Frank Gutch Jr: Julian Taylor Has a Band, EIEIO; Wreckless Eric & The Case of the Not-So-Brave-New-World; From The Sally Rose Band To Shagwuf (with an umlaut); A Look Back at Audrey Martell(s); and Plain Old Notes

If I headed a bill, I wouldn’t want The Julian Taylor Band opening.  I mean, remember when Hendrix opened for The Monkees?   No, I don’t suppose you do.  Most of you, anyway.  Let us just say it didn’t last.  While Julian Taylor is no Hendrix (apples and oranges, really), he is a monster in the wings awaiting his chance and his new album, Desert Star, might just be it.  It’s a double album, I hear, and one with four distinct sides.  I have it.  I want to listen to it.  I will get to it.  But first I have to get past this performance of Taylor and crew at Lee’s Palace in Toronto.  Posted only a couple of days ago, it has been looping on my computer since.  I hear funk and I hear soul and I hear so much more.

Frank Gutch Jr: Fall On Deaf Ears? Not These Albums….. Plus Voluminous Notes of Questionable Character

Fall is a beautiful time of year.  Leaves turn color, the air gets crisp.  It’s football time and the kids return to school.  Hunting season is just around the corner.  I have lived through more than a few and can attest to the fact that it is not like any other season, but then I say that about all the seasons.  I love them all but I learned to love Fall best when I worked retail in the old music stores of my past for that was the time record labels came alive.  It was their last chance to release the albums they wanted to push before Christmas needing the two or three months to gain traction for the big push, for there was no other season like Christmas season when it came to hawking music wares.  Well, those days are past but it seems like they are back because some of the best have chosen this Fall to release their new albums and, man, am I pumped!