R. Dean Taylor - The Essential Collection (2001)

Artist: R. Dean Taylor
Title: The Essential Collection
Label: Spectrum
Type: Compilation
Released: Oct 30, 2001
Genre: Rock / Pop / Oldies
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 192 kBit/s
Channels: Stereo
Samplerate: 44100
Length: 55:40
Covers: Front, Back, CD

R. Dean Taylor was a musical rarity. Plenty of Canadian singer-songwriters have made their mark (Joni Mitchell, Gordon Lightfoot, Leonard Cohen, Bryan "Pizza Face" Adams and the deeeeeeeelish Avril L), but it is very unusual for that act to be associated with Berry Gordy's proud black hit-machine Motown. That's because after making his name in his hometown Toronto, in the early 1960's Taylor crossed the water to Detroit and was eventually hired by the record company that shook complacent white America, where he worked with Lamont Dozier and Brian Holland (part of the famous Holland / Dozier / Holland songwriting team of countless US and UK hits). His songwriting credits include Love Child by Diana Ross and All I Need by the Tempations.

Come the mid to late 60's he was making records as well as writing them. Motown had launched a subsidiary label Rare Earth, whose remit was to release records from progressive white rock artists - bear in mind this was still the divided USA of 1967 - and it was with this that Taylor first had a smash hit with Gotta See Jane, a throbbing urgent slice of Motown soul meets hippy pop. His biggest hit in the UK was Indiana Wants Me, which made No 1 in 1971; and Ghost In My House, a track from his 1967 album Sounds Superb, was re-released in 1974 and made the top three. If my memory serves me correctly, The Fall, the longstanding Manchester indie group headed by Mark E Smith, did a cover of this too. By 1983 it was all over and he hasn't been heard of since.
There are a big 19 sounds on this CD, which was released on Spectrum in 2001. Not a lot of point describing each one, just pick out a few favourites:

Indiana Wants Me ("Lord I can't go back there") is a superb pop single, telling the story of a desperate doomed man on the run from the police after a murder. The string backing adds to the atmosphere very well. Let's Go Somewhere is a boppy Motown tune pleading for racial tolerance. Hmm where have we heard that before. There's A Ghost In My House is classic Motown echoing production over fat guitar lines and snare drums.
By the early 70's R Dean was seemingly aping the laid back sounds of his namesake James Taylor, as summed up by the eco-friendly sounds of Ain't It A Sad Thing ("down by the river where the river don't flow, we can't go there no more") and the jaunty bop-along that is Taos New Mexico, as R Dean gives it his best Johnny Cash over a sad tale of a lost love far away whilst he rots away in the nick.

A nod to women's lib is covered in the 1971 sounds of Woman Alive ("9 to 5, your body's dead but your mind's alive, 6 to 10, it's the same damn bar again). RDT gets all sloppy on the lovey-dovey The Two Of Us, which could easily qualify for a Sunday morning church singsong with the vicar on acoustic guitar. In total contrast his cover of Kristofferson's hangover classic Sunday Morning Coming Down is aptly maudlin…….er the coming down he's singing about is of the drug kind. "Wishing I was stoooooooooned" and all that.
The overall impression I get from this album is that he was quite a good songwriter but not so good when left to his own devices, though he does have a passable pop vocal, similar to Neil Diamond without the hairy chest. In all honesty the music had moved a long long way away from three minute pop by then - even the earlier Motown acts were getting streetwise - but this is a pleasant enough CD to listen to, even if the running order switches from 1967 to 1971 to 1974 back to 1965, which gives it a rather disjointed affair.

This CD is far from an essential purchase, but it is a nice blast from the past from one of the 60's forgotten men, and anyone who likes Mod sounds or northern soul should quite enjoy it.

Tracks:

01 - Gotta See Jane
02 - Back Street
03 - Ain't it A Sad Thing
04 - Gonna Give Her All The Love I Got
05 - There's A Ghost In My House
06 - Don't Fool Around
07 - Indiana Wants Me
08 - Woman Alive
09 - Loves Your Name
10 - Taos New Mexico
11 - Fire And Rain
12 - Shadow
13 - Two Of Us
14 - Poor Girl
15 - Let's Go Somewhere
16 - Candy Apple Red
17 - Sunday Morning Coming Down
18 - Just Like In The Movies
19 - My Lady Bug Stay Away From That Beatle