Crown Jewels (Remastered) Koko Taylor

• 1 Wang Dang Doodle 04:24
• 2 Mother Nature 04:43
• 3 You Can Have My Husband 02:46
• 4 Born Under A Bad Sign 04:56
• 5 I'm A Woman 04:34
• 6 Voodoo Woman 03:48
• 7 I'd Rather Go Blind (Live) 04:43
• 8 Can't Let Go 04:59
• 9 Hey Bartender 02:53
• 10 Ernestine 05:04
• 11 Come To Mama 04:49
• 12 Let The Good Times Roll 03:03
• Total Runtime 50:42

Info for Crown Jewels (Remastered)

Crown Jewels, the new greatest hits album from the legendary Queen Of The Blues, Koko Taylor. The album collects 12 of Taylor's most powerful, dynamic and impactful performances, all newly remastered. From the iconic Wang Dang Doodle to the revelatory I'm A Woman to the raucous Hey Bartender to the heart-melting live rendition of I'd Rather Go Blind to the blistering original Ernestine, Taylor proves why, over the course of her four-decade career, she had no peers.

"Crown Jewels is one of those rare "Greatest Hits" that truly pays homage and respect to an enormously talented Blues Queen without sounding obvious or making it feeling to be built out of hope for merely commercial gain. It's simply a true gift of musical love from Koko Taylor, via Alligator Records, to the vast, global Blues community and to those that simply love music at the highest level of quality."

Koko Taylor, vocals
Sammy Lawhorn, guitar (tracks 1, 3, 5, 9, 12)
Johnny B. Moore, guitar (tracks 1, 3, 5, 9, 12)
Pinetop Perkins, piano (tracks 1, 3, 5, 9, 12)
Abb Locke, tenor saxophone (tracks 1, 3, 5, 9, 12)
Cornelius Boyson, bass (tracks 1, 3, 5, 9, 12)
Vince Chappelle, drums (tracks 1, 3, 5, 9, 12)
Harmonia Hinds, harmonica (track 5)
Criss Johnson, lead guitar (tracks 2, 4)
Calvin “Vino” Louden, rhythm guitar (tracks 2, 4)
Jeremiah Africa, keyboards (tracks 2, 4)
Jerry Murphy, bass (tracks 2, 4)
Ray “Killer” Allison, drums (tracks 2, 4)
Carey Bell, harmonica (track 2)
Buddy Guy, guitar, vocals (track 4)

Remastered by Collin Jordan, The Boiler Room, Chicago, IL

Koko Taylor
Often called the "Queen of the Blues," Koko Taylor (nee Cora Walton) was born 75 years ago in a sharecropper's cabin at the edge of a cotton plantation in southwestern Tennessee. Even though her father encouraged her to perform only gospel music, Koko and her siblings would sneak out and play the blues on homemade instruments, including a guitar made with baling wire and a fife fashioned from a corncob. When she was eighteen, Koko (given that name as a child due to her love of chocolate) moved with her soon-to-be husband Robert "Pop" Taylor to Chicago. It was not long before she was sitting in with legendary blues musicians in Chicago's lively club scene. In 1962 Willie Dixon recognized her talent and procured for her a Chess recording contract. She recorded the million selling hit "Wang Dang Doodle" in 1965.

Her vocal power and stage presence, drawing on such forbears as Bessie Smith, Sippie Wallace, and Alberta Hunter, has carried her through four decades of recording and live performance. She has received 19 W.C. Handy Awards, more than any other female blues artist, and six of her last seven Alligator albums have been nominated for Grammy Awards. In 1993 Chicago Mayor Richard A. Daley honored Taylor with a "Legend of the Year Award" and declared "Koko Taylor Day" throughout Chicago. The Blues Foundation bestowed a Lifetime Achievement Award on her in 1999.

"Koko Taylor is a national treasure. She packs firepower a lot of youngsters only wish they had." —Chicago Tribune

"Koko Taylor is the blues...a growling goddess of down-and-dirty. Sheer, unstoppable shouting power, full steam ahead and damn the torpedoes. There are many kings of the blues but only one queen. Koko's voice is capable of pinning a listener to the back wall." — Boston Globe

"Raucous, gritty, good-time blues...Taylor belts out blues in a gravel voice with ferocious intensity. Foot-stomping music that's rough, raw and wonderfully upbeat." — People

Like the force of nature that she was, GRAMMY-winning Koko Taylor, the undisputed "Queen of the Blues," was in a league of her own. With her exuberant, deeply soulful, good-time style and her tough-as-nails band, she could be counted on to make the reluctant fans dance and the quiet ones jump for joy. When Taylor passed in June of 2009, the world lost a musical icon. "Koko Taylor," according to Rolling Stone, was "the greatest blues singer of her generation."

This album contains no booklet.