What It Takes: The Chess Years

Koko Taylor earned her nickname “the Queen of the Blues” on the road, where her hurricane-strength vocals, backed by a hard-charging band, lashed audiences into submission for decades. This compilation gathers her singles, most notably her hit 1966 cover of Howlin’ Wolf’s “Wang Dang Doodle.” Her version of Willie Dixon’s “Insane Asylum,” recorded as a duet with him, is one of the most harrowing songs in the entire Chicago blues repertoire, but she’s got a solid line in lyrical wit, too, as proved on more lighthearted songs like “I Don’t Care Who Knows,” “Whatever I Am, You Made Me” and “Bills, Bills And More Bills.” She even makes Buddy Guy’s “Let Me Love You Baby” her own, flipping the lyrical gender while retaining the objectification, leering over the way her man walks. Her backing bands are as adept at gutbucket grooves as driving soul and R&B, too.