Detailed Review [Taylor's Universe - Overall View]

The Album. Above all, it must be said that the first flight of Robin-and-the-crew to Taylor's Universe was very successful and, by the way, they entered it without any turbulence. Featuring varied, yet, mostly easy-tempered interplay between passages & solos of acoustic guitar, solos of synthesizer and bass, and those of drums, Entering Universe (1) is one of the two compositions on the album that are about a guitar-based Art-Rock with elements of Symphonic Art-Rock. Surprisingly, the only stylistic 'compatriot' of Entering Universe, Feel (14), is located in the very end of the album. It consists of the interplay between passages of piano and solos of slide guitar. Although both of these pieces are very good on the whole, they, along with Pulling Icon, to which I'll return a bit later, surpass any of the remaining eleven tracks on "Taylor's Universe". The stylistics of the excellent Emmadusa (2) represents an original Symphonic Art-Rock with elements of Jazz-Fusion and the bits of Prog-Metal, which, though, is not of a high complexity, as well as both of the boundary tracks of the album and Pulling Icon (6). The latter of them is about a blend of Art-Rock and some old-fashioned music. A few of the solos that are present here remind me of those of hand organ. As you can see above, though, almost all of the described pieces are the shortest tracks on the album, which, in this very case, is a positive factor. Especially since all ten of the remaining compositions that, taken together, last almost 50 minutes, are outstanding. Two of them, Secret Wedding and Joie De Vivre (4 & 9), are the Classical Music-like pieces, both of which feature also the elements of somewhat of a symphonic Space Rock. A general definition of the style that the remaining eight compositions are about should, in my view, be explained this way: a highly innovative, intricate, and eclectic Art-Rock, which is both symphonic and guitar-based, with elements of Jazz-Fusion, Prog-Metal, and Avant-garde and bits of Free Jazz. However, instead of operating with bulky terms, I prefer to define any polymorphous and highly innovative manifestations of progressive music as Fifth Element, though, of course, I admit that this term is more generalized than those of the other main genres of Prog: Art-Rock, Prog-Metal, Jazz-Fusion, & RIO. So, the following eight compositions: Strange Meetings, Hearing Noises & Imagining Things, Saturday Night, Trick Or Treat, Flemming Junker, Mr. Garlic, Jeff's Office, and Meetings (3, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, & 13), are the representatives of the only Progressive Rock genre that just cannot be related with anything commercial. Each of the said eight compositions represent somewhat of a journey to the world of diverse and unusual musical dimensions filled with lots of different events, which is both highly intricate and intriguing. Since both of the aforementioned Classical Music-like pieces are practically of the same story, in my view, it would've been much better if Meetings would have located on track 6, instead of Pulling Icon, and vice versa. Then all of the core compositions of "Taylor's Universe" would've been the real core of it. Though, as I said above, while both of the boundary tracks of the album aren't masterpieces, they, nevertheless, are very good compositions. In any case, the eponymous Taylor's Universe debut is very close to the status of a complete masterpiece. Next week, look for the review of Taylor's second flight to his personal Universe.

VM: January 1, 2003