The 1981 Listening Post - The Lydia Taylor Band - The Lydia Taylor Band

 Reviewed by Rod Brogan

Released: 1981 The Lydia Taylor Band The Lydia Taylor Band Genre: Corporate Rock Rating: 2.5 out of 5 Highlights: Some Guys Always Late After a 1979 self-titled debut album, Taylor broke through commercially in her native Canada with this LP. It even garnered her an American distribution deal on Three Dog Night and Wendy O. Williams' label Passport Records. The first side opens with a 3 punch combo of hit single Some Guys, All Night, and Always Late. While none can be called an ear worm, they've got a good beat with some corporate rock guitar tones and catchy choruses. Taylor chased the styles of the times, singing in a sweet but powerful Ann Wilson voice on this album before she adopted a more Laura Brannigan rasp in the wake of Gloria for her '83 EP Bitch. Written almost exclusively by her guitarist Richard Zwicewicz, what counted as hard rock in 1981 makes Huey Lewis sound like Metallica. A lot of the instrument parts sound like montage music from early 80s teen comedies. There are some real bouncy catchy synth fills, but they sound like Disney's Main Street Electric Parade. The guitar work on track 5 Dreamer is the strongest, even though it's one of the more tepid songs overall on the album. Indeed, Lydia herself becomes more of a cameo on the song. That's what happens when the guitarist writes 8 out of 10 of your tracks. The songwriting and vocal performance, particularly on B side opener Miracles, have aged well, it's the synth sounds that trap The Lydia Taylor Band firmly in a time warp. You don't know if you're listening to a rock album, or you just finished a round of Qbert. The second side is as weak as the first side is catchy, to the point where you might as well credit Gibby Lacasse with "drums on filler 6, 7, 9, and 10," and which may explain why Taylor recorded an EP next. Her chief songwriter simply couldn't come up with the material. The album ends with a cover of AC/DC's Highway to Hell, and the less said about it the better. Falcon, the Canadian record company which signed Taylor, went bankrupt soon after, so perhaps there wasn't the money to pay outside writers. Unfortunately for Lydia Taylor, she couldn't get out of her contract and drifted out of the music industry. She had the voice and personality to be a pop rock female force on the early 80s scene, she just didn't have the writing and promotion. Some girls have none of the luck.