Historic Concerts - Max Roach/Cecil Taylor

Advantages: great vocals and songwriting
Disadvantages: a few weaker tracks in the middle, not released in the UK yet

...I first heard of Taylor Swift when I heard "Teardrops on My Guitar" on internet radio and promptly downloaded it. A few months later I heard "Our Song" and read an interview in a magazine as her debut album was to be reissued. Well, here it is, and I certainly wasn't disappointed. For those of you who are not familiar with her, Taylor is quickly making a big name for herself in the country music world - and she's only 18! After setting out to Nashville at the age of 13 from her home in Pennsylvania, she quickly snapped up a record contract and her debut single Tim McGraw was released in 2006, and to date all three of her singles have made not only the Top Ten on the Billboard Hot Country Songs (Our Song reaching number one), but also the Top 40 of the Billboard 100. This self-titled album, first released in 2006 and reissued in late... Read review

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Advantages: Lyrically Perfect, a beautiful sound, leaves you wanting more
Disadvantages: none, except its too short!

...Jane Taylor *****We all Think that her songs are about us…!***** Jane Taylor writes the perfect song. I say this not from a lyrical or phonetically correct standpoint, but simply from the point that she achieves what all artists strive for. Audience connection. It's pretty much instant. She plays a song and every single member of the audience thinks she wrote it just for them. And when you look at the faces around you, you know they are thinking what you are thinking and I think that must be the ultimate buzz for Jane, to look out over her audience and see that. Pretty impressive, I say! I saw Jane Taylor play live for the first time is a very popular Arts Centre in Newcastle called The Cluny. It's a regular haunt of artists and musicians and generally pretty talented people, but I have to say it was the first time... Read review

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Advantages: Well crafted, unforgettable songs.
Disadvantages: Don't let your fashionable neighbour hear you listening to it!

...James Taylor started writing songs whilst at boarding school in New England during the early sixties, and even at such a tender age, his distinctive soft-toned North Carolina voice blended perfectly with a country inspired acoustic guitar technique. It was no surprise therefore, that on graduation, the young Taylor decided his future lay in a musical direction, and after spending a short and relatively unsuccessful stint with The Beatles’ Apple Records in London, he returned to the US and signed to Warner Brothers, launching a remarkable recording career that spanned from 1968 through to the present day. Taylor’s style of music is folk with a strong country influence, and although it’s never been a fashionable type of music to listen to (he probably stands alongside Mark Knopfler in the ‘Telented But Fashionably Clueless World... Read review

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