ALBUM REVIEW: JULIAN TAYLOR - ANTHOLOGY VOL.2

Having pulled together 18 tracks to make the perfection that was Anthology Vol 1, you'd imagine that Julian Taylor might need to scrape the bottom of the barrel to amass enough tracks to make Anthology Vol 2 but far from it. This time he's found another 21 tracks and the results are of equal quality. Julian effortlessly floats across genres, and seamlessly fits in whether it is country, folk or rocking out to name but three and never looks or sounds out of place.

With so many tracks to choose from, you can literally dip in at any point and not come up disappointed whether it be the Nirvana ish "What You Were Yesterday" where Julian's pained vocals sing over grungy guitars or the charming gentle folk of his Tyler Ellis cover "100 Proof"

It all points to an artist with an extremely high quality control threshold and one with a restless musicality not wishing to be pigeonholed. Whether original or cover Julian is able to stamp a little piece of himself in each recording that makes it distinctively his.

For "Weighing Down" musically there is very little instrumentation, yet with such a simple sound everything has to play its part perfectly. This is overtly Americana, there's an acoustic guitar, a pedal steel that adds so much character to the track, it all but sings, some percussion and in the final moments a sumptuous organ sound. The intro is a simple acoustic guitar refrain while the pedal steel acts as a downbeat background sound.

"Brick and mortar

As solid as the ground

But you’re carrying too much

And slowly breaking down

Cannon fodder

And looking to escape

The heaviness of all of your mistakes"

Julian has a wonderful timbre and the melody of that final line bounces along with a wonderful sense of rhythm, there's a lot of words to squeeze, in, yet Julian calmly delivers them totally unhurried.

The chorus acts as a call to not be so self critical - give yourself a break. Julian marvelously extends the word "down" in the most soothing of ways

"Weighing down, don’t let it weigh you down

You’ve been so hard on yourself

It’s time to let things soften now"

The second verse sees the percussion provide a stronger back beat, the pedal steel is all but a backing vocalist it is that prominent and telling with its contributions. The organ makes an appearance but it is almost buried in the mix - it will rise to prominence later in the track.

Julian's positive outlook sings through in this verses final lines, finding joy in the positives rather than dwelling on the negatives.

"You wish you weren’t, but you’re falling down again

It’s been a hard road full of lessons

Feeling hungry and trapped in solitude

The way that we choose to look at things is an attitude

Looking at the skyline tonight I choose gratitude"

A second voice appears on the second chorus tracking Julian's vocal adding to the overall atmosphere.

The cover showing telephone poles, maybe a metaphor for communicating - for the only way out of this state is normally to talk to someone or maybe to listen to someone giving advice as Julian is here.

The final chorus and outro sees the organ sound become more prominent, it adds a rich warm texture to the overall sound and once you know it is there you cannot help but listen on repeat to find out where it originally appears.

The Don William's classic "Tulsa Time" is another joyous cover that it would be almost impossible to do a bad version of. Julian's version blends sweet guitar work with the required party atmosphere. Occasionally it can be turned into too much of a party tune with the lyrics getting lost, Julian however brings the full story to the fore in this cracking version.

"Well, there I was in Hollywood

Wishin' I was doin' good

Talkin' on the telephone line

But they don't need me in the movies

And nobody sings my songs

Guess I'm just a wastin' time"

"Dedication" with it's opening guitar riff all but sparkles throughout with it's protestations of support

"If you want dedication

Just look and see

I’ve got double dedication

More than you’ll need"

For "Ain't Life Strange", despite even managing to include a horn section on this track the overriding audible sensation is that of space. Each instrument is given room to shine and comes through with crystal clear clarity. The opening of acoustic and electric guitars is joined by the most urgent insistent yet unobtrusive percussion ever. The horn section when it joins has a mournfully muted soulful sound while Julian himself with his rich vocals moves from almost spoken word to soulful maestro in a heartbeat.

The opening verse sees Julian despairing at what we are doing to the world and to each other - the cover picture looks like a combination of deforestation and acid rain with tree trunks bereft of foliage.

"Hiding away - from life and the constant struggles we face each day

Do we even know what we are doing to ourselves?

and how our actions affect everyone else?"

His solution is as hopeful as it is fanciful as he ponders being able to go back in time to try to fix things - normally the plot of catastrophic sci fi movies but here Julian's intentions are entirely benevolent.

"Don't you wish sometimes that time would stand still?

Do you ever wish that time travel was real?

Close your eyes - tell me what do you see?

If you're like me - you struggle with all you're meant to be

Ain't life strange?"

A later verse really enforces those feelings that if he could have his time again he could have done things differently.

"Don't the grass look greener on the other side

Be careful of what you wish for

You could get left behind

I see where I went wrong and all I could have done

There's a fine line between a broken and a beautiful mind"

Musically the drumming seems to increase the intensity while remaining in the background, the guitar flourishes have a Knopfleresque feel, while the horn section makes itself known with a polite "Excuse me" rather than blowing your socks off. A song that transfers its warmth and leaves you feeling a little better than when it started 4 minutes earlier giving food for thought about what you could do to make life a little better. That's no bad thing for a humble song to do.

One of the latter tracks "A Million Works Of Art" has a deliciously rawkus guitar and percussion opening with Julian sounding a little like Adam Duritz of Counting Crows. It is pure powerpop with jangling guitars and we at #TEAMw21 love it. It just goes to prove further that Julian is a genre King Midas turning everything to gold.

Across the 2 Anthologies there are 39 nuggets to be unearthed and savoured from a performer who really should be a household name. Due here in April with Michele Stodart as bandleader and support - #TEAMw21 can't wait.