Allan Taylor - Old Friends - New Roads (2007)

A long time ago, when I was young, I had a record player that used to replay those old vinyl records, and before I went to sleep there were a few records I used to play until I woke up in the middle of the night and stopped the machine or until morning. The ones I remember are Leonard Cohen self titled first record, The Best of Leonard Cohen and Van Morrison's Veedon Fleece. These are laid back records, as is this new release of old songs by Allan Taylor.
It would be an under statement to say that this is an acoustic or unplugged CD, as all Taylor's are already acoustic records with minimal instrumentation. But here it is only his voice and either guitar or piano. The songs are like whispers and never get rocking or rolling. These are lullabies for grown ups.
Allan Taylor has been around for longer than most readers here have been listening to music. His first records were released in the ninety sixties. He was part of the English folk movement and then moved to the United States to continue his career. He hardly ever became famous but was always a known figure within folk circles. With the advent of CD's and the reissue of his cult masterpieces Sometimes, The Lady, The American Album, Cajun Moon, he went on to record, mostly for the Stockfish record label in Germany, a series of very successful albums -- albums that may not catch you at once or be considered masterpieces, but are a clear example of classy music, with intelligent lyrics and a very unique way of presenting them&mdsah;a real signature voice.
In spite of the fact that Alan Taylor is definitely in his grove, his music is limited to one way of presenting music. There are no big surprises in his music, and once you've heard one of his albums you can know very clearly what to expect from the next one. If you love one of them and want some more of his music you are not bound to go wrong with Old Friends-New Road. I love it and heartedly recommend this release, as well as all his other CD's. I am not sure you'll want all of them but at least you'll want to hear one of his latest releases from Stockfish Records.