Positively Beautiful - Lewis Taylor News, Issue One

The inaugural issue of Positively Beautiful, the newsletter bringing you real news of Lewis Taylor and what he's up to. For the fans and by the fans, along with - wherever appropriate and possible - official confirmation and/or input from Lewis' camp. One thing's for sure - if you see news here it's real, not rumour!

We aim to provide for fans pertinent information, previews and reviews of all things Lewis Taylor, over time. News will always be confirmed before it appears here, or definite possibilities clearly stated if they're unconfirmed. If you have an opinion, however, about a Lewis gig, have an album review, related links, comments, suggestions or questions, send them along! This newsletter is truly for the fans and by the fans - we want to know what you'd like to see here, and we welcome contributions appropriate to the spirit of this newsletter.

Something that Positively Beautiful would like to initiate along the way is a Question & Answer section about and/or for Lewis. We offer no guarantees at all in connection with any Q & A - but if you do have questions feel free to send them along. We'll do our best to get you the real answers, with input from Lewis himself if possible.

Lewis made a welcome return to live band action when he appeared at a free, private gig - primarily for the benefit of fans - at the Noble Rot Club (http://www.noblerot.com/) in London on August 20, 2002. His performance wowing everyone, Lewis proved that he's still got an abundance of everything he ever had and then some. The setlist for the evening was as follows:

Since many of you attended this gig and/or heard about it at the fan forums, we'll just tell you that there is an official review coming out in the next issue of the Soul 24-7 magazine (http://www.soul24-7.com/mag/current/index.htm). Catch all the details there! Pictures from the event can be found at http://fanclub.lewistaylormusic.com/convention2.html and at http://home13.inet.tele.dk/skri/convention/enter.html. Some sound clips of rehearsals may be available at http://www.lewistaylormusic.com very soon also.

The news we've all been waiting for and excited about: a new album coming out soon! Scheduled for an October 21, 2002 UK release on Slow Reality Records - Lewis' own - the album is titled Stoned Part One.

We'll let the following tell you more... the official promotional material being sent out to industry with pre-release copies of Lewis' new album, followed by a personal preview of the album by Mark Ede of What's The Word.

The name Lewis Taylor conjures up as many diverse opinions, thoughts and descriptions as have been attributed - accurately or otherwise - to the man himself.

'Maverick' and 'genius' feature highly on the list from those in the know - include in that group D'Angelo, Bowie, Aaliyah, Q-Tip, Elton John, Chaka Khan, Glenn Lewis, Paul Weller, Timbaland, Michael Hutchensen, Joan Armatrading, Daryl Hall, along with many US R&B and gangster rap giants. Now add in any and every musician one happens to bump into around town. Huge fans, one and all.

'A modern day Syd Barrett', the 'new Brian Wilson' and 'Marvin Gaye's lovechild born of Frank Zappa' are other descriptions. Still others include 'child prodigy' - true, Lewis really was playing serious music from the age of four. 'Music obsessive' - it seems he actually can immerse himself for months on end in his home studio. The list of descriptors goes on.

To many, Lewis Taylor is simply one of the greatest voices in popular music, an outrageously talented lead guitar player, accomplished multi-instrumentalist and visionary producer. 'One of the truly great songwriters of his age' is another claim.

We'll gloss over the other - accurate or otherwise - references to past-attributed drug problems, personality traits, behaviours, emotional welfare and other claims very often made by people who have never actually met him. Still, as it's said: any publicity.

But does any of this matter? Well, not really. The main thing is the music. Like it or not, it's hard to define it; even harder to deny it, and harder still to deny the talent that produces it.

After a couple of remarkable albums with a major (the first of which still appears on several influential 'best ever album' lists), Lewis parted company with Island Records. Actually he walked, but as we've come to see, who's interested in the facts where Lewis Taylor is concerned?

Stoned Part One is Lewis' 'comeback' record. Not that he ever went away, of course. He's actually spent the last two years doing privately what he has always done: making music. This time, Lewis has made it under his own steam, at his own pace and in his own way.

1. Stoned Part One: this cut establishes the warm 'psychedelic soul' vibe associated with the whole set. 'Girl, you made me come........(to realize)!' A distant cousin to 'Lucky' perhaps, but one which also brings to mind the merest tad of Lenny Kravitz mixed with a soupcon of Sly Stone, possibly. Whatever other references are in there, suffice it to say that Stoned Part One is pure Lewis Taylor - from the dirty wah wah guitar on the intro and solo through to the closing refrain in that spine-tingling voice.

2. Positively Beautiful: a very catchy, sorta 'Pappa Was a Rolling Stone' for the 21st century, with a great hook and feel. Very clubby, giving - a la the title cut from Lewis II - more than a nod to Norman Whitfield's classic Motown arrangements with the Temps and others. One the re-mixers will have fun with too!

3. Lewis IV: perhaps the killer track amongst killer tracks of the whole set. 'You break your promises, don't make me stick to mine...'. Shades of 'Damn', 'Song' and 'Track' merged into one, complete with an anthemic climax which quite simply can't be topped. This might prove to be the big closing number, in a live setting.

