It would be an under statement to say that this is an acoustic or unplugged record, as all Taylor's are already acoustic records with minimal instrumentation. But here it is only his voice and either guitar or piano. The songs are like whispers and never get rocking or rolling. These are lullabies for grown ups.
Allan Taylor has been around for longer than most readers here have been listening to music. His first records were released in the ninety sixties. He was part of the English folk movement and then moved to the United States to continue his career. He hardly ever became famous but was always a known figure within folk circles. With the advent of CD's and the reissue of his cult masterpieces Sometimes, The Lady, The American Album, Cajun Moon, he went on to record, mostly for the Stockfish record label in Germany, a series of very successful albums -- albums that may not catch you at once or be considered masterpieces, but are a clear example of classy music, with intelligent lyrics and a very unique way of presenting them&mdsah;a real signature voice.
In spite of the fact that Alan Taylor is definitely in his grove, his music is limited to one way of presenting music. There are no big surprises in his music, and once you've heard one of his albums you can know very clearly what to expect from the next one. If you love one of them and want some more of his music you are not bound to go wrong with In The Groove. I love it and heartedly recommend this release, as well as all his other recordss. I am not sure you'll want all of them but at least you'll want to hear one of his latest releases from Stockfish Records.
• Heavy Weight High Quality Vinyl 180 G
• Direct Metal Master DMM
• DMM Disc Cutting by Hendrik Pauler on a Neumann VSM-82
• Mastering Monitors: B&W Bowers & Wilkins 801 D
• Allan's guitars: Martin HD28, Martin D18 Custom, Martin 000028H