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Anyone's list of Blues Greats is sure to include the likes of B.B. King, and Freddie King, Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters, even Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughn. Hardly ever mentioned, though, is Taj Mahal, one of the most consistently satisfying yet dolefully underappreciated Blues artists of the last forty years. A multi-instrumentalist with a voice that sounds like it was marinated in honey-barbecue and grilled to perfection; Mahal includes an element of culture in his music that creates a refreshingly unique, often indescribable, and always pleasurable brand of Blues. Perhaps only true Blues enthusiasts understand that the name Taj Mahal doesn't just belong to an architecturally stunning mausoleum in Northern India.

Raven Records has just released on one CD, two of Mahal's most significant albums, Oooh So Good N Blues and Recycling the Blues and Other Related Stuff. Plucked and assembled from his ever-evolving musical catalogue, this top-notch twofer exhibits Mahal's early commitment to playing and preserving time-honored acoustic blues.

The first half of the album, Oooh So Good N Blues, which has never previously been released on CD, is a purely enjoyable collection of folksy finger-picked toe-tapping Blues tunes that will inspire you to sit out on the porch in your grandmother's old rocking chair. Featuring classic Blues standards like Dust My Broom and Built for Comfort as well as the Mahal originals, Little Red Hen and Mama Don't You Know, Oooh So Good proves to be just what its title reads.

Recycling the Blues gives its listener a rare and intimate live experience, during which Mahal plays the steel-bodied guitar, kalimba, conch, banjo and upright bass, and receives back-up from the Pointer Sisters. By adding a bit of folk, a touch of calypso, and a whole lot of soul; Mahal not only recycles the Blues, but re-creates it.

There may be two Taj Mahals in the world, but only one belongs on the list of Blues Greats.