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REVIEWS
From the Mayfair Mall Zine
"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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From Claudia Ehrhardt at www.ice-vajal.com
"Usually
I'm not a big fan of instrumental music,
but I decided to give this one a try,
coz this message convinced me: "It
is an all Instrumental Hard Rock album
and is aimed at people who love Hard
Rock and yet don't usually buy instrumental
albums by more esoteric artists such
as Satriani, Vai etc !"
All
guitars and bass are played by Taz Taylor
who is backed up by drummer Val Trainor
and keyboarder Bruce Conners.
They
open with Viper, a 70s rock tune with
a warm, fat sound which reminds me a
bit of early 80's Scorpions, Black Sabbath
and Deep Purple. Actually I don't miss
vocals much, coz Taz Taylor let his
guitar sing. I really enjoy songs like
City Zen which made me think of some
late 70's rock... Partly because of
the sound which fits perfectly to this
kind of music. In the 70's many rock
bands did jam live or added long instrumental
passages, and the songs are kinda like
that - and with Taylor's guitar play
also revive the early MSG style. With
Chillin' you get the impression to listen
to Black Sabbath - til the guitar starts
to sing. At 622 the lead guitar has
a Vai-ish touch, but Taz Taylor never
get lost in his play and always get
back to the main theme. 11 Years offers
some 70's organ sound, a fat groove
and so brings back the 70's rock - one
more time.
Actually
you can pick any song to get an impression
of Big Dumb Rock, they are all fun!
And I never thought I would say it about
an instrumental album, it's too short!
That's my main criticism! Time to hit
the repeat button!
After
the instrumental albums of George Bellas
and Alex Masi it was a real treat. Don't
get me wrong, their albums are quite
good, just not my cup of tea. Looks
like Big Dumb Rock will find it's place
next to my favorite instrumental album,
a non-metal album, but a classic - Friday
Night In San Francisco. Kudos!"
9/10
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More
reviews to follow soon
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STRAIGHT
UP
REVIEWS
"The
English born guitar player Taz Taylor
got heavily influenced
by the sound of RAINBOW and MSG, so
it wasn't that much of a surprise that
the first release of the Taz Taylor
Band
Welcome To America (2006) sounded like
a mixture
between those two classic hard rock
outfits.
Taz had the pleasure to work with the
legendary MSG/RAINBOW
vocalist Graham Bonnet on WTA. With
the follow up, Straight Up instead
of Graham Bonnet, Keith Slack (STEELHOUSE
LANE/MSG)
has taken over the vocal duties and
he does an excellent job.
Classic hard rock straight out of the
MSG (Assault Attack era) is
the name of the game and the Taz Taylor
Band does it with class!"
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The
debut Taz Taylor Band CD featured the
always interesting
vocals of Graham Bonnet. It was well
received and featured a mix
of classic blues hard rock in the vein
of Rainbow, UFO and MSG.
Same applies for album number two, except
this time around
vocalist Keith Slack (Steelhouse Lane,
MSG) is up front.
The name Keith Slack immediately reminds
me
and I'm sure many others, of the iconic
Steelhouse Lane records.
On Straight Up, Keith is in his fully
fledged raspy, blues drenched, screaming,
angst mode. This is a hard driving blues
inspired
hard rock record with vocals to match.
Loose, raw rock n roll
with plenty of solos, plenty of MSG
inspired riffs and plenty of
in your face moments.
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"Bringing
Back The Glory Days Of Hard Rock, TTB
Come At You
With Guns A Blazing. Taz, Keith And
Val Have Created A Sound
And Style That Will Leave (you) Begging
For More."
Heavy Metal Mayhem Radio Show
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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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