Hound Dog Taylor And The HouseRockers Alligator Records 4701 1st Pressing   Cover - Vg+ Lp- Ex   Nice sounding copy!!

Hound Dog Taylor and the HouseRockers is the 1971 (see ) debut album of .

Cub Coda of  describes it as "wild, raucous, crazy music straight out of the  clubs", and calls it "one of the greatest albums of all time". The Penguin Guide to Blues Recordings describes its sound as "loud, harsh, boxy and exciting".

Originally issued on  as the first release on the  label, it has subsequently been reissued on .

Background[]

As well as being Taylor's debut album, Hound Dog Taylor and the HouseRockers was the first release on the  label. The label was founded by  for the specific purpose of releasing an album of Taylor's music after he had been unable to persuade , then his boss at , to record Taylor.

The album features only three musicians: Taylor himself on vocals and slide guitar, Brewer Phillips on  and Ted Harvey on . For solos, the two guitarists alternate between playing lead and accompanying the other guitarist.

The record sold 9,000 copies in its first year, a large number for a blues record on an independent label, and by 1998 had sold around 100,000 copies. At the time of the recording, Taylor was playing locally in taverns, but the higher profile the album's success gave him enabled him to obtain work further afield, eventually touring as far away as Australia.

Further material from the same sessions was released on the posthumous album Genuine Houserocking Music.

Track listing[]

Except where otherwise noted, tracks composed by 

"She's Gone" - 3:46 "Walking the Ceiling" - 3:12 "Held My Baby Last Night" () - 4:14 "Taylor's Rock" - 3:50 "It's Alright" - 3:10 "Phillips' Theme" - 4:27 "Wild About You, Baby" (Elmore James) - 3:35 "I Just Can't Make It" - 3:15 "It Hurts Me Too" (Elmore James) - 3:47 "" - 2:52 "Give Me Back My Wig" - 3:31 "55th Street Boogie" - 2:59