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Artist: Taz Taylor Band |
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I
remember when I was a little dude just cutting my teeth in the world of
Rock and Heavy Metal (that's what we had in them days, just the
two). We worshiped in the rock discos and played air guitar like
our guitar heroes, the Iommi’s, the Young’s, the Nugent’s, the
Schenker’s (both), the Blackmore’s and their like, but these days
the guitar god is a dying breed with only a few young pretenders shining
through, one of those being the phenomenal six string wizard Taz Taylor,
a guy who makes it look so easy and makes the guitar an extension of
himself. There
aren’t many guitar albums that really float my boat all the way
through. Yes some have moments of magic but on 'Big Dumb Rock'
Taylor manages to keep me captivated from start to finish with a Hard
Rock album that is a must for all those budding guitar players and those
who just wish to be so. The
album opens up with ‘Viper’ and instantly Taylor shows his class on
this bluesy grinder. You can tell Taylor is a Michael Schenker
fan, this is right out of MSG of old, I was just waiting for Gary
Barden’s vocals to come through on this one it was scary. The
driven guitar sound is carried on through with ‘City Zen’, again
very Schenkeresque but more UFO than MSG, but what a joy to listen
to. As a huge fan of both bands this track really floats my boat. With
‘Reprised’ Taylor makes his own statement as he just fires up the
fret board with some simply sublime finger work, again a real joy to
listen to. None of this six string masturbation you get from some
guitar albums, this is just a man doing what he knows best. No
need for vocals here as Taylor makes the guitar do all the singing. Things
edge toward the heavy side of things with the mystical soundings of
‘Chillin’ before the somber tones of ‘Blue Agave’, then it's
back to the old school rock sound of the title track ‘Big Dumb
Rock’, which is far away from being just that. This one made me
want to get out that beat up old tennis racket and start throwing out a
few shapes of my own. But
Taylor isn’t just about the old school hard rock, he brings a modern
edge to the guitar world and this is brought to the forefront with the
excellent ‘622’. This is where old and new collide and magic
is made and I just love the Hammond organ sound on this one, very John
Lord. Things
get a little funky with the 70’s vibe on ’11 Years’, again a
towering guitar and keyboard mix that just makes this old heart
smile. There's
an air of the Melodic Rock side of things with the superb ‘Dogs
Breath’ (which should perhaps have been titled the 'Dogs Bollocks'),
again simply superb. The
album closes with the haunting melodies of ‘Hornitos Concerto’ which
wraps up a real gem of an album, “the guitar king is dead, long
live the king”. |
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Tracklisting: 1.
Viper |
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