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THE TAZ TAYLOR BAND - WELCOME TO AMERICA
ESCAPE MUSIC
METAL TO INFINITY
For many people, Graham Bonnet is the ultimate Hard Rock singer. He gained successes in bands like The Marbles, Rainbow, Alcatrazz, and MSG and worked various years with artists like Chris Impelliteri and Yngwie Malmsteen. Back in the sixties, Graham achieved a world wide hit with ''Only One Woman'' (the Marbles years), and succeeded to apply his rock / blues throat on albums like ''Assault Attack'' from The Michael Schenker Group. Having an immeasurable talent, he was always encircled by great guitar players and talented musicians.
Nowadays, Graham is nearly 60 years old, and he isn't thinking about stopping and resting his laurels. Graham needs the mike and spotlights and he?s eagerly looking for some great guitar players....You hear me coming... Taz Taylor is THE man for the next jaunt! This artist is an excellent musician from Birmingham (UK), who easily can be placed next to Michael Schenker, Jason Becker, Blackmore and Gary Moore. To prove his abilities, he recorded the fabulous instrumental ''Parisienne Walkways'' on the album ''Welcome To America'', and if you close your eyes, you don?t hear a note difference with the original....Fantastic !
How did the mixture Bonnet / Taylor turn out? Well, prepare yourself for 42 minutes exciting guitar work, a lot of variety in songs and above all, a perfect chemistry between strings and throat. Originally, it was Taz' intention to work with Graham on four songs, but things turned out different. Glad they did! You can't deny that the tracks on ''Welcome To America'' have what they exactly needed. Every second is in balance, every song is worked out well, and luckily, the recordings and production of the album is exactly how it should be. None of the two main man claim 'their spotlight', so this is not an 'all rock star' album, but a simple, straight from the heart album that needs everybody?s attention.
Without exaggerating, Taz Taylor and Graham Bonnet deliver the best of the best and I'm sure that they know how to set the place on fire when they play live. Those who like the heavier stuff, should take a good listen to ''Happy Hour'' and ''Wall Of Sound'', while a moment of pause can be found in songs like ''Silent Fall'' and ''Haunted''. Obviously, the Taz Taylor Band isn't a duo, but consists of some other fine musicians like Bob Miller on keys, Dirk Krausse on Bass and Val Trainor on drums. The band is currently in the USA for some club shows and that's also a wink to the title of the album.
My personal favorite tracks are ''Radio Luxemburg'' and ''Goodbye Mr. C'', the final track on the album. This rounding off track is a combination of Ozzy's ''Goodbye To Romance'' and ''Mister Crowley''. The perfect punch to give you the final knock out ! www.taztaylor.com My rating: 86/100
Patrick de Sloover on behalf of Metal To Infinity Webzine