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DVD
REVIEW
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REVIEWS
FROM THE UK TOUR - SUMMER 2007
Sheffield
review
Another
review from Sheffield - HERE
PLANET
ROCK FORUM
A
write-up
on the Milton Keynes show from Rob
McKenzie
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REVIEWS
OF THE ALBUM
WELCOME TO AMERICA
Anytime an album featuring
Graham Bonnet is released, I have
to buy it. One of my favorite Hard
Rock singers of all time, I can’t
find an album where Bonnet doesn’t
shine at the mic. But who is Taz Taylor?
I had no idea. A quick search and
I found an excellent musician from
Birmingham, England that plays guitar
along the lines of Michael Schenker.
If you close your eyes come solo time,
it’s very close to the master
while holding on to his own style.
You
can hear the influences right away:
Schenker, UFO, Gary Moore, Ritchie
Blackmore, Van Halen…..not a
bad combination to draw from and form
a personal flavor. You hear it right
away, this is a guitar album, plain
and simple.
WECOME
TO AMERICA! offers an album laden
with melodic hooks and superb guitar.
Right from the start ‘Fighter’s
Fist’ and ‘Radio Luxembourg’
(my favorite song on this album) get
you singing along, tapping your feet,
and doing your best air guitar. Close
your eyes during the Gary Moore instrumental
‘Parisienne Walkways’…..it’s
slow, it sounds sad, you can feel
the emotion. It feels as if you were
walking alone down the street after
a long night and this is the soundtrack.
There’s
full on Hard Rock with ‘Happy
Hour’, ‘Wall Of Sound’,
and the title track. A couple of ”softer”
ballads in ‘Haunted’ and
‘Silent Fall’. ‘Silent
Fall’ is especially striking
in the calm opening intro of guitar
and piano, swiftly building to a blazing
guitar solo, before finding a mid-tempo
groove.
I find
the last two tracks intriguing: ‘The
Reprise’ an upbeat instrumental
that reminds gives off a UFO/MSG vibe.
‘Goodbye Mr. C’ is an
interesting cover of Ozzy Osbourne’s
‘Goodbye To Romance’ and
‘Mr. Crowley’ taking half
of each song. The first half (Goodbye)
is superbly done on acoustic guitar
while Graham lends a wonderful vocal.
Second half (Mr. C) kicks in and provides
the punch. To someone unfamiliar with
the Ozzy versions, they would think
it’s the same song. Very well
done.
Bottom
Line:
Melodic Hard Rock with enough hooks
and solos to make this one of the
best albums of the year. The songs
are well written, full of melody.
Nothing overdone, nothing too excessive.
The band provides excellent music
while Bonnet (almost 60 yrs old) provides
great vocals that singers half his
age cannot master. This album will
easily be in my Top 10 of 2006 and
I will be watching for more Taz Taylor
in the future. Taz Taylor also has
one previous album to check out, CAFFEINE
RACER (2004), which is a 12 song instrumental
album.
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Guitarist Taz Taylor
was born and raised
outside of Birmingham,
England, and one of
his earliest musical
memories was, ironically,
“Since You’ve
Been Gone” by
Rainbow. Taz took to
playing guitar in the
80’s and had a
whole plethora of guitar
inspirations to choose
from, including Michael
Schenker, Gary Moore,
Van Halen, Randy Rhoads,
etc.
Taz
became disillusioned
with the music scene
in the 90’s, as
so many Metalheadz did
(especially in the USA),
and more or less gave
up on playing …
until 1995. Suddenly,
he became self-motivated,
inspired, and turned
himself into somewhat
of a modern day musical
hermit, literally locked
up in a Californian
practice room until
1997. The fruits of
this reclusion was his
highly acclaimed instrumental
album Caffeine Racer.
In
order to promote the
album he needed, well
… a band. Taz
came across Bob Miller,
keyboards, and Dirk
Krause on bass, and
a whole load of drummers.
When it came time to
record again, the band
knew they wanted vocals
this time. Taz started
at the top and put a
call into Graham Bonnet
(Rainbow, MSG, Alcatrazz,
Impellitteri), who just
so happens to be “instrumental”
in Taz’s early
musical development.
The result is Welcome
To America, which ends
up being ten tracks
of memorable Rock that
seems to end oh so quickly.
Graham
Bonnet is the type of
vocalist that falls
into that “love/hate”
category. There isn’t
a music fan that seems
to think he is just
“okay.”
One either likes his
singing style or doesn’t
care for it at all.
Bonnet fans will be
thrilled to hear that
Graham sounds better
then ever on this release.
The whole album has
that sort of “Bonnet-era
MSG feel,” a’la
Assault Attack, without
the “Schenker-esque”
guitar, not that Taz
Taylor is a slouch;
he’s just an ever
so slightly different
type of player.
“Fighter’s
Fist” opens the
Rock-fest with a cool,
full, Gibson Explorer
riff and a heavy drumbeat,
with Graham adding that
melodic touch on vocals.
“Radio Luxembourg”
opens with an almost
UFO-like harmony that
is very appealing and
is capped off by a nice
lead by Taz. Both of
these tunes could do
well as singles. Top
highlights are “Happy
Hour” with its
very melodic, classic
MSG feel and several
Taz fills, and the title
track with its nice
Rock tempo stomp and
Bonnet “growls.”
An easily memorable
moment is the instrumental
lead-in of the slightly
somber “Silent
Fall” where Taz
“breaks loose”
(be it for a very short
time) ... you might
believe that this guy
could be able to truly
give Michael a run for
his money.
There
are two covers, sort
of, on this album. The
first is Gary Moore’s
“Parisienne Walkways”
(another early childhood
memory from Taz’s
past). The second is
a medley of Ozzy Osbourne’s
“Goodbye To Romance”
and “Mr. Crowley”
that end the release,
aptly entitled “Goodbye
To Mr C.” As strange
as it sounds, it works
very well, even with
Graham’s vocal
range.
Bottom
line, this one is a
great album with plenty
of accessible Rock music
for everyone. Don’t
be turned off by the
MSG and UFO references
and similarities. Some
of this was bound to
happen since Bonnet
is involved in the writing.
The release is certainly
a nice change of pace,
and quite frankly there
isn’t anything
new on the market quite
like this one. It has
to be said, to justify
how good this release
is, that Welcome To
America is the type
of release Schenker
fans have been hopelessly
clamoring for out of
the MSG camp for years!
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Understandably, as he was
raised on a regular intake
of Rainbow, UFO and MSG,
Taz Taylor couldn’t
help growing up a guitar
hero. He’s perhaps
not quite reached god status
yet, but an upward trajectory
is guaranteed by ‘Welcome
To America’. And this
is without unveiling his
secret weapon . . . Graham
Bonnet. For yes, it is he
. . . the voice of Rainbow
and MSG in the late seventies
/ early eighties.
In each case it was for
one album only (‘Down
To Earth’ & ‘Assault
Attack’), but arguably
he was the voice that lifted
both bands from cult status
hell into mainstream hard
rock heaven. (who among
us cannot sing along to
‘Since You’ve
Been Gone’ without
giving it a second thought?).
Apparently,
Taylor relocated from the
UK to California some years
ago. Inevitably, in search
of F&F. As a virtual
unknown, he registers huge
surprise that Bonnet accepted
his invitation to sing on
‘Welcome To America’.
PR has it that they hit
it off immediately and quickly
gelled as songwriting collaborators.
For once this is no hyperbole,
and judging by the songs
here, they share some kind
of musical DNA.
They
set out their stall on opener
‘Fighter’s Fist’.
Taylor’s heavily melodic
but fantastically fierce
riff is syncopated by a
series of pounding percussive
thumps that sound like incoming
artillery shells. They need
to to compete with Taylor’s
inventively bombastic guitar
sound and Bonnet’s
primal howl.
Like
all good rock music, The
Taz Taylor Band’s
is liberally sprinkled with
memorable melodies and sturdy
hooks.
Wisely, they keep it simple.
Bass guitar and drums are
for creating headbanging
rhythms. Keyboards are for
underlining the riffs and
the occasional short solo
excursion. Guitars and vocals
are for bruising us black
and blue with hard hitting
delivery.
‘Radio
Luxembourg’ and ‘Silent
Fall’ are absolute
beacons of light on an album
that illuminates the genre
with songs that sparkle
and shine. Hulking yet nimble
hard rock songs that easily
standout among much of the
dross that passes for melodic
rock nowadays.
Unquestionably,
this is one of Escape’s
best releases of the last
few years.
Rating: 8/10
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Who
is Neil Taz Taylor? Well,
this guitarist was born
in Walsall, England, but
moved to San Diego, California
in 1997. Influenced by Gary
Moore, Michael Schenker,
Randy Rhoads and Eddie Van
Halen, he recorded a solo
album, called “Caffeine
Racer”, in 2004. To
promote that debut album,
he put together a band that
included Dirk Krause on
bass and Bob Miller on keyboards.
When the time was ripe to
record album number two,
Taz knew that he wanted
vocals. On top of his want
list was none other than
Graham Bonnet, an Englishman
who is now also living in
Southern California, and
much to his surprise, Bonnet
got in touch. Originally,
Graham was set to appear
as a guest vocalist on four
songs, but the co-writing
of the material (music:
Taylor, lyrics: Bonnet)
went so smoothly that they
co-operated on eight of
the ten songs. The other
two - “Parisienne
Walkways” (Gary Moore/Phil
Lynott) and “The Reprise”
are instrumentals.
Being a bit of an old rocker
myself, I have to admit
that I’m charmed by
the outcome. “Welcome
To America!” reminds
me of the good old 70s,
with bands like Rainbow,
not coincidentally one of
Taz’s favourite acts
from that decade. Don’t
think the songs sound corny
though! They are indeed
inspired by classic rock
bands, but sound really
fresh thanks to the excellent
production work of one Richard
Livoni. Bonnet sings like
in his best days and Taz’s
guitar playing is always
in function of the songs.
How great to hear an axeman
who doesn’t suffer
from ego tripping! Not a
weak moment is to be found
on “Welcome To America!”.
Among the best tracks are
opener “Fighter’s
Fist”, the title song
“Welcome To America”
(two Englishmen in California
…), “Silent
Fall” (great structure)
and “Goodbye Mr. C”,
which contains replayed
elements from “Goodbye
To Romance”, that
we all know from ‘uncle
double O’ (Ozzy Osbourne).
Listening to the cover “Parisienne
Walkways”, it’s
hardly to believe that it
isn’t Gary Moore you’re
listening to. Boy, did Taz
listen well to one of his
forefathers!
Conclusion: a damn fine
release from Escape Music
and surely one for the old
rockers among us! (CL)
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