Steve Taylor

The ultimate Christian satirist! He might not be "hard rock"... more like a combination of David Bowie and The Cars, I suppose, but I've always been a fan.

I never got into Taylor's work. Lyrically, he's a good songwriter. However, I just never cared for the musical style at all.

I think I have only every heard the "Melt Down" song...very clever lyrics.

Always dug Taylor. Dude's a trip. One of my favs is "Jim Morrison's Grave"

Man, Steve is really cool. I don't listen to him often, but he has really good studio musicians (read: bassists and saxophonists) so it's always cool to listen to.

I didn't really care for his newer stuff, but I preferred the more rocking and just-plain-fun-to-listen-to old stuff.

My mom got the "Now the Truth can be Told" compilation, which has the hits and some leftovers too.

Another fav of mine:

On The Fritz was a bit of a let down, actually (the album, not the song). It has a few really strong tracks, like that one, but it hasn't aged near as well as Meltdown. Drive, He Said was another great song off of that album.

Here's hoping that Retroactive Records will re-release his discography one day.

I'm with you, DBF. It would be nice, but it's out of his hands because of the nature of the record biz.

Steve addressed that issue in an interview at Cornerstone.

Quote :

As far as re-issuing albums, it bugs me a little bit when they go out of print. You know, the
record industry, as you know, is in great turmoil right now. We really
tried to address some of the fundamental issues with Squint in setting
it up to be much more artist friendly. One of the things that I was preaching
all the time, to anybody who would listen, is that the record industry
is so corrupt and is founded on so many wrong foundations. And those get
piled up on top of bad foundations to where it's just a very corrupt industry.
It's almost like the tax code. It builds year after year to certain places
that what does this mean anymore? Why can't you just toss it all and start
again from scratch because it doesn't mean anything anymore. That's how
I felt with the record industry.

One of the problems with the record industry is, in my situation, I've had albums on three different
labels. I have no control over what happens to those albums or how and
if they get re-packaged or released. I've made attempts to try to license
them back from labels to try to put them out myself have been met with
stone faces. So I have no idea if they'll be re-issued or re-packaged.
Personally, if you want to get them off the Internet, I have no problem
with that, go ahead. They are not available, have at at.

Tall Tyrion wrote:

I'm with you, DBF. It would be nice, but it's out of his hands because of the nature of the record biz.

Steve addressed that issue in an interview at Cornerstone.

Quote :

As far as re-issuing albums, it bugs me a little bit when they go out of print. You know, the
record industry, as you know, is in great turmoil right now. We really
tried to address some of the fundamental issues with Squint in setting
it up to be much more artist friendly. One of the things that I was preaching
all the time, to anybody who would listen, is that the record industry
is so corrupt and is founded on so many wrong foundations. And those get
piled up on top of bad foundations to where it's just a very corrupt industry.
It's almost like the tax code. It builds year after year to certain places
that what does this mean anymore? Why can't you just toss it all and start
again from scratch because it doesn't mean anything anymore. That's how
I felt with the record industry.

One of the problems with the record industry is, in my situation, I've had albums on three different
labels. I have no control over what happens to those albums or how and
if they get re-packaged or released. I've made attempts to try to license
them back from labels to try to put them out myself have been met with
stone faces. So I have no idea if they'll be re-issued or re-packaged.
Personally, if you want to get them off the Internet, I have no problem
with that, go ahead. They are not available, have at at.

I think he's the only musician I have ever seen actually give permission for anyone to go online and pirate his albums lol! I can't argue with that though. When you have no way of re-releasing your own albums, they're out of print, and record companies are uncooperative, that's really the only way to get your hands on them unless you're able to find a used one somewhere.

I'm going to navigate the torrents tonight. Thanks for that info Nick.

danielbandfan wrote:

I'm going to navigate the torrents tonight. Thanks for that info Nick.

