GILEAH
TAYLOR
For
Things Beyond
In 2006, I salvaged a Gileah album from the wrecking yard at the Folk and Acoustic Music Exchange (FAME), the wrecking yard being where they send review albums which have not found an owner. Dave Pyles, who runs the site, had posted a thumbnail review (which he does for every album submitted for review) which was quite positive and, truth be told (don't tell Dave), I was slowly gaining a real appreciation for his ability to screen the wheat from the chaff, to use an old farmer's euphemism. Needless to say, Gileah's thumbnail was a thumbs up, so I grabbed it. And fell down the rabbit hole.
The
album that started it is The Golden Planes
and
what a joy it was--- and is. Gileah
Taylor called
herself Gileah
at
the time of the album (2005) and it is without a doubt the most
personal of the three albums of which I am aware. It is Gileah
stripped
bare, if you will--- voice and backing kept to a minimum. She
would later delve into the depths of band and studio and impress
as much. I mean, she has the positive energy to go where she wants
(thanks to a multi-talented husband, Chris
Taylor,
who played on and produced this gem), but this album is important
because she didn't.
I drowned myself in The Golden Planes.
I shoved everything else aside to do just that. Songs like Say
You Love Me Still and
Just and
the emotionally gripping For
Things Beyond grabbed
hold and would not let go. For that short time, I wanted neither
a
full band nor full-on production. I simply wanted the songs. And
beautifully served up they were. Beautifully. They were personal,
you know? Here
is what I wrote at the time.
A
more mature Gileah surfaced
on the followup, Gileah & The Ghost Train,
a logical step forward. It was Gileah
and band
and
oh boy, what a great step up. Oh, I missed the intensely personal
aspect of the music but I already had The
Golden Planes and
a step forward is usually a good thing, isn't it? Basically, The
Ghost Train was
Kevin Woerner
and
Ava Quigley who
had supported Gileah
on
the previous album, so the sound did not stray far. It did become
harder (in a rock sense) and fuller and more majestic. It was, in
certain ways, a huge step forward. Gone was the tentative and
emotionally strained vocals and the deep reach within, replaced
with a more positive and goal-oriented structure and sound. I
slapped on the headphones and once again drowned myself in the
music. Already a fan, I was becoming a fanatic. Here are the
reviews I wrote for FAME
and
Swampland.
The
release of the new “album” (actually double EP--- What
Kind of Fool and
A
Crooked Line)
only deepens my regard. The fifties and sixties values of the
opening track of Fool (I'm
All In)
takes me back to my pre-transistor radio childhood when vocal
groups and vocalists rode the hook from front to back, supported
by solid rock and roll arrangements and vocal embellishments (ah,
those background vocals) and sometimes guitar or keyboards adding
that something extra to push it over the top. It is not vintage so
much as it is adapted, which makes it even better. She follows it
up with a song worthy of Carolyn
Arends during
her early rock phase, a light-hearted pop tune titled One
Good Man.
With solid but bouncy beat, it brings back happy. If
You Can't Tell is
a look back at the Ghost Train days, the chorus using a favorite
Gileah
trick
of repeating words or phrases, in this case I
can't open your eyes, can't open your eyes, can't open your
eyes..... The
arrangement is key, thanks to some deeply reverbed guitar and
slightly reverbed background vocals. If you didn't know why the EP
is titled What Kind of Fool when
you start, you will by the time you get to the title track. Slow,
intense, reflective and almost tearful, it utilizes simple piano,
vocal and a cello which could squeeze blood from a turnip. This is
the Gileah I
fell in love with on The Golden Planes
carried
on the wings of strings. Beautiful. And capping it off with the
flowing Cheap
Paper Phone--- what
can I say? The
end of a magic carpet ride. Or maybe I should say a solid
transitional song because it flows right into.....
...
A Crooked Line.
A River
continues
the magic, a rocker with solid beat which, again, looks back to
the Ghost Train days. It is probably at this point you begin to
hear what is going on, for Gileah
has
a musical vision and sound which you cannot help but hear and
accept. A
Crooked Line nails
down the sound, an upbeat acoustic rocker packed full of upbeat
sound--- a Pop gem. The bridge (at the end, oddly enough) is
downright classic. All
Of Us is
a bit slower, lightly plodding its way through the darkness, and
gives way to a just-short-of-recital sounding Prodigal,
a song of a son on his last legs returning home ashamed and broken
only to be embraced by a father who had thought him dead. It is a
story as old as The Bible. You'll understand shortly.
The highlight of any Gileah release (for myself) is the at least one majestic or anthemic song which transcends all others. In typical fashion, she places Grief at the end, a pipe organ echoing in the spires, so to speak, with piano and full band (and solid vocal harmonies) to reach that climactic high we all need now and again. A great song made better with excellent arrangement, performance and production. I mop my brow in appreciation.
While this isn't really the third Gileah project (she had a children's thing before The Golden Planes, if I remember correctly), it is the third in my string. I thought it started at the top, but with each release, it gets better and while simple, a bit more involved. Not only has Gileah grown as an artist, her vision has expanded. How much? Just let me state that I am impressed. Very.
An aside: My first listen to the two new EPs was prefaced by an off the cuff statement by fellow rock enthusiast and semi-heathen Bob Segarini who had, in response to the many statements being made today that “there just isn't any good music out there anymore,” argued that there was plenty, not the least of which was the plethora of Contemporary Christian albums which, loved by the young and the Christian, are ignored by the masses. If Segarini and I share anything, it is the love of music for music's sake and I stand shoulder-to-shoulder with him in appreciation for the downright excellent Christian music making its way, bit by bit, into the mainstream. Gileah Taylor may be only one reason to not avoid the genre, but she is a good one. And getting better by the album.
Oh, lest I forget, the EPs are available on vinyl for a short time. My suggestion is to get your orders in early. You never know how long these things will last.
Frank O. Gutch Jr.
Supporting the Indies Since 1969
