The first thing I noticed when I got this CD, is that it is packed with 22 songs. I thought this was a little overkill and that Julian should have left his listeners wanting more. I put the Cd on in my car and began a long journey home. On the way home I noticed that each song had its own flair and flavour. I am not talking about just various different sounding songs, but each song came from a different musical genre. I put the CD on again to see if I was right about this, and I was. Julian Taylor now comes off as a truly talented musician that can showcase a wide cornucopia of various and wonderous sounds from the past 50 years and give them a modern twist.
The sounds I am talking about range from R&B, Soul, Rock N Roll, emotive Soul Ballads. Modern Pop, Gospel, Reggae, and even Psycheldelic Rock . I love “Bobby Champagne”, it come off like a great 70’s action/soft porn movie. “Heard good things”, sounds like something Lenny Kravitz would be proud to sing. “Pick you up”, would work with any big Pop Star in today’s world. I may be stretching here, but “Coke bottle candy”, seems to channel the late great Jack Soul.
Julian stretches some boundaries with a beautiful modern gospel song called, “House is a garden”. Another favourite song of mine is the last song, “In my life”. Julian finishes the Cd of with a great stoner rocker song that will keep you high well after the CD is finished. I particually liked the way he finished the song. If you are a deep Beatles fan you will recognize the ending to be the same as the great song, “I want you (she’s so heavy)”.
When you listen to this CD you will understand this was truly a labour of love. Julian invited 20 other musicians to sit in and create this gem. Julian credits himself playing the Kazoo. When you hear that moment, it is like the cherry on top of the cake .I have a feeling his message is a dedication to Toronto for how diverse our city is. This is a very diverse CD that Toronto should rejoice in.
To learn more about this great Toronto artist go to www.juliantaylorband.com