Wednesday, November 29, 2017

Taylor’s Universe- Almost Perfected (Marvel of Beauty MOBCD027)

Multi-instrumentalist Robin Taylor is back with 4 long tracks. Most of the band is the same as have backed Robin for last many years including,  Jakob Mygind (saxes), Thomas Ulstrup (Mini-moog solos), Rasmus Grosell (Drums-left), and Klaus Thrane (Drums-right). John Sund plays some really ripping guitar parts on all the tracks.  Louise Nipper and Jytte Lindberg provide some vocals.  Robin plays everything else. The first track Mean Attack has a harder guitar riff but starts off quite mellow with some hand percussion, bells, etc..  There are lots of great solos by all the players on this track. You lead guitar, sax, mini-moog as the drummers keep it steady. Despite the title, this track has many very nice and melodic moods to it with the happy mini-moog solo and the female vocals.  Great sound production. Definitely Greek (He Said) features one of the most complex vocal arrangement to appear on a Robin Taylor record with not just the ladies but Robin and also guest vocalist Pierre Hansson joining in. Some very cool minimoog parts on this mellow track as well.  The track nearly comes to an end and then a new section starts with some nice acoustic guitar and bass and then the mini-moog takes the lead once again.  It closes with some vocals and sax. Remembering Johannesburg starts with keyboards and a quite happy mood. John takes the lead with the first solo (guitar), he is followed by Jacob (Sax- sounds great with that little bit of delay!), and John returns with some acoustic guitar, which I liked very much. There is also a vocal section over which further solos are played as the track slowly reaches its climax and end at 9 ½ mins. Check out this video of Klaus recording his drums for this track. 
Dark Side of Alec is the last and longest track at 14:27. A short powerful opening fades down to some more ambient textures before the track builds up again at 1:17. This has some great sax playing and ripping guitar as it builds up and is a bit more jazzy and intense. The drumming is also really great on this one. I think they saved the best for last on this album.  A winner...



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