This album by Californian ex-Brit TAZ TAYLOR is one of those guitar shredder albums seemingly aimed at people who like to nitpick about technical details and read Music Maker and Guitar Player Magazine obsessively. On ‘Caffeine Racer' TAZ TAYLOR plays all the instruments himself, leaving only the drums to one Calvin Lakin. It's very tempting to compare this to the JOE SATRIANI's of this world, because the comparisons are obviously there. But truth be told there's some differences as well. TAZ TAYLOR has better riffs and rocks a bit harder than most of his more fusion-orientated colleagues. Which is no wonder since his main influences are people like Michael Schenker, Ritchie Blackmore and Rhandy Rhoads. Because of this I wanted to like the album more than I actually did.

The guy definitely knows how to write a good riff and the fact that his heart obviously goes out to hard rock music saves this from the muzak-trappings of some of his contemporaries. And with album closer ‘George's Song' (written the day after his father died) he proves he can stir the emotions as well. But still, I can't help feeling something's missing when an album has fast licks, good ideas stretched out to song length and nothing more. No matter how well one can play, it's quite a task to keep instrumental music interesting for the listener. Artists as diverse as MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA, THE DIXIE DREGS, KONG, FOCUS and STINKING LIZAVETA (to name but a few) have proven they can pull it off, but then these bands have a different way of arranging their music. TAZ TAYLOR's cool rock riffs only make me wonder what they would sound like if they were part of an actual song. You know, with a singer and all. His flashy leads, excellently played as they may be, will only be of interest to the aforementioned guitar geeks.

Because of his considerable chops and his rocking approach he gets the benefit of the doubt, but my advice to Mr. TAYLOR would be to start looking for a band. Otherwise only recommended for guitar nerds who think JOE SATRIANI is too mellow.

- Van Hoften

OFFICIAL SITE: www.taztaylor.com

RELATED ITEMS: No related articles at this time.