James Taylor Quartet: Soundtrack From Electric Black
Author: Nick Hasted
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Musicians: |
Andrew McKinney (b) |
Label: |
Audio Network |
Magazine Review Date: |
Feb/2019 |
Catalogue Number: |
ANW3011 |
RecordDate: |
12 July 2017 |
James Taylor’s yearning for more than ‘Starsky and Hutch’ was realised with 2013’s The Rochester Mass, which brought Acid Jazz organ into the realm of Ellingtonian sacred music. Now he fulfils his ambition for JTQ’s core sound, by giving full orchestral punch to the glamorous alternate universe of 1960s and 1970s soundtrack styles. Time is tight here, with arrangements making split-second switchbacks and resembling credit-sequence length, back when these defined a TV show’s escapist reality. The John Barry whose On Her Majesty’s Secret Service theme stimulated young viewers as much as any Bond girl meets blaxplolitation funk as whip-crack strings slice through ‘Black Belting’, the Lalo Schifrin who made Bullitt’s tyres burn animates the ominous ‘Electric Black’, while ‘Making Tracks’ conjures the relentless pace and smooth-riding glamour of life at the top, and ‘Sweet Revival’ is a water-bed symphony for 1970s lovers. The Hammond fantasia of ‘Back Home Style’ and brass-knuckled dancefloor swing of ‘Heidi’s Revenge’ perfect the remit. Session orchestral backing turns this commercial form into maximum TV R&B.
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