 |
|
Taylor, B.E (Group) - 1986 Our World
Background Here's another legendary superhero of the eighties AOR scene, Billy Taylor. A household name in parts of Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and those eastern states. Destined to be a singer from a young age, Billy's vocal style around about the era of his two MCA albums 'Love Won The Fight' and 'Innermission' and this Epic release 'Our World' was an amazing cross of Steve Perry and Michael Bolton! A truly excellent voice, and complimented by a well rehearsed team of guys who came from the well known seventies outfit Crack The Sky. Billy and eighties hero Donnie Iris were good mates and used to play together. Surprisingly though, there's very little of Donnie's quirky style emanating through into Billy's music. The Songs We get underway with the heavy backbeat and blazing guitars of 'The Fires Gone'. Check out these AOR oriented lyrics in the chorus: all the kings horses and all the kings men couldn't put the two of us together again, what a shame through all of the heartache, and all of the pain the flame still flickers in the pouring rain the fires gone, but the smoke remains.. Someone obviously has an B.A (or is it a B.E?) in English to come up with poetry like this. Funnily enough, the track 'Take Me To Your Heart' sounds remarkably similar. Elsewhere, the punchy 'Question Of Love' and the title track make it clear this is AOR made of the finest stuff. Some different moments abound with the interesting 'Reggae Rock n Roll', which is indeed a musical mix of the two, while the ballad 'Karen', which was Billy's minor hit single off the album seems strangely out of place with all the upbeat music going on. They keep the anthemic AOR happening on tracks such as 'Runaway' and 'Girl In The Know'. In Summary None of his eighties albums fared very well, though they are particularly popular with the AOR community. Billy is now very active in the Christian music scene, and has released a number of albums in that CCM style. Probably not as immediate as his eighties releases, but the guy still has a killer voice! 'Our World' got what would be considered an 'unofficial' CD release on the mysterious Japanese Rock Releases (JRR) label. No doubt a bootleg like the Roadmaster and Speedway Boulevard albums. Hopefully a label like Renaissance or Rewind/Songhaus can pull through for all the collectors among us. Related Articles Taylor, B.E (Group) - 1982 Innermission Taylor, B.E (Group) - 1983 Love Won The Fight Taylor, B.E (Group) - 1986 Our World Copying of material without permission is not permitted. Posted by gdazegod
on August 18, 2003 ·
4 Comments ·
1723 Reads ·
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Login
,
Shoutbox