Track Listing
- Western Man
- Lowdown Hoedown
- So Many Roads, So Many Trains
- How Many More Years
- She Blows My Socks Off
- Bone Of Contention
- Howlin' For My Darlin'
- Sonic Boom
- Long Tail, Black Cat
- Shake 'Em On Down
- Rumble
- El Rauncho Grundge
- Home On The Range
- If You Ain't Rockin'
EB Rating - 4.5
- Tim Langford
guitar/vocals
- Tony Brimm
bass
- John Cage
drums
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Too Slim and the Taildraggers are a based in the Northwest US,
Washington state to be exact. Their music exibits subtle influences from a diverse range of musical styles,
including of course various forms of the blues, as well as rock, old time rock n' roll, surf rock,
Louisiana swamp music, an occasional touch of country and western, and others styles too diffused
for me to pinpoint. Heck, there's even a instrumental rendition of "Home on the Range". When's the
last time you heard that on a blues CD? Most prominent, however, is this band's affection for guitar-driven,
Texas style blues.
"Wanted... Live!" is a loud and raw CD. It features an excellent collection of original
material and cover tunes, punctuated by a mixture of slide and fretted guitar work. The arrangement for
this recording is the fundamental three piece band... guitar, bass and drums. Despite the rowdy and
spontaneous nature of this disc the band's timing is excellent, and the instrument mix is good. The overall
sound is a bit harsh, typical of live CDs, but no where near the point of detracting from the enjoyment of
the music.
Tim "Too Slim" Langford's guitar work is very animated. I would classify his style under the category of
blues-rock. His lead breaks are strong, and he does keep his guitar very active, but for the most part
but it's not dominated by the rapid fire runs often associated with that style of play. He gets the job
nicely done without them. On the other hand, Tim does employ large doses of volume. His guitar snarls
belligerently, frequently threating to break it's master's control, but never quite succeeding.
This seems especially true with Tim's slide playing, which I wish there were more of.
Tim is an extrovert rhythm player as well, and his chunky rhythm riffs are prominent throughout.
This is one of those "it's all good" CDs on which it is hard to choose favorites.
The pace is generally kept high energy, with only a few medium paced numbers to break things up. I have
several of this band's releases, all of which are very good, but "Wanted Live" stands as my favorite.
This CD is highly recommended to all you rockin' blues fans out there.
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