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 SAUL ZONANA |
 THE YARDBIRDS |
 HERMAN'S HERMITS |
 KONGOS |
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LEWIS TAYLOR
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SAUL
ZONANA
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MCKEE Late December (Cooking Vinyl)
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THE
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HERMAN'S HERMITS Greatest Hits Live (NoOne)
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KONGOS Kongos (Kongos)
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Echoing
an era of expanded creativity in the pop world, Lewis Taylor is a gifted
singer-songwriter / multi-instrumentalist / guitarist who over the years
has recorded a variety of tracks, combining pop and R&B with unabashed
emotion. One of the most interesting sounding singers to emerge since
the heyday of Stevie Winwood forty years ago, the London based Taylor
writes songs that stick in your mind and makes you want to hear them
again. L.A. based Hacktone released Taylor’s 2005 album Stoned,
and in early ‘07 they follow with The Lost Album—an
album originally written by Taylor back in the late ‘90s, then
shelved and re-recorded for this release. Pop fans looking for an artist
that can write a pop classic and do it all by himself should check out
Lewis Taylor. The CD’s centerpiece, “Hide Your
Heart Away” echoes Thunderclap Newman singer Speedy Keene and is
so far the coolest pop treat of 2007. The unusual CD packaging of The
Lost Album is yet another aspect that sets this exemplary album
apart. Taylor’s website claims that he’s is no longer active
in the music industry and retired in June 2006. Let’s hope Taylor
picks up again from where The Lost Album leaves off. 
New
York rocker Saul Zonana has made a bunch of acclaimed alt-rock albums
with recent several sides produced by guitar legend Adrian Belew. Actually,
Belew’s approach to pop song writing and production is a good reference
point when describing the music of Zonana, a sound that is definitely
coming from a kindred musical galaxy. Saul’s 2006 release Love
Over Money is a multi-pronged device with disc one featuring the
ten track CD with a second disc, a DVD telling the Zonana story, adding
in some other creative video work. Ably handling much of the guitar,
guitar synth, bass, keyboard as well as all the vocals, Zonana is working
with a top band and the CD also features guitar work of Bowie cohort
Gerry Leonard. Comparing his latest venture to his last CD—the
2005 Adrian Belew production of 42 Days—Zonana adds, ‘I
was mindblown working with Adrian ‘cause he’s a hero of mine,
an icon. And the funny thing is, since I worked with him on 42 Days
we’ve become pretty good friends, comrades. I don’t really
have a favorite between the two, they’re just different. Love
Over Money was interesting as well because I took a different approach
to it. There’s another CD called Waves, before the two of
these, that was, again, a completely different approach. It seems that
people are taking to this new one more so. Suddenly life changed dramatically
during the making of Love Over Money and it just sort of felt
like that was the title of my life at that point.’ Zonana’s
story is truly amazing and the DVD half brings his intriguing history
up to date. Backed with catchy songs and excellent production, Love
Over Money is one of the finest pop-rock albums of the millennium.
Fate
intervened for singer songwriter Maria McKee when her brother, Bryan
MacLean passed away in the mid ‘90s. Now with Arthur Lee also gone
from the planet it’s up to McKee to keep the spirit of Love’s
adventurous orchestral pop sound alive and well. Regarding her sixth
album, released in April 2007, McKee adds, ‘Late December is
current for me. It is an album I love to listen to. It is music that
I like.’ Like her brother and Arthur Lee in the fabled Love
group back in the ‘60s, McKee masterfully combines drama with pop
melody. Long time fans who yearn for her more country, unplugged style
should get out of the way of musical progress. Thank god artists like
Bowie was able to make albums like Hunky Dory, and then grow
into their own, much like McKee has done on Late December. McKee’s
husband and partner Jim Akin—as well as guitarist Jerry
Andrews—is totally in sync with McKee’s orchestral pop
vision and her songs work right from the get go. 
The
Yardbirds are caught live on a 2007 CD entitled Live At B.B. King
Blues Club. It would have been great to have a studio album of all
new material from drumming legend Jim McCarty and his Yardbirds
revival band but this recent live from NYC disc will please long
time fans and newcomers alike. McCarty and co-founder / original Yardbirds
bassist Chris Dreja rev up the Yardbirds legacy with a 2007
Yardbirds set featuring new guitarist Ben King, who stands in
the place of Beck, Clapton and Page while adding his own vital fretboard
touches. Singer John Idan could never fill the shoes of the late
great Keith Relf but he steps up to the plate with these new
treatments of classic songs The Yardbirds amazed the music world with
back in the ‘60s while some new tracks brings the band’s legacy
up to date. 2007 notes by Sid Barryd brings the story up to date.
Prog-rockers
and jazzers may scoff at the name Herman’s Hermits, yet the classic
‘60s pop sound the Hermits brought to the music world is revived
on the 2007 CD release of Herman’s Hermits Starring Peter
Noone Greatest Hits Live. While Noone never achieved
the prominence of singers such as David Bowie, he was the front man
for a band that achieved huge success on the charts at the same time
as The Beatles, Stones, Dave Clark Five and more. On this recent live
20 track CD of timeless pop, Noone revives the Hermits name in style
with a keen rock band and sets the stage for London 1965. Even the most
staunchest blues or prog rockers have many of these British invasion
classics etched into their brains. I vividly remember my father taking
me to Freedomland to see The Four Seasons back in ‘63 and I feel
a similar sense of nostalgia for Noone’s rocking Hermit’s
tracks. 
Speaking
of glaring omissions from the Elektra box, 36 years ago, London-based
John Kongos released one of that label’s most illustrious
progressive pop imports. Entitled Kongos, that ‘71 John
Kongos album on Elektra featured amazing production of Gus Dudgeon and
excellent guitars by Caleb Quaye. Also simply titled Kongos, this
2007 CD is the debut group recording of John’s four sons—Dylan
Kongos (vocals, guitar), Jesse Kongos (drums), John J.
Kongos (keyboards) and Daniel Kongos (guitars). With their
famous father as executive producer and on backing vocals, the 2007
Kongos is a cool and entertaining spin that evokes their dad’s
adventurous ‘71 Kongos album yet stakes out some new musical
terrain one generation down the line. With the Kongos clan all based
in Arizona these days, it’s even more enlightening to witness the
inherent wealth and musical aptitude in the new Kongos generation. The
songs stick, the vocals are compelling and that Kongos beat can still
mesmerize. 
