Taylor Taylor Taylor
Listen to sneak previews of 3 tunes from Taylor Hicks’ upcoming self-titled album. You can find streams running at Gray Charles, Taylor Hicks.com and Taylor’s My Space. My verdict on the three songs? “Runaround” is a great record with a big sound and a big beat. It reminds me of the classic radio songs of the 60’s and 70’s–but with a modern sound. Me likey. “Dream Myself Awake” is a Rob Thomas ballad. It’s a bit syrupy for my tastes, but I can imagine it becoming a Hot AC hit. “The Right Place” was written by Bryan Adams for Ray Charles and it’s goose-bump beautiful. Taylor’s vocals are front and center on this one. His take is gorgeous and moving.
Taylor has a short period of time to produce this first record. And, as the American Idol, he’s expected to move a lot of units. Honestly, I’m not expecting a lot from this first outing. But, so far, it appears that he’s managing to produce some quality music despite the constraints he’s working under. I’m encouraged.
He’s re-doing a few of his old songs–“Soul Thing”, “The Deal” and “Hell of a Day”. Plus, he’s recording a cover, “Gonna Move” that’s a standard of his live set. I’m very interested to hear what new twist he takes on these old tunes now that he has some money and resources at his disposal.
More stuff: Rehearsals.com put up the “real” rehearsal of “Do I Make You Proud” today. Except that Taylor still can’t resist singing “Do I Creep You Out” instead of “Do I Make You Proud”.
I think I like this version best. Hee.
