Acorn Discs
Homepage of songwriter Dave
Taylor and Dave and Julia
Taylor -"On the Fence".
"You're completely bonkers
aren't you ?"
Bloke at Sidmouth Folk Festival
"I nearly wet myself at one
point"
Lady in audience at village hall gig.
Review of "The Melodeons are Coming".
I had absolutely no idea what to expect when this CD
arrived for review and obviously anticipated a
selection of melodeon-led songs. Wrong! Taylor turns
out to be a very funny man with more than a nod
towards Ron Geesin, and, dare I say it, Spike Milligan?
There is an over-riding folksy quality to the 14 tracks
featured here and, once into the artist's thrust of
humour, I found myself chuckling along throughout his
album and wondering what makes him tick. Actually, I
don't give a damn about analysing - it isn't
necessary. Taylor's manic music speaks for itself and
I defy you not to raise a smirk, or even a loud
guffaw, when absorbing the light and shade of such
delights as "Support your Neighbourhood Fanatic",
"Weary Old Folk Tune", "Not a Morning Person", "BSA
Bantam" (funny, funny, funny), or "Jehovah's
Windows".
The more I listen to Taylor, the more I appreciate his
off the wall, zany humour. This guy is obviously a
born-again loony, but we need people like him to
offset the the rigours of trying to survive in the
humourless world created by Tony Blair and his New
Labour Stasi. PC this ain't but who could give a toss
when characters like Dave Taylor can leave you
rocking with laughter and reaching for the 'repeat'
button on the CD player.? Dave Taylor, you're a
folk-comedy genius and I can't recommend this CD
highly enough. You want a r-e-al laugh then go buy
it!
Review of "Gobbindownmimobile"
Whatever this guy is on, I want some! Dave
Taylor's album (his third) is about as manic as it
gets and extremely funny to boot. Forget the
less than perfect sound quality, this guy is up
there with the likes of Peter Sellars, Spike
Milligan, Tommy Cooper and, on the other side of
the coin, Derek Brimstone and a few other off
the wall creative talents from the folk club days
of the late 1960s and '70s and with a small nod
towards Rik Mayall; except that Mayall is totally
one dimensional but Taylor needs to be listened
to carefully to discern all the comedic nuances
and vocal gymnastics of a master craftsman.
This certainly won't appeal to all tastes, but I,
for one, love what he does and give this a
genuine thumbs-up. Loonytunes are alive and
well. Thanks, Dave, for making me laugh.
These reviews by Bryan Chalker "Music Maker".