Released years after frontman Taylor’s death, Genuine House Rocking Music is made up from the copious extra material recorded during the sessions for the proto-alt.blues trio’s two original studio albums, Hound Dog Taylor and the HouseRockers and Natural Boogie. Those are great releases but this holds up surprisingly well, raucous and raw as its predecessors and making for a worthy companion piece. Even where the choice of material is uninspired (Crossroads), it works. Highlights for me are the slow-but-gnarly Blue Guitar and a somewhat more frenetic run through Ray Charles’ What’d I Say.
If you’re new to Hound Dog Taylor and the HouseRockers, I’d point you at their great live set, Beware of the Dog (also released posthumously, though not by design) – one of the great blues albums – but you wouldn’t go far wrong if you happened across this one. The tape was an inexpensive online find (though I think I was lucky there); the album’s still available on CD etc.
Ritual Objects of Sight and Sound 