Chris Taylor

Item: Worthless Pursuit of Things On the Earth
Author: Steve Stockman

Worthless Pursuit of Things On the Earth

(2000)

Reviewed by Steve Stockman

Discogs Bandcamp Apple Music

Label Rhythm House RecordsThe Phantom Tollbooth2000

heartland rock roots rock

Chris Taylor had always the potential for something great. His lyrical bite was as hard hitting as the rock sound of his band Love Coma and his solo debut "down goes the day" was tasty if not commercially accessible. And so Rhythm House have brought in Mark Robertson and Rick Elias to give Taylor the sound that would bring his poetic thoughtfulness to a much wider audience. No doubt economics was their driving force but sometimes economics can move in mysterious ways. And so with this. Taylor's raucous and stunning vocals get the perfect foil with the sound that the Ragamuffins have found for Taylor. Indeed the band is the Ragamuffins and it has them able to be a little more hard hitting than on their own work. Of course they are up for it. Indeed this might be Robertson's hello to a future of record production. We've heard his work before but something tells me that he'll be an omnipresent name on the credits of Christian rock albums as the new millennium unfolds.

The packaging of this album is a fascinating collage of photos and lyrics and notes and what all else. It could keep you amazed for hours. And so the music it covers. This album hits you with an immediate one-two punch of a heavy weight champion but underneath the punches there are a whole load of nimble lyrical and musical intrigues to keep you coming back time and again. There is little doubt that Taylor is rooted in the U2 and Simple Minds kind of rock history. But though the phrasing, a melody gives hints of that lineage. Do not think for a moment that this album sits anymore out of date than whatever Bono and his mates are currently concocting in a Dublin studio. It's rock but not antiquated. It's right up to date and there are moments as in Bleeding Hearts Club when it is almost a 21st century southern boogie through a sweet treat of a Mississippi mud pie.

Worthwhile pursuit of things of heaven!