Not often you find me here, eh? It was Harrods that started it; I'd ordered a Linn LK85 from them, because I was going to a seminar in a hotel up near the V&A. However, the right hand wasn't aware that the left hand even existed, never mind what it was doing, and when I got there they'd sold the thing and, no, sorry, they didn't have another. So they sent me one in Swizzieland and as compensation, they put in 3 Linn CDs. Two were pretty dire (well, no, not even pretty), but the third, Martin Taylor's "Portraits", was wonderful - it even included some duets with one of my great favourites Chet Atkins (a fully paid-up Taylor fan). I have since collected a few CDs of this marvellous guitarist. The latest, "Solo", has just arrived. How does he do it? How many hands does the guy have? He manages to play all the parts and still sound smooth and melodious. Rock guