R. Dean Taylor - I Think Therefore I Am LP 1970

Rare Earth RS522

US 1970

levy Ex

kannet Ex- pientä RW, reunalovi

netistä eräs arvio: One of the few white guys on a Motown label, the awkwardly named Taylor, a chipmunky Canadian who sported a Beatles bob long after its sell-by date, only got one shot at a full length under the umbrella of America's greatest soul label. If you judged this by the cover, you'd think it was the least hip thing Motown ever did next to that Tom Clay spoken word record, but Taylor has surprisingly deep roots at Motown. Is there a more unlikely guy to have cowritten classic Four Tops and Supremes tracks, sometimes as a fourth wheel to the legendary Holland-Dozier-Holland team? And R. Dean Taylor is also behind an all time great Northern Soul classic, "There's a Ghost in My House," up there with the best Motown tracks record collector types keep to themselves. The Fall's Mark E. Smith, of all people, seems to have a soft spot for Taylor, covering not only "Ghost" but also the followup single, "Gotta See Jane." That song kicks off this LP and is the best thing here, a paranoid psych pop driving song that could've really fit into this summer's best-soundtracked film, Baby Driver. The rest of the record finds Taylor adopting more of a country pop pose, in line with early Neil Diamond, and good listening if that style's up your alley (and it should be!). It also includes the only song of Taylor's to ever really hit on radio, "Indiana Wants Me," one of those great melodramatic story songs about a guy on the run from the law that ends with police siren sound effects. Hugely cheesy, but a great time. Just like this record, which remains forgotten by all but the most dedicated Motown fanatics.