Lewis Taylor - A Little Bit Tasty (2013)

Andrew Lewis Taylor was born on 20 January 1966 in Barnet, North London, and started in the music business as a guitarist touring with the psychedelic rock band Edgar Broughton Band, following a recommendation from his brother to Steve Broughton, who had reformed the band and was looking for a guitarist. In 1986 he began performing as Sheriff Jack, releasing two EPs and two albums of psychedelia music, with 'Laugh Yourself Awake' coming out in 1986, followed by 'What Lovely Melodies!' the following year. As Lewis Taylor he released his self-titled album in 1996 through Island Records, with tracks including 'Bittersweet' and 'Lucky' being released as singles, and this record showcased a significant departure from the psychedelia of the Sheriff Jack era, moving towards neo soul, and it was highly acclaimed by the critics. They were amazed that he sung a bit like Marvin, played guitar like Ernie Isley, bass like James Jamerson and keyboards like Billy Preston, and created his extraordinary angst-ridden compositions in a North London flat on two digital reel-to-reel tape machines, but despite this praise it did become one of those albums that everybody talked about but few bought. His follow-up record was less of a soul record, and included more elements of psychedelia and Brian Wilson-style arrangements, but it was rejected by Island Records, and so Taylor scrapped the whole thing and started from scratch, recording 'Lewis II' in the more commercial style that the record company wanted. Though they released the album in 2000, it too failed to connect, and Taylor was dropped by the label, although the scrapped album was not lost forever, as it eventually appeared as 'The Lost Album' in 2004. His next release was 'Stoned, Part I' in 2002, on his own label named Slow Reality (an anagram of his name), and he followed it up in 2004 with 'Stoned, Part II'. 

In June 2006, Taylor retired from music, although he has since returned as Andrew Taylor, and has been the musical director and bass player for Gnarls Barkley, and guitarist/backing vocalist for the Edgar Broughton Band and The Drivers. In 2016, Caroline Records re-issued his debut album on CD with a bonus disc comprising the b-sides, 'Lucky' remixes and extended version of 'Bittersweet', but these are not the only rarities that lurk in Taylor's vaults, as besides the Sherrif Jack and solo records, he has also collaborated with a number of artists, including Deborah Bond, and The Vicar, contributed his cover of Pete Wingfield's classic '18 With A Bullet' to the soundtrack of 'Lock Stock And Two Smoking Barrels', and even attempted to cover every track on Captain Beefheart's 'Trout Mask Replica', playing everything himself, but giving up after completing fifteen tracks. There was also a rare 1996 single which included tracks that never made it onto his debut solo album, and his version of 'New York, New York' which he recorded for the 2004 'Strictly Sinatra' film, and so if we collect all these together, plus his great cover of 'Electric Ladyland' and a couple of rare bonus tracks from foreign releases, then we have a superb hour and a quarter of rare and hard to find music from this maverick performer, which more than lives up to its title of 'A Little Bit Tasty'. Now is the perfect time to post this, as some of his early albums are finally being re-released, and eighteen years after his last record, he has just issued a brand new album, titled 'NUMB'. If you like what you hear on this post, then do invest in his new one, so that it isn't another eighteen years before he goes back into the studio. And do check out the Sheriff Jack material if you can find it, as I still have the 'Let's Be Nonchalent' 12" EP and 'Laugh Yourself Awake' album from 1986, and they are  excellent neo-psychedelic music which still get regular plays on the stereo. 

Track listing

01 Pie In Electric Sky / If I Lay Down With You (b-side of 'Whoever' 1996)
02 Waves (b-side of 'Whoever' 1996)
03 Trip So Heavy (b-side of 'Whoever' 1996)
04 Asleep When You Come (b-side of 'Lucky' 1996)
05 You Got Me Thinking (b-side of 'Lucky' 1996)
06 I Dream A Better Dream (b-side of 'Lucky' 1996)
07 A Little Bit Tasty (b-side of 'Bittersweet' 1997)
08 Lewis III (b-side of 'Bittersweet' 1997)
09 Eighteen With A Bullet (from the soundtrack of 'Lock Stock & Two Smoking Barrels' 1998)
10 Electric Ladyland (bonus track from 'Lewis II' 2000)
11 New York New York (from the 2001 film 'Strictly Sinatra')
12 Carried Away 2 (from the US version of 'Limited Edition 2004')
13 Shame (Live on World Cafe WXPN 2006)
14 If I Didn't Need You (from 'Madame Palindrome' by Deborah Bond 2011)
15 The Girl With The Sunshine (from 'Songbook #1' by The Vicar 2013)
16 Ella Guru (from 'Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica Reborn' 2014)