Customer Reviews

Stoned

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In 1986 a strange record showed up at my college radio station: a 4 song EP by an artist named "Sheriff Jack" called "Let's Be Nonchalent". The songs on the A-side "Buy Everybody A Cake" and "We're Gonna Be In Love" were two perfect slices of psychedelic pop rock and our station played them to death. Over the next couple of years I sought out everything Sheriff Jack put out (two full length albums and another 4 song EP), but it wasn't easy finding the stuff: it was UK imports only and obscure even there. What little we learned was that the Sheriff played all the instruments and he had a rather warped sense of humor. Then he vanished. Poof! But I remained curious.

Finally a internet search in 2002 led me to the web site of one Lewis Taylor. It revealed that Taylor was indeed the good Sheriff, but in 1996 he had re-invented himself as a soul singer releasing music under his own name. I quickly tracked down his CDs including a new album only available via the HMV web site called "Stoned (Part 1)". This was killer stuff. Gone were the psychedelic chiming guitars and angular rock beats. It was replaced by amazing, smooth, cool soul that sounded like the reincarnation of Marvin Gaye.

Half the fun of listening to Lewis Taylor is playing spot the influence. Beach Boys here, Edgar Winter there, throw in a dash of Stevie Wonder and Prince, then push "blend". But he's more than a combination of his influences. It is difficult to categorize his music because he doesn't seem to recognize genre boundaries. His influence isn't so much based on style as it is on quality. Taylor has been listening to the good stuff and as a result his music is the good stuff.

Stoned (Part 1) was my favorite album of 2003, and now the bulk of it is available in the USA on this release. Taylor is a rare talent and a fabulous songwriter. Give it a listen, and spread the word! This man should be a star!

Thank goodness Lewis Taylor got an American release-- WAY overdue-- after years of brilliant, ground-breaking work overseas. Earlier work of Lewis' has influenced many producers and songwriters on OUR turf thanks to imports of his first few albums, and it's time Americans discovered his talent.
Not afraid to use new technology fused with his R&B-type music... his work seems like a glimpse of the future of pop music. Perhaps like a modern day Marvin Gaye meets Todd Rundgren at Nigel Godrich's studio with LTJ Bukem remixing it. Stoned is another great work! Check out Lewis Taylor!

I have a very dear friend that feeds me music. Several years ago after he forgave me for not knowing who Lewis Taylor was, sent me spoonfuls and spoonfuls. What a hearty meal...
This record is perfect. There is nothing wrong with it. At all. And it does just keep getting better and better. Even when I am just hearing it, something ALWAYS gets my attention and makes me listen. Everytime. Every single time.
Really, do your ears a favor and treat them to this cd. Consider it redemption for all the things you tortured them with during college.

The first time I heard Lewis Taylor I was riding in my boyfriend's car. I could NOT identify the voice, but I felt somehow that he must be a significant artist, someone I SHOULD know. I couldn't place him squarely in any decade, and after I ran through the list of likely suspects (about 6 blocks in drive-time) I broke down and asked who we were listening to. Within a week, I owned pretty much everything he'd ever released.

Lewis has the Marvin Gaye voice, for sure. And every critic's review I've read pretty much name drops right on the money. This is the rare record that is both immediately likeable, yet grows deeper each time you listen. He's no neo-soul lightweight.

Get this & I guarantee you won't be able to take it out of your 5-CD changer for at least 6 months! He's got substance and he knows how use it.

I bought the original "Stoned" and could not put it down for over a year, just like every other Lewis Taylor CD. If you do not have the other CD's, you better find them. They are uniformly excellent. I've bought his CDs through his website. I've bought them from British music sellers. I've had them imported. It really is worth the price.

Anyway, as far as this release goes, do not worry. The new songs are not afterthoughts or filler and are every bit as worthy as the original tracks. I do not understand why this man is not getting recognition all over the world. Lewis Taylor has been making the best contemporary pop music I've heard for more than a decade now. I really hope this massive oversight changes with this release. My favorite songs:

"Positively Beautiful" (There's an even better version on the album "Stoned Part II" if that is possible)
"Lovelight"
"Lewis IV"
"Shame"
"Send Me An Angel" (This would be a huge radio hit if we could make time for quality music on American radio)
&
"Stop, Look, Listen"


"Stoned" is further evidence of Lewis Taylor's unrivaled musical genius.

There is a wonderful darkness in this music that is missing from most contemporary soul releases. This record can get very intense, with its dense sonic textures and delivery. That's a good thing though, and rewarding with each future listen.
Suprised to see that noone (at least none that I've seen) has yet to mention the huge Sly Stone "There's a Riot Goin' On" influence on this wonderful piece of music. We should savour more albums like this! I look forward to more Lewis and more great obscure uncoverings from the Hacktone label.

