Lewis Taylor (Beefheart-related)
DocMcCoy
"Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,917 Posts
OK, so I was talking to some friends about Beefheart the other night, and I happened to mention this Beefheart ???tribute??? thing that Lewis Taylor did a few years back. A couple of them said they???d like to hear it, and while I was uploading the file for them, I remembered that Junior had said the same thing when I mentioned it on here a while ago, so I thought I???d throw it up here too.Now, I happen to believe that Lewis Taylor is the sole bona-fide musical genius that the UK???s produced in the last decade or so, and I will ride for this oddball to the death. Truly, I celebrate dude???s entire catalogue. I say ???oddball??? because he???s the kind of character that???ll go from playing guitar with the Edgar Broughton Band to releasing a debut album capable of vaporising 99.9% of so-called neo-soul whilst simultaneously echoing the Mahavishnu Orchestra and Tim Buckley, then follow that with a record that???s all Brian Wilson/Todd Rundgren/CSNY-influenced soulful cosmic pop, only for his label to knock him and refuse to put it out. Needless to say, his records never sold a fuckin' tap in the UK or, as far as I can ascertain, anywhere else. Last I heard, he???d announced his intention to retire from the music business to write comedy. He could conceivably have been taking the piss. I certainly hope he is.Before this dramatic change of career, and in characteristically perverse fashion, he decided he was going to cover the whole of Captain Beefheart???s ???Trout Mask Replica???, for no other reason, it appears, but shits and giggles. He got as far as recording 12 songs, then gave up. Somehow the results found their way onto the net, and a while back I got hold of what I understand to be the most complete version out there. So, here it is ??? Lewis Taylor's "Trout Mask Replica Reborn". Some of you will hate it, some of you might like or even love it. One thing few of you will be able to do is to name a single halfway-contemporary artist who could have had a mainstream career, but instead decided he???d much rather piss around doing things like making a bizarre album of Beefheart covers. This wilfulness is one of the many reasons that I love Lewis Taylor, and I cannot recommend his shit highly enough.
Comments
I am a huge Lewis Taylor fan. He has done a bit of wank, but most of his output is genuinely stunning, and really does blow away so much of the neo soul garbage.
Many thanks again for putting this out there.
In an extremely selfish way I've always kinda liked LT's lack of major success, giving me the pleasure over and over again of introducing people to his music. Hopefully the money he's making from twats like Robbie Williams covering his songs will keep him comfortable and maybe encourage him to keep on putting out the occasional tune.
Anyway, cheers again for this and looking forward to checking it out.
The US label's line was "He didn't work out." No wonder he got so disillusioned with it all.
I ride firm for the first set, harder for the second, found the rest not really consistent but still OK - he'd set the bar too high with the first sets. I am a bit finger-crucifix to the Beefheart catalog to be honest, but might give it a spin.
Yes! And don't forget his deconstruction of the Bee Gees' "Night Fever." Good stuff!