{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}} {{Infobox album | name = Dirty Pool | type = studio | artist = Melvin Taylor & the Slack Band | cover =Dirty Pool album.jpg | alt = | released = 1997 | recorded = | venue = | studio = Dockside | genre = Blues, Chicago blues<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hanson |first1=Karen |title=Today's Chicago Blues |date=2007 |publisher=Lake Claremont Press |page=205}}</ref> | length = | label = Evidence | producer = John Snyder | prev_title = Melvin Taylor and the Slack Band | prev_year = 1995 | next_title = Bang That Bell | next_year = 2000 }} '''''Dirty Pool''''' is an album by the American musician Melvin Taylor, released in 1997.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Hunter Jr. |first1=Al |title=No Slack in Taylor's Guitar Virtuosity |work=Philadelphia Daily News |date=May 19, 2000 |department=Features Yo! |page=68}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Vitello |first1=Barbara |title=''Downbeat'', ''Living Blues'', ''Blues Access'' and ''Pulse'' have all praised Melvin Taylor... |work=Daily Herald |date=19 June 1998 |location=Arlington Heights |department=Time Out |page=14}}</ref> He is credited with his Slack Band.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Melvin Taylor & the Slack Band |magazine=Big City Blues |date=October 1997 |volume=3 |issue=4 |page=40}}</ref> ''Dirty Pool'' was Taylor's second album for Evidence Music.<ref>{{cite web |title=Melvin Taylor Biography by Richard Skelly |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/melvin-taylor-mn0000351304/biography |website=AllMusic |access-date=9 August 2023}}</ref>
==Production== The album was produced by John Snyder. James Knowles played drums on the album; Ethan Farmer played bass.<ref name=TS/> The title track, "Too Sorry", and "Telephone Song" were written by Stevie Ray Vaughan.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Jones |first1=Ryan |title=The blues are best experienced live... |work=The Record |date=6 Mar 1998 |location=Bergen County |department=Previews |page=29}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Dicaire |first1=David |title=More Blues Singers: Biographies of 50 Artists from the Later 20th Century |date=2001 |publisher=McFarland |page=84}}</ref> "Right Place, Wrong Time" is a cover of the Otis Rush song.<ref name=HC/>
==Critical reception== {{music ratings |rev1 = AllMusic |rev1score = {{rating|4.5|5}}<ref name="AM">{{cite web |title=Dirty Pool Review by Tom Schulte |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/dirty-pool-mw0000025850 |website=AllMusic |access-date=9 August 2023}}</ref> |rev2 = ''The Penguin Guide to Blues Recordings'' |rev2score = {{rating|2.5|4}}<ref>{{cite book |title=The Penguin Guide to Blues Recordings |date=2006 |publisher=Penguin Books |page=633}}</ref> |rev3= ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'' |rev3score = {{rating|3|4}}<ref name="PP">{{cite news |last1=White |first1=Jim |title=A Batch of Blues |work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |date=31 Aug 1997 |page=F5}}</ref> }} The ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'' wrote that Taylor "incorporates slash-and-burn guitar work into his blues, soaring out of traditional choruses with scorching solos."<ref name=PP/> The ''Toronto Star'' noted that "burners like 'Too Sorry' and 'I Ain't Superstitious' work particularly well in the great thrashing Chicago electric blues tradition, while Taylor's chatty voice works to contrast with all slurring, high- speed runs and pyrotechnic proficiency."<ref name="TS">{{cite news |last1=Chapman |first1=Geoff |title=Taylor's casual pyrotechnics |work=Toronto Star |date=11 Oct 1997 |page=J6}}</ref> The ''Detroit Free Press'' determined that "it's almost too easy to describe Chicago sensation Melvin Taylor as what Jimi Hendrix might have been had Hendrix never ventured outside R&B and roadhouse blues."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Lawson |first1=Terry |title=Melvin Taylor and the Slack Band, 'Dirty Pool' |work=The Record |publisher=Detroit Free Press |date=26 Sep 1997 |department=Previews |page=10}}</ref>
The ''Houston Chronicle'' stated: "Like Hendrix, Taylor is a master of the wah-wah pedal, a device that has been largely abandoned by younger guitarists... This daredevil technique recalls psychedelic rock or avant-garde jazz, except that Taylor never strays far from the basic blues groove."<ref name="HC">{{cite news |last1=Mitchell |first1=Rick |title=Recordings |work=Houston Chronicle |date=August 24, 1997 |department=Zest |page=6}}</ref> The ''Dallas Observer'' listed ''Dirty Pool'' among the best blues albums of 1997, concluding that "the music is scathing, three-piece power blues, roiling with wah and Echoplex."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Schuller |first1=Tim |title=Blues in '97 – What's tops in Texas (and elsewhere) |work=Dallas Observer |date=January 8, 1998 |department=Music}}</ref> The ''Encyclopedia of the Blues'' considered ''Dirty Pool'' to be Taylor's best album.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Komara |first1=Edward M. |title=Encyclopedia of the Blues |date=2006 |publisher=Routledge |page=961}}</ref>
==Track listing== {{Track listing | all_writing = | title1 = Too Sorry | length1 = | title2 = Dirty Pool | length2 = | title3 = I Ain't Superstitious | length3 = | title4 = Kansas City | length4 = | title5 = Floodin' in California | length5 = | title6 = Born Under a Bad Sign | length6 = | title7 = Right Place, Wrong Time | length7 = | title8 = Telephone Song | length8 = | title9 = Merry Christmas Baby | length9 = }}
==References== {{reflist}} {{authority control}}
Category:1997 albums Category:Evidence Music albums Category:Melvin Taylor albums