What a refreshing shock this album will be to music lovers and musicians alike - it certainly was to me. Take the one-man arranging/recording experimentalism of Stevie Wonder, the guitar bravado of Hendrix, pop cheekiness of 80s Prince, and the musicality of The Beatles - and throw in Taylor's own unique ethos - and thus begets an album that has an immediate richness and 'listenability.' Describing music is a strange exercise, and I don't enjoy it. I'm posting here so that you listen to clips above for yourself, and if you like it even a bit, take the risk of buying this album - the rewards are great. The album is a freeing, effecting opus.

I've been a fan of Lewis Taylor right from the very beginning - way back in the dark mists of the mid-to-late-90s - and am among those, I suppose, most delighted by the fact that he's finally gotten a release in the USA. You guys on that side of the pond (I'm in London, UK) have been missing out for so long on someone whom I truly believe is a seminal artist. This is a guy who's been around the block several times - not some young buck who's never lived. And this is obvious from every note on this superb CD.

Sweet soul voice with some of the most incredible layered harmonies you'll ever hear? Check. Breathtaking Hendrix/Prince-esque guitar playing? Check. Totally futuristic arrangements that never sound forced or cheesy? Check. Joy and pain, sunshine and rain? Check. It's all in here. I'm not going to compare Lewis to other artists, because, for me, there is no-one like him (though I know I just contradicted my earlier Hendrix and Prince statements - those were merely lazy comparisons on my part).

If you enjoy quality, soulful, intricate, seductive, uplifting, affecting, blues, funky, superlative music, this should be your next purchase.

I was watching 'Late Night With Conan O'Brien' in early Jan and his musical guest was 'Lewis Taylor'. The crowd applauded and there stood a few plain looking blokes, the front man looked short and frail, 30something and bald, I was expecting to hear some garbage like Coldplay... I was wrong. Instead I heard a fusion of soul, funk and rock... it's like Al Green meets Prince meets Syd Barrett meets Jimi Hendrix meets Sly Stone.

I read in the CD booklet that Lewis Taylor actually plays all the instruments and performs all the vocals himself on the album. Quite remarkable considering I can't think of many other artists to have done this in the past (Harry Connick Jr, Prince, Dave Grohl... did Stevie Wonder do this too?)

Anyway back to the review..

Track 1 is Stoned pt. 1 and what a way to kick off the album, with a few psychadelic guitar riffs the song starts off with a soft trippy groove and gentle lyrics, by the end of the first verse the harmony kicks in. The chorus explodes and is one of the catchiest chorus' i've ever heard with a fantastic melody, accompanied by brilliant harmony. The song gradually builds as the song progresses to a funk/soul masterpiece. This song deserves to reach number 1 worldwide, I sure hope this guy gets recognised because it's a crime that nobody has heard his stuff. If you google his name you won't find many matches and his official website is very poorly designed (suggesting to me he is at this stage, unfortunately, still a nobody).

It was a gamble for me to buy the album based on this one song, but track two, Positively Beautiful, confirmed that it wasn't a mistake. This guy sounded like oldschool Al Green and at times like the late Curtis Mayfield in this song (probably because of those tiny psychadelic guitar riffs, again). Other songs that keep up this soul sound are Lovelight and Lovin U More.

There's a blend of various styles in tracks such as Lewis IV and Shame where he lets the soulful harmony run wild in a rock song. Something you'd expect from Lenny Kravitz or Robbie Williams. Shades of Harry Connick Jr (minus the jazzy piano solos) in Back Together. Then there are songs like When Will I Ever Learn that give off a Maxwell/Prince vibe. Send Me an Angel and Till the Mornin' Light are also songs that reach out to the pop market with a hint of rhythm & blues.

On the 15 track album Taylor performs two smooth covers: Stop, Look, Listen (to your heart) originally performed by Marvin Gaye and Diana Ross, and Brian Wilson's Melt Away. Songs he very much makes his own without insulting the original artists/songwriters whatsoever.

Well that was my first ever review, I hope it wasn't too preachy. Oh it wasn't? Well.... buy it! :)

By the time you get to this review, you will have seen several others that praise the talents of Lewis Taylor to the high heavens. I'll try not to be redundant, but will add that he has been my favorite artist since being introduced to his music 5 or 6 years ago. I was so impressed that I travelled to London in 2003 specifically to see him in concert at the Jazz Cafe and returned even more of a fan.

Stoned is a CD that begs comparisons to many artists and albums, but ultimately stands on its on as a memorable collection of songs from one of the most unique, consistent and exciting recording artists on the scene today. I'm glad America is finally getting 'Stoned'!