Post by jt60 on Aug 21, 2008 8:04:06 GMT -5
www.vueweekly.com/article.php?id=9415
MUSIC
Old Sounds - John Taylor
EDEN MUNRO / eden@vueweekly.com
John Taylor
Feelings Are Good and Other Lies
(Revolver)
Originally released: 2001 Here’s a question: what would Duran Duran sound like if the Sex Pistols’ guitarist Steve Jones joined the band? Well, it might sound something like this solo album from John Taylor, Duran Duran’s bass player, featuring Jones on guitar.
That sound would be 12 tracks—13 if we count the hidden track tacked onto the end—of sorta poppy sounding punk, which occasionally veers into a far-less interesting poppy-hard rock sound.
Taylor shows himself to be a pretty fine songwriter, especially when it comes to wallowing in some serious misery, as he does on the title track, singing, “I’m ashamed / I’m full of shame / I’m full of shame and it’s not mine,” or later on “Always Wrong,” where he rages, “I’m always wrong / You’re always right / We’re in our room / We start to fight” over some pounding punk guitars.
In other places, Taylor turns in some funky riffing (“2:03” and “Everyone is Getting it But Me”) and some gentle strumming (“Look Homeward Angel”). The results are often impressive, but the album suffers from a feeling that there’s been some cutting and pasting going on; it sometimes seems like Taylor has crammed parts of different songs together and they don’t always fit quite right, leaving seams showing and a few jagged edges that occasionally cut sharply across the album.
That’s not always a bad thing, though; there are times when the ragged, rolling nature of the songs makes it all feel as though the entire thing might collapse at any moment, or like it’s teetering on the edge of a cliff and a stiff breeze might send it over.
On “Feelings Are Good,” there’s a brief whistled part that comes and goes quickly, all but hiding in the background, and you’re left wondering if it was really there or not. And it doesn’t come back, so, barring hitting rewind, you have to wait until you’re listening to the song again to catch another sonic glimpse of it.
And that’s exactly the sort of thing that makes this an album worth spending time with—the hodgepodge of musical flourishes, or the layers of oddball effects that sweep in and out with no apparent reason, swarming over a vocal part and then fading away again.
Well, all that and the absolute force and devestation that Taylor delivers his vocals with—not to mention the punked out guitar that Jones brings to the music, literally attacking the guitar as though he’s tearing the instrument apart, mirroring Taylor’s vocal delivery.
As a side note, Taylor and Jones would take a couple of the songs here onto another life in the Neurotic Outsiders, the group they formed with former-Guns N’ Roses/current-Velvet Revolver bassist and drummer Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum. V
NAT
MUSIC
Old Sounds - John Taylor
EDEN MUNRO / eden@vueweekly.com
John Taylor
Feelings Are Good and Other Lies
(Revolver)
Originally released: 2001 Here’s a question: what would Duran Duran sound like if the Sex Pistols’ guitarist Steve Jones joined the band? Well, it might sound something like this solo album from John Taylor, Duran Duran’s bass player, featuring Jones on guitar.
That sound would be 12 tracks—13 if we count the hidden track tacked onto the end—of sorta poppy sounding punk, which occasionally veers into a far-less interesting poppy-hard rock sound.
Taylor shows himself to be a pretty fine songwriter, especially when it comes to wallowing in some serious misery, as he does on the title track, singing, “I’m ashamed / I’m full of shame / I’m full of shame and it’s not mine,” or later on “Always Wrong,” where he rages, “I’m always wrong / You’re always right / We’re in our room / We start to fight” over some pounding punk guitars.
In other places, Taylor turns in some funky riffing (“2:03” and “Everyone is Getting it But Me”) and some gentle strumming (“Look Homeward Angel”). The results are often impressive, but the album suffers from a feeling that there’s been some cutting and pasting going on; it sometimes seems like Taylor has crammed parts of different songs together and they don’t always fit quite right, leaving seams showing and a few jagged edges that occasionally cut sharply across the album.
That’s not always a bad thing, though; there are times when the ragged, rolling nature of the songs makes it all feel as though the entire thing might collapse at any moment, or like it’s teetering on the edge of a cliff and a stiff breeze might send it over.
On “Feelings Are Good,” there’s a brief whistled part that comes and goes quickly, all but hiding in the background, and you’re left wondering if it was really there or not. And it doesn’t come back, so, barring hitting rewind, you have to wait until you’re listening to the song again to catch another sonic glimpse of it.
And that’s exactly the sort of thing that makes this an album worth spending time with—the hodgepodge of musical flourishes, or the layers of oddball effects that sweep in and out with no apparent reason, swarming over a vocal part and then fading away again.
Well, all that and the absolute force and devestation that Taylor delivers his vocals with—not to mention the punked out guitar that Jones brings to the music, literally attacking the guitar as though he’s tearing the instrument apart, mirroring Taylor’s vocal delivery.
As a side note, Taylor and Jones would take a couple of the songs here onto another life in the Neurotic Outsiders, the group they formed with former-Guns N’ Roses/current-Velvet Revolver bassist and drummer Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum. V
NAT
