Chip Taylor - Angels & Gamblers; Best of 1971-1979 (@320)

 

Angels & Gamblers: Best of 1971-1979 Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine.

 

Best known as the author of "Wild Thing," Chip Taylor etched out a career as a performer with a series of country-rock albums in the '70s. On these records, he debuted his own versions of "Angel of the Morning" and "Big River," songs later made famous by Juice Newton and Johnny Cash, but he never quite hit the big time himself. Raven's 2008 Angels & Gamblers: Best of 1971-1979 illustrates that Taylor was more of a cult artist than a popular one. He straddled the divide between a southern outlaw and a western maverick, planted in the country but with a head and heart that wandered into esoteric territory. All this makes his '70s albums a bit easier to appreciate now that there's some distance from their conception, now that it's easier to hear how they are distinctly different from other soft singer/songwriter LPs and progressive country of the '70s. Taylor fit into both camps easily, which made him difficult to market, and sometimes his albums, like 1975's This Side of the Big River, could get a little conceptual, but when his best work is condensed to a 23-track collection like this, Taylor's idiosyncrasies are endearing and his easy touch is hard to resist. What impresses most about Angels & Gamblers is its variety. It begins with selections from the 1971 Buddah album Gorgoni, Martin & Taylor, that featured "Sweet Dream Woman" which Waylon Jennings cherry-picked a few years later, but the rest of the selections actually lean closer to the typical Buddha bubblegum sound. Then, the disc settles into Taylor's solo albums, beginning with the hazy, mellow AM singer/songwriter pop of Gasoline, which contained "Angel of the Morning," and then moves to selections from Chip Taylor's Last Chance that splits the difference between the laid-back, literary style epitomized by "Son of a Rotten Gambler" and a sly sense of humor learned from Shel Silverstein. Taylor continued in that vain before he moved over to Waylon-influenced straight country on 1976's Somebody Shoot Out the Jukebox, which was followed by the slicker, smoother 1979 LP Saint Sebastian. It's a journey that may mirror several other singers and songwriters of the '70s but Taylor's work, while bearing the influence of his peers, sounds distinctly his own his thanks to that keen lyrical eye and gentle melodic sense. These subtle gifts have never been as apparent as on this overdue compilation, whose release may help Taylor get the recognition he deserves.

 

Tracklist:

 

1. Chip Taylor - Sweet Dream Woman

2. Chip Taylor - I Can Make You Cry

3. Chip Taylor - I Can't Let Go

4. Chip Taylor - Angel of the Morning

5. Chip Taylor - Home Again

6. Chip Taylor - You Didn't Get Here Last Night

7. Chip Taylor - (I Want) The Real Thing

8. Chip Taylor - I Wasn't Born in Tennessee

9. Chip Taylor - Son of a Rotten Gambler

10. Chip Taylor - (The Likes Of) Louise

11. Chip Taylor - I Read It in Rolling Stone

12. Chip Taylor - 101 in Cashbox

13. Chip Taylor - Funny Songs

14. Chip Taylor - Early Sunday Morning

15. Chip Taylor - Here Again

16. Chip Taylor - Same Ol' Story

17. Chip Taylor - Sleepy Eyes

18. Chip Taylor - Big River

19. Chip Taylor - Gambler

20. Chip Taylor - Somebody Shoot out the Jukebox

21. Chip Taylor - Hello Atlanta

22. Chip Taylor - Something Young

23. Chip Taylor - Some Tell the Truth

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