ALMOST PERFECTED

Danish project TAYLOR'S UNIVERSE was formed in 1993, and since 1994 it has been a going concern that so far have released 16 studio albums, some on labels while others have been self-released through Taylor's own etiquette Marvel of Beauty Records. "Almost Perfected" is the most recent of this, and among the CDs that have been issued on Taylor's own label.

Taylor's Universe have been creating and providing progressive rock fans with high quality and mainly instrumental progressive rock for close to a generation at this point. Just about any of the albums merits a check by those fond of innovative, instrumental progressive rock, and this latest one may well be the one that has the broadest general appeal among them. An artist well worth investigating, and this particular album comes across as a very good place to start exploring the vast catalogue of this Danish band.

Looking at my CD shelves I can see nearly thirty albums recorded by Robin Taylor in one of his projects, and after a break of a couple of years, he is back with the latest from Taylor's Universe. The concept behind this was quite simple, take some old tunes and then re- arrange them with the current line-up in mind, and re-record them. Given that some of the current musicians had never heard the originals they were bound to give them a different interpretation, and the result is an album quite unlike many of Robin's other works. Robin tends to often approach music from a jazz viewpoint, taking it to more extremes with Taylor's Free Universe, but what strikes the listener with this album is just how melodic and progressive sounding it is. Yes, there are jazz elements here and there, as well as RIO, but this is fluid, melodic and complex yet always retaining a simplicity within its structure.

There are only four songs on the album, with a total length of forty-six minutes, but one is never sure exactly what is going to happen on the musical journey. "Mean Attack" starts with gentle percussion, held-down chords and a quiet gentility, which is smashed to pieces at about one minute twenty before it resumes again. Jakob Mygind again provides a sterling performance on various saxophones, while the guitars of John Sund and Robin cut through dynamically. For sheer listening pleasure this has to be one of my favourite albums from the Danish master, it's great to have him back!

ALMOST PERFECTED is the last musical offering of Mr Robin Taylor from Denmark,a very respected and prolific musician rooted in prog music for years!This album is basically a reworked album of some older compositions and this is something good because the new versions seem to be a lot more inspired than the original ones!Definitelly,Mr Taylor wasn't satisfied with the original results ans he tried to give this tracks something new,another image and another touch of his strong musical personality !And he brilliantly managed to do it ,with this new versions,which are excellent!All the beauty of prog music is here,with many intelligent and catchy arrangements,trully different from the original ones,with a better sound and improved musical visions!The length of the tracks are not at all something that diminishes the atractivity of the compositions,no way!The production is stellar,absolutelly stunning close to perfection!The nice presentation of the cd is great too,definitelly it's a weird cover,but in a good sense of the term!So,long distance TAYLOR'S UNIVERSE fans will be very pleased with this new...and old album,and they have what to dig for a long period of time!4 strong stars for me and sincere congratulations for a very respected musician,with a respectable musical integrity and true devotion and faith for great prog music with a twist!