds backing depth to a musical stream of historical consciousness."[19] Billboard called "Black Witch" "one of the most haunting (and haunted) blues songs tracked by anyone in recent memory."[20]

The Regina Leader-Post said that the songs "are built on driving repetition, one chord over and over towards some sinister end."[11] The Commercial Appeal stated that Respect the Dead "increases the jam-band quotient in Taylor's rootsy blend of Richie Havens folk, Dock Boggs old-time and John Lee Hooker blues."[21] The Province concluded that Taylor's "singing is fierce and his electric banjo work is the twanging-est ever."[18] The Washington Post wrote that Taylor connects "the droning, acoustic sounds of pre-World War II blues to the trance-like, amplified sounds of today's dance music."[22]

AllMusic noted that "Taylor doesn't work within standard blues structures, and his lyrics stray far from the standard blues lines to encompass history and mythology."[14]

Track listing

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No.TitleLength
1."Ten Million Slaves" 
2."Hands on Your Stomach" 
3."Changing Rules" 
4."32nd Time" 
5."Baby So" 
6."Shaker Woman" 
7."Black Witch" 
8."Seven Hours of Light" 
9."I Like You, But I Don't Love You" 
10."Jump Jelly Belly" 
11."Three Stripes on a Cadillac" 
12."Just Live Your Life" 

References

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  1. ^ "Otis Taylor Respect the Dead". Life. Times & Transcript. 27 Feb 2002.
  2. ^ Bonnell, Scott (9 Mar 2002). "Otis Taylor: Respect the Dead". Harbour City Star. p. B2.
  3. ^ Reed, Bill (12 July 2002). "Summertime blues". The Gazette. Colorado Springs. p. GO12.
  4. ^ Wolf, Mark (27 Sep 2003). "Boulder's Otis Taylor Colors Blues with Folk". Rocky Mountain News. p. 5D.
  5. ^ Terrell, Steve (14 June 2002). "More bitchen blues". The Santa Fe New Mexican. p. P48.
  6. ^ Shaw, Ted (4 Apr 2002). "Acclaim catching up with blues storyteller". The Windsor Star. p. C8.
  7. ^ Lozaw, Tristram (28 Feb 2003). "Otis Taylor Respect the Dead". The Boston Globe. p. C11.
  8. ^ Lundstrom, Jim (30 Jan 2003). "Otis Taylor's music gets back to the essence of the blues". The Post-Crescent. p. A4.
  9. ^ Van Vleck, Philip (May 2002). "Otis Taylor Respect the Dead". CMJ New Music Monthly. No. 101. p. 58.
  10. ^ Cristiano, Nick (12 Apr 2002). "From folk and jazz grew a bluesman". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. W19.
  11. ^ a b c Matheson, Emmet (20 Apr 2002). "Respect the Dead Otis Taylor". Regina Leader-Post. p. A11.
  12. ^ a b Regenstreif, Mike (23 May 2002). "Blues". The Gazette. p. C4.
  13. ^ Beck, John (2 Feb 2003). "Last of the Blues Renaissance Men". The Press Democrat. p. Q9.
  14. ^ a b "Respect the Dead Review by Chris Nickson". AllMusic. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
  15. ^ "Otis Taylor". Robert Christgau. Retrieved 25 January 2024.
  16. ^ a b Provencher, Norman (2 Mar 2002). "Otis Taylor's hard poetry is more demanding than pretty". Ottawa Citizen. p. I4.
  17. ^ The Penguin Guide to Blues Recordings. Penguin. 2006. p. 634.
  18. ^ a b Derdeyn, Stuart (2 July 2002). "Blues". The Province. p. B13.
  19. ^ Wheeler, Brad (4 Apr 2002). "Blues". The Globe and Mail. p. R4.
  20. ^ "Blues". Billboard. Vol. 114, no. 16. Apr 20, 2002. p. 25.
  21. ^ Ellis, Bill (23 May 2002). "Restarting the Heart of Blues". The Commercial Appeal. p. E1.
  22. ^ Hime, Geoffrey (10 Jan 2003). "Otis Taylor 'Respect the Dead'". The Washington Post. p. WW7.