Lewis II

The molten lava rock guitar is apparent throughout, as are the fabulous multi-layered harmonies, and the amount of musical ideas is staggering, each piece having an almost florid density on one level. And the compositions here work better than on the debut album, seeming more 'song-like', driven by the vocal melodies, and therefore more focussed.

Lewis' bass playing on his album is superb, giving many pieces a lithe panther like groove (check 'I'm On The Floor', whoa Nelly! And the guitar solo is pure Jazz Rock bliss). 'My Aching Heart' has a fantastically baroque vocal melody. And the chorus builds in two sections, and is hair-raisingly groovy. Throughout the piece a funky cowbell beats out the Bossa clave. And what a great middle 8! So much creativity, it's scary!

The 7/8 funk of 'The Way You Done Me' is particularly groovy, and despite the unusual meter, it's a very accessible song, moving very naturally, and filled with sunshine sounds. The playout rocks nicely too. My favourite track tho', is 'Into You', with a baroque riff to die for, and a chorus that's exhilaratingly elegiac.

Opener 'Party' isn't a favourite, it's still very good (particularly after it morphs into the soul-vocal harmony section, which is divine!), but I feel that given other material Taylor had at his disposal ('Waves' for example), it's not his strongest. It may have been chosen as opener due to commercial considerations, an area that's always been troubling as far as Lewis is concerned.

Taylor wanted to release 'You Make Me Wanna' as a single, I dunno if he did or not? This was typically obtuse of him, as, despite being a stupendously good slinky tune, it's not obviously single material (Harrison's drumming on the latter half of the tune really helps bring it into 3-D, and Taylor turns in a nice Hammond solo too). But this maverick tendency to make awkward choices and confound oneself seems to be part of the make-up of a lot of great artists.

All told, a masterly consolidation. Island, what schmucks, not supporting and nurturing such a talent, the waste! Still he continues to release via his own label, 'Slow Reality'. Buy this now tho', it's gonna be remembered as an underground classic of our era.

Fortunately the sure-footed A&R people at Island Records just told Taylor to go and write and record some more. And thank God he has. Lewis II is a consolidation rather than a revolution, building on and thickening the textures that typified the first album to create an songbook that is dense, musicially sophisticated yet never quite cluttered.

It is all the more remarkable for being an almost completely solo effort, recorded on 8 track, on which Taylor plays every damn instrument save drums. Taylor's soul is moody with faint hints of Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On" in both textures and themes. Taylor is a songs man and the great thing about his latest is that whilst some acts have sold their soul to rhythm, Taylor has kept the beat where it belongs and allowed, vocals, tunes, textures an equal place.

Never less than funky, Taylor embroiders his passionate vocals with a rich carpet of multi-tracked backing vocals, strings, and other effects. Burning guitar solos on the opener "Party" and the stunning "Satisfied" reveal him to be a superbly lyrical axeman as well.

Perhaps not quite as groundbreaking as his debut, Lewis II is undeniably is a cut above and will not be out of place sitting alongside classics by Stevie Wonder, Sly Stone and Marvin Gaye. This soul god is white and wicked. Buy soon and in quantity.