Epiphanist’s Top Albums – Choice 8

Taj Mahal – Giant Step / De Ole Folks at Home

On Rockwiz the guests and contestants are always asked about the first album they ever bought.

This is my first. I bought it via a kid at school who had joined the CBS record club and needed help to buy some records to take advantage of a special offer. I had never heard or seen the record, but the catalogue said it had Blues music, and I knew the names of some of the traditional songs, so I took a chance.

What a great record, easily Taj Mahal’s best. I have a number of his other records but nothing is close. There is a version of Corinna on the Taj’s Blues compilation from the Rising Suns days which gives a hint, but Giant Step is the one.

The vinyl is top quality, thick and hard, and still in good condition nearly 40 years later – it was released in 1969! I remember playing the record at home for my first girlfriend, who was into daggy crooners. She didn’t get it, and the relationship went pear shaped.

I haven’t replaced this one with a CD yet. There doesn’t seem much point, I know every note, every beat, every word by heart. A seminal record for me.