4. Send Me An Angel: a fairly straight-ahead but very classy, polished, mid-paced groover that will achieve plenty of airplay on R&B and soul radio. A personal favourite in the whole set. If nothing else it demonstrates that Lewis has one of the most evocative and actually very commercial voices this side of the Atlantic - and on much of the far side too, for that matter.

5. Till The Morning Light: some faux-sitar opens up this catchy, hippy-dippy-drenched pop tune. And none the worse for it, it has to be said. Identifying this cut for mainstream, cross-over airplay wouldn't be the worst idea in the world.

6. Shame: another melodic, poppy, trippy tune which sums up the Lewis Taylor catholic approach to music-making. Shame moves seamlessly through trippy, psychedelic beginnings to its rocky, guitar-driven, near-thrash chorus, with a Beatlesque middle section. Gonna be a big live number this one, with its growling guitars in the fore.

7. When Will I Ever Learn (part 1): a slow, sparsely-arranged, beautiful, haunting lament - complete with heart-felt lyrics, exquisite harmonies and THAT voice. Radio-friendly, this. As with 'Send Me An Angel' this is one of a number of cuts that R&B and the neo soul audience will embrace.

8. Loving You More: some more straight-ahead R&B with punchy rhythm guitars and - as with every other track on this set - a strong tune and great vocal.

9. From The Day We Met (a.k.a. When Will I Ever Learn - part 2): an alternative version, this one is a mid-tempo groover raunched up with some distinctly R&B-drenched vocal chops and swing beat, but with some uniquely Lewis twists and turns. Works well as the album gets into its soul city middle section.

10. Lovelight: Kraftwerk meets Eno-era Bowie provides the aural backdrop to an otherwise fairly straight-ahead, nicely paced, soul/blues lament about a difficult love affair (what else? you ask). Another strong tune sprinkled with some of the magic Lewis colourings.

11. Sheneverdid: one for the hard-core to embrace. Starting with its electronic heartbeat to signal a typically bleak Lewis aural landscape - complete with backward guitars and disembodied vocals - it quickly moves to a very accessible, melodic tune which could fast become a Lewis classic... one which would not find itself totally out of place on the debut record.

In conclusion, this is probably the album that Lewis has needed to make. There is enough musicality to satisfy the most hard-core Lewis-heads but more than that, the set offers sufficient accessibility to embrace the wider populace that LT's talents deserve. There are plenty of soul and R&B sensibilities in there but hopefully also enough indie pop and guitar-led rock influences to secure wider audience appeal.

Of course, great product is dependent upon great marketing and that may yet be the key to final sales figures. Personally I think this record plays well to European and US audiences; let's hope the October UK release provides the platform for wider exposure and recognition.

To me, this is a very satisfying set which smacks of an exceptional artist finding the signposts to channel his considerable talents into the mainstream, but without compromising artistic integrity. Let's hope the mainstream gets to hear it and feels the same way!

Lewis is hoping to get down to the Soul 24-7 studios for a live show with the WTW team to preview the new album. At time of going to press, this was provisionally scheduled for October 5, 8:30 pm UK time. Certainly some tracks will be previewed by the station (http://www.soul24-7.com/) from this Saturday - September 7th, 8-10 pm UK time - onwards.

Editor's note: the Soul 24-7 server was down at show time on September 7th, but the show was recorded and will be re-broadcast in the near future.

Still to be confirmed: likely some London gigs and media work around the time of the album launch. Watch this space for further news; we'll keep you posted as to confirmed dates and details.

http://www.lewistaylormusic.com/ - Fansite with hugely popular forums... this is the place for Lewis fans to hang out online, and Lewis himself contributes from time to time. Lots of information, mp3s and pictures here. There's even a forum specifically for questions to and answers from Lewis, whenever he is able and/or has inclination to answer.

Editor's note: forums experiencing temporary difficulties on this publication date but will be up and running again a.s.a.p!

http://fanclub.lewistaylormusic.com/ - Lewis Taylor's Fan Collection. a site for and about Lewis fans. Show your love of and support for Lewis' music by going visible online with all the other fans there - or just have some fun checking out who else loves Lewis' sounds.

http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Arena/7463/ - The first fansite online; still there, though not updated in ages. Still lots of great Lewis-related info, though.

http://www.soul24-7.com/ - The hugely popular internet radio station with a soul forum to post messages at. Hear Lewis music played regularly by the What's The Word team on their show, or try requesting a Lewis tune by emailing direct to any DJ on-air at studio@soul24-7.com. The more requests received and forum posts made about Lewis, we believe, the more likely the station will get behind The Man and his new album!

All questions, comments, contributions and suggestions are happily received at positivelybeautiful@telus.net.

We're sure you're all as excited as we are about the new album coming out and all the recent activity involving Lewis and his music. We'll keep you posted as we get more news.

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