Search - Mick Taylor :: Shadow Man

Not A Real Release

04/08/2003

(1 out of 5 stars)

"This cd is a reissue of a cd from years ago that could not get picked up by any US or European record company. Sasha owned a recording studio in New York City and wanted to finally make his own cd of his own songs. Since the recording studio had made a lot of money for Sasha, he could afford to hire his favorite guitarist to sit in for the sessions. The problems just start there. Sasha is a poor song writer and a God awful singer. Though Mick lays down good leads as usual, they are buried underneath such a painful mess that even hard core fans have trouble playing the cd more than once. These are songs that never should have been recorded, but since Sasha had his own studio and a ton of money, they are released. When it came time to distribute this cd, Sasha couldn't market it under his own name so he stuck Mick's name on it without permission and added a cheesey title like Shadowman and sold it to a Japanese record company. Mick makes no money from any version of this cd, so don't think that Mick benefits at all from it's release.
The second cd in the package is merely a reissue of a concert Mick played with a pick up band in LA back in 1995 that Mick played with on only 4 occasions. It has been marketed under the titles "Live at the 14 Below" and "Coastin Home" and is still. It is not bad, but again Mick doesn't get paid for it. Shadowman is not the new Mick Taylor cd. Buying it only hurts Mick Taylor. The song writing is embarassing and Sasha's singing is worse. A sub par release such as this that is made to look like it is Mick Taylor's work only hurts Mick. Stay away from Shadowman!"

Brand new studio album?

Robert Haemmig | Bern Suisse | 05/06/2003

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Disc one of this double CD has been released already in 1996 (in Japan). All compositions (except Honky Tonk Women) are by Sasha Gracanin, whose voice is rather dominant. Of course, there is some nice guitar work by Mick Taylor, but after all it is rather a Sasha Gracanin CD. Even the bonus track was already included in the original.
Disc two is live, but has also been released before as "Coastin' Home". No wonder that afficionados are deceived by this release."

This release is NOT a Mick Taylor product....!!!

Robert Haemmig | 03/26/2003

(1 out of 5 stars)

"This release is purported to be a new Mick Taylor album. It is not new. One disc is a 1995 recording that Taylor did session work with a no-name Sasha. Sasha has now decided to license these recordings as a MICK TAYLOR album rather than a Sasha album featuring Mick Taylor.Mick chooses to dissasociate with this release as much as is possible (which means not much, sad to say). Yes, that's him on guitar. He's a super guitarist. But you can find both the cutouts of this two CD set separately, perhaps on Ebay, and pay a lot less for this.The issue here is NOT a Mick Taylor album. This is outright fruad by people with whom Mick taylor has no control. This is how sleazy the entire music industry is that this album can be marketed as a Mick Taylor album when it is not a Mick Taylor album and it never was a Mick Taylor album. It is mediocre musical material in which he happen to do some session work. That is the crap Sasha part of it. The live garbage is a rerelease of an album called "Coasting Home". Since there is a legal question as to the rights to "Coasting Home" being allowed to be transferred. there is no way that this part of this "new" old release should have been allowed to make its awful way to the shelves. By the way, it's a crummy perfomance and they used crummy recording equipment. I have bootlegs that sound better than this tinny mess.But of course, when there's legal questions and the music indsrty is involved then people get away with all kinds of improprieties, witness this horrible release which Amazon wrongly sells under the name "Mick Taylor".Here's the deal: call this two bit release a Sasha album and a live performance, FEATURING Mick Taylor. That would be accurate. Calling this album a Mick Taylor album -- which IT IS NOT -- is innacurate and a perpetuated fraud. It is theft by deception of anyoine who should spend money to buy this manuer. The distribution company knows it and so does Amazon.Now, with regard to the actual material, hey, if Mick Taylor is going to play his guitar for public consumption, and if he is not going to hit a grand slam each and every time, whether as a paid performer in the studio or with some horrible backing band, then it's his own fault for not putting on a good showing. At some point a person has to take responsibility for a created mess. And that's what this release is, just horrible on every level.I despise the music industry. This album is part and parcel of why the industry, from the music end of it to the distribution end of it, is such a slime-filled mass of human debris. I condemn everyone of you all (not Mick Taylor who is a rare gem of a player who can practically walk on water he is such a great guitarist) and a pox on all your houses. Take this crap off the shelves for the sake of decency, something you all care nothing about.And to the potential buyers, save your money and do not buy this. Consign this release to the dung heaps of forgotten history."