All Music Guide
The release of Stoned, Part One, the third album under his own name, proves beyond doubt what an astonishingly talented musician Lewis Taylor is. It also begs the question, so often asked but seldom more appropriately, of how such talent can go largely ignored. Sadly perhaps, he presents the intellectual snob with a source of much delight, of greatness undiscovered to be shared only with one's closest friends.Stoned Part 1 Part 2 has also been issued also marked a parting of the ways with Island Records wh had released his first two albums, and a decision to take control, together with coproducer/mixer/songwriter Sabrina Smyth, of everything including the marketing of his own music. Considering the wealth of talent nurtured fairly successfully for the common good by Island over the decades, their failure to succeed with Taylor seems peculiar.Stoned Part 1 is an exceptional accomplishment, once more demonstrating an ability to compose, play all the main instruments brilliantly, arrang...e, and produce in such a way that inevitably brings comparisons with Stevie Wonder to mind. the previous albums, Lewis Taylor and Lewis II, mainly invited comparisons with Marvin Gaye, high praise indeed, but by no means outrageous.Taylor is apparently comfortable with his lowkey profile, but this album provides plenty of evidence for his private passions. The title track, which opens the album, overlays deep funk with truly sweet vocals, complemented by wahwah guitar and electronics. The complexity which he strives for could result in muddiness in the hands of less able producers, but what we have here is a beautiful depth and clarity. "Positively Beautiful" follows, perhaps the standout, its richly layered harmonies propelled by a simple but driving beat, the song emerging into a sublime choirlike ending. Not for the first or last time, the song is a man's joyous celebration of falling headlong for female beauty. This infatuated theme is taken up again in "When Will I Ever Learn," and on its reprise "From The Day We Met," with mixed that would not embarrass Brian Wilson at his peak; here, Lewis presents himself as a prisoner of his attachment, almost live a praying mantis happily being devoured by his mate.The angst which was never far away in his earlier work, reportedly occasioned by his breakup with the one he calls "the one", is not so obvious this time, except in terms of the pain which comes from pure lust and romance. After his deeply soulful voice, the electric guitar is his best instrument, so much so that it invites more odious comparisons (the name Isley instantly comes to mind, and sometimes also Hendrix). Strange to relate, Taylor honed his musicianship in one of the later manifestations of the Edgar Broughton band. He is a natural musician with genuine soul, and the obvious potential criticism, that he's a purveyor of derivative ersatz black music, should be thoroughly dismissed. - Thom Jurek, All Music Guide Read more Less