tchoate's Full Review: Taylor Hicks by Taylor Hicks
I have to say that I have been an American Idol fan for the last two years. I was very excited when Carrie Underwood won in 2005 and found myself waiting for her debut album. Taylor Hicks was my favorite in 2006 from day one. I am probably the typical Taylor Hicks fan; woman in her 40’s who appreciated his way with a song and also his presence on stage. I never really expected him to win, as I knew there where those who were better singers, but I didn’t find one whom I thought had a better stage presence and could draw the crowd in like Taylor could. He didn’t fit the AI mold at all, gray hair, a little heavy at times and had a definite musical style that was not what had come out of AI before. Taylor has a background in what I would call bar music. He spent years paying his dues singing in bars and night spots before AI and I believe that is the one thing that helped him with drawing the audience into his performances. Even though I wasn’t impressed with his debut single, I couldn’t wait for his debut album, hoping that he would show more of himself and less of the AI hum drum music.
I believe that with his debut album Taylor has done just that. He has shown himself in the music and even has two songs on the album that he wrote.
Taylor Hicks
The music on this album has a rock and roll pop flavor with a lot of soul thrown into it, but should be able to be appreciated by all the members of the “Soul Patrol” and even some new members may even be added to the group.
Starting with The Runaround the album has a lot of great sounding horns in it. This song is full of them and they really make the song a great listen. Dream Myself Awake is written by Rob Thomas and is a good romantic song that is definitely worth a listen. Heaven Knows is a upbeat song that finds Taylor using a Ray Charles written song, with new lyrics and doing it well. Gonna Move while not my favorite song on the album is a little mix of musical sounds, a little funky with some soul thrown in. Wherever I Lay My Hat is a Marvin Gaye song that Taylor does justice, it happens to be one of my favorites on the album. Give Me Tonight is a song that Taylor shares vocals with one of the co-writers Kara DioGuardi that has a lot of bass in it. Just To Feel That Way is an okay song, I am just not sure it is a good song for Taylor to sing. It sounds more like an AI song than anything else on the album. The Deal and Places I’ve Been are both what I consider ballads and should do well for Taylor. Places I’ve Been probably has the strongest vocals on the album and I love to listen to it over and over. The Right Place is soulful and a great song to listen to, slow with some great vocals and piano.
I purchased my cd at Wal-Mart and received the bonus track on it Hell of Day is my favorite song and I am really glad I purchased the cd with this Taylor Hicks penned song on it. It is just the kind of song I was hoping to hear on this cd. It is very soulful sounding with some great horns, makes you want to clap along with the song.
Final Thoughts
I was happy to see that Taylor wrote 3 of the songs on this cd Hell of a Day, Soul Thing and The Deal. Just listening to any of these songs you know that to Taylor the music is everything. On this cd he also pays tribute to Ray Charles and Marvin Gaye two people that Taylor has said he likes to model his music after. While not everyone will appreciate this cd, if you watched AI and liked Taylor Hicks I don’t know how you can’t like his first album. It definitely has his stamp on it and for once it doesn’t sound like your typical AI debut album. I really think that with Carrie Underwood and Taylor Hicks, AI has two of the best debut albums that they have released. I for one hope Taylor does well and can’t wait for his next cd to see even more of his style of music.
For the legion of adoring fans (dubbed the Soul Patrol ) that singer Taylor Hicks won over on the fifth season of AMERICAN IDOL, the months that went ...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.