Here's a couple links I found:

Meltdown - [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
On the Fritz - [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Meltdown link doesn't work, but On The Fritz does. Thank'ee!

I used to love ST back in the day. I have just about all of them on cassette. The only one I have on CD is the compilation " The best we could find". I need to pull it out again soon.

I think my fav song of of On The Fritz is "I Just Wanna Know"

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Life's too short for small talk
So don't be talking trivia now
Excess baggage fills this plane
There's more than we should ever allow


There's engines stalling and good men falling
But I ain't crawling away


I just wanna know
Am I pulling people closer?
I just wanna be pulling them to you
I just wanna stay angry at the evil
I just wanna be hungry for the true


Folks play follow the leader
But who's the leader gonna obey?
Will his head get big when the toes get tapping?
I just wanna know are they catching what I say?


I'm a little too young to introspect
And I surely haven't paid all my dues
But there's bear traps lying in those woods
Most of them already been used


I just wanna know
Am I pulling people closer?
I just wanna be pulling them to you
I just wanna stay angry at the evil
I just wanna be hungry for the true

Search me, Father, and know my heart
Try me and know my mind
And if there be any wicked way in me
Pull me to the rock that is higher than I


I just wanna know
Am I pulling people closer?
I just wanna be pulling them to you
I just wanna stay angry at the evil
I just wanna be hungry for the true

I think Steve is brilliant and enjoy his songs (although some of the music is kinda annoying). Since Steve has given a blanket ok, I do have several of his albums I can upload somewhere. If you are interested, PM me.

Just came across his new disc on Amazon. Didn't even know it was out! I knew he was doing a kickstarter campaign but hadn't heard any news about a release date or what not. I need to get this!

Yes, you do need to get Goliath by Steve Taylor.

Through The Dark Radio wrote:

Yes, you do need to get Goliath by Steve Taylor.

Well I ordered Goliath. Recently I finally got the email saying in was in stock again and have shipped it to me.

Ordered today. I've pretty much exceeded my budget for new music for the month ... heck, probably for the year! ... but this was a no-brainer.

It's worth it.

Amazon just informed me that Steve Taylor is sitting on my front deck.

Edit: When I got home I was disappointed to see that Steve was not sitting on my front deck.   However, Goliath had truly been delivered, so that's good I guess.

I was never a big Steve Taylor fan. I bought the LP of Meltdown when it first came out, and it got a decent amount of play from me at first, but it wasn't hard enough to make me a fan.

I never bought another Steve Taylor album, or even listened to another, until he came out with the Kickstarter project. I thought the Kickstarter video he did for it was so entertaining that I had to be a part of what he was doing.

No regrets whatsoever. I love Goliath....and he made the Kickstarter process fun.

I even bought the Deluxe Edition he released on iTunes

I have also bought 2 different Steve Taylor greatest hits cds since then. I like his new stuff much much better.

They are working on another album

I have read several people's opinion on the "Goliath" album.  Some of the folks that love it wouldn't dare listen to a Furler era Newboys album or a Fleming & John record.  You can hear both of their influence on the band sound mixed in with Taylor's style.  I'm digging the download I went ahead and bought due to feeling like I'd never get my CD from Girder.

With the new album, are they doing another Kickstarter?  I may also snag Taylor's "Squint" as well.

I might try getting the two Fleming & John albums I had on cassette many years ago and add two more of theirs that I never heard as well.  I've never been opposed to alternative rock.

alldatndensum wrote:

I have read several people's opinion on the "Goliath" album.  Some of the folks that love it wouldn't dare listen to a Furler era Newboys album or a Fleming & John record.  You can hear both of their influence on the band sound mixed in with Taylor's style.  I'm digging the download I went ahead and bought due to feeling like I'd never get my CD from Girder.

With the new album, are they doing another Kickstarter?  I may also snag Taylor's "Squint" as well.

I haven't seen a Kickstarter for it, but they posted a video of them working on it 

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