Album Reviews: On The Fritz
MusicLine
July 1985 Volume 3 Issue 3
1985 CCM Publications
Page 30
STEVE TAYLOR, On the Fritz (Sparrow SPC 1105); Producers: Ian McDonald and Steve Taylor.
Taylor's third outing, inspired and enriched by recording in New York City; is his finest record to date. On the Fritz benefits from McDonald's depth of field production, which gives the album a BIG sound. McDonald, an original member of mainline rock group Foreigner, has player and production credentials that stand on their own. Here he enriches Taylor's compositions with some of New York's finest session players, while broadening the musical scope and spectrum of the songs themselves.
The best tracks, "This Disco (Used to Be a Cute Cathedral)," "It's a Personal Thing," "You Don't Owe Me Nothing," and the title track continue in the same vein as Taylor's critical analysis of society and its lukewarm institutional Christianity. "To Forgive" is a delightful change of pace, perhaps the most positive lyric and sweetest melody to come from Taylor to date. On the Fritz contains some important progress for Taylor, who must not allow the niche he's created to become a rut.
-- B.Q.N.
