| Royal Blue | 
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Avg. Customer Rating:   (based on 14 reviews)
Sales Rank: 124141
Category: Music
Artist: Koko Taylor
Publisher: Alligator Records
Studio: Alligator Records
Manufacturer: Alligator Records
Label: Alligator Records
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.3 x 4.9 x 0.3
MPN: 514873
UPC: 014551487326
EAN: 0014551487326
ASIN: B00004SYZN
Release Date: June 6, 2000
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | Save Your Breath | | • | Hittin' On Me | | • | Bring Me Some Water | | • | But On The Other Hand | | • | Don't Let Me Catch You (With Your Drawers Down) | | • | Blues Hotel | | • | Fuel To Burn | | • | The Man Next Door | | • | Old Woman | | • | Ernestine | | • | Keep Your Booty Out Of My Bed | | • | Keep Your Mouth Shut And Your Eyes Open |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
Koko Taylor is the undisputed queen of Chicago blues vocals, and this record is her first since 1993's Force of Nature. It's a characteristically well-informed tour of contemporary and electric blues, showcasing that gravelly, saucy growl that just gets more satisfying with age. Guest musicians pop up all over the record, from Kenny Wayne Shepherd's lightning guitar work on Melissa Etheridge's "Bring Me Some Water" to B.B. King's more laid-back riffs on "Blues Hotel." Johnnie Johnson, Keb' Mo', and Taylor's typical cast of stellar back-up musicians, including Criss Johnson on guitar, also make accomplished contributions. Taylor's own original material, here contained in a midrecord, three-song stretch, might be the album's highlight, starting with the spare "The Man Next Door," exploding into the sax-driven "Old Woman," and winding down with Matthew Skoller's soulful harmonica on "Ernestine." Investing each song with her time-tested, raspy wisdom, Taylor shows that her pipes are still, indisputably, in perfect working order. --Matthew Cooke
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| Customer Reviews: Read 9 more reviews...
 Koko never fails to deliver October 1, 2007
Big Koko fan here and this is a great CD for fans of her music. Its not as strong as some of her other albums but she always sets the bar high.
****1/2. A great comeback June 10, 2005
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
2000's "Royal Blue" is Koko Taylor's first Alligator album in seven years. It is a tough and very well-arranged collection of blues and R&B, and the overall quality of the material is very high...there really isn't a bad song to be found.
The band is excellent as well, and Koko Taylor's rough voice has lost little or none of its power. Keb' Mo' plays gritty slide guitar on Taylor's self-penned acoustic "The Man Next Door", and Elmore James' piano player, the late, great Johnnie Johnson who died just a few week ago as I write this, rolls the ivories on the slow grind of "But On The Other Hand" and the swaggering album highlight "Ernestine", which also features some really great harmonica playing courtesy of Matthew Skoller.
There are plenty of other memorable songs, like the bump and grind of "Bring Me Some Water" and "Don't Let Me Catch You", and the powerful opener "Save Your Breath", all of them performed with power and conviction.
This is one of those records which get better on each subsequent listen. Fans of Koko Taylor will not want to miss it, and casual listeners should find a lot to like as well. "Royal Blue" certainly proves that Taylor is still the undisputed queen of the blues.
Still the Queen January 23, 2005
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Have you read the review beneath this one? Geez!
"For the emty headed bozo who wrote the ignorant review "Not a member of the 'mutual admiration society'", 1st of all there isn't a mutual admiratio nsociety, and blues reviewers, at leats professional ones liek me..." Honestly! Learn to spell before you start calling other people "Bozo", bozo.
Koko Taylor's first studio album in seven years, "Royal Blue" is mostly an up-tempo set with guest appearances by men like Johnny Johnson, B.B. King, and Kenny Wayne Shepherd. Shepherd who contributes some scorching guitar on the Melissa Ethridge-penned hit single "Bring Me Some Water", and Kevin Moore (okay, Keb' Mo') plays gritty Delta slide guitar on a great acoustic "The Man Next Door", one of four originals penned by Taylor herself.
The overall quality of this material is very high, the production is excellent, and so is the band. Fans will not want to miss this one.
 A GREAT cd, Kok has gained a quality in her vocie!!! May 19, 2004
0 out of 4 found this review helpful
For the emty headed bozo who wrote the ignorant review "Not a member of the 'mutual admiration society'", 1st of all there isn't a mutual admiratio nsociety, and blues reviewers, at leats professional ones liek me, are nOT getting paid to plug cd's, only hateful and vengeful idiots would even think that. It's just that with blues artists, it's not liek reviewing pop music, because blues is not or at least it shouldn't be commercial, it's art, so no, there are not too many bad releases, and Koko has if anything gained something in her voice, that makes it become more appeallign each year. I would leave a bad review for one of the Fabulous Thunderbirds cd's because they saold out to pop music, but if ther eis a alck of bad reviews in blues magazines, it's because of two things. 1) there's a lack of HATEFUL idiots like the one who wrote the "Not a member of the 'mutual admiration society'" review, so there are no spitefu lreviews. 2)There are not too many truly bad blues performances, not many artists sell out, like some of BB's rock collaboration cd's, or Cyrus cd's, or Fab. Thunderbirds. In any case thsi is a fine effort, from koko, and she is still in fine voice, it may be a bit overproduced with too many guests, but still it's fine, and in her typically joyous fashion of shouting in her rhaspy and juke jointish vocals. Great cd, worth pciking up. Bottom line, another great blues cd, among the thousands of good ones out there.
Good rough blues May 16, 2004
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Koko Taylor showed her real rough side in the song Ernestine.She attracts new generations of my kind.Koko has a way of singing the blues on this album.I reccomend this be a nice gift for someone.This is a good Blues album.
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