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Lewis Taylor (Beefheart-related)

DocMcCoyDocMcCoy "Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,917 Posts
edited January 2008 in Strut Central
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

  • SupergoodSupergood 1,213 Posts
    Good to know there's another LT fan here! Dude is definitely an underrated/underappreciated musical genius.
  • JohnnyRedJohnnyRed 11 Posts
    Thanks for the link, I haven't heard this. Love Lewis Taylor and Beefheart though, can't imagine this could be too bad
  • BurnsBurns 2,227 Posts
    thanks, dude was(is) good.
  • tuneuptuneup 586 Posts
    wow...how very nice of you to upload this.
    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.
  • AserAser 2,351 Posts
    "The Lost Album" gets a lot of play in my abode. Stepping into that marina!
  • JuniorJunior 4,853 Posts
    Many many many many thanks for this Doc. I've been wanting to hear this since you mentioned it and in the meantime have been going back through his old albums for the first time in quite a few years. I would happily ride for his first two albums (plus the lost album) over pretty much any other soul related release during that entire period. Lewis 1 plus the b-sides of his singles are still in a class of their own and quite unlike anything else Britain has produced in a long time. In fact, clich??d as it is, the fact that his music was classed as neosoul probably put the nail in his coffin, completely focusing on the wrong audience. I'll never forget the bizarre time he performed Lucky on the lottery show, everything about it seemed incredibly uncomfortable and not suited to his career.
    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.
  • DocMcCoyDocMcCoy "Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,917 Posts
    Something interesting I learned today - Lewis was the MD for Gnarls Barkley's live band for a while.
  • JimsterJimster Cruffiton.etsy.com 6,947 Posts
    D'Angelo is a big fan of LT's; he got the record company to fly him over to the US, to put him up in a hotel and wait for a phone call that never came. LT hung around for a few days, never got his calls returned, and had to go back to finish his own business in the UK.

    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.
  • DocMcCoyDocMcCoy "Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,917 Posts
    More LT bizarro cover business - who fancies hearing a drum & bass/thrash-metal, D'Angelo-meets-Squarepusher version of "Heart Of The Sunrise" by Yes? Nobody? Too bad.

  • SupergoodSupergood 1,213 Posts
    More LT bizarro cover business - who fancies hearing a drum & bass/thrash-metal, D'Angelo-meets-Squarepusher version of "Heart Of The Sunrise" by Yes? Nobody? Too bad.



    Yes! And don't forget his deconstruction of the Bee Gees' "Night Fever." Good stuff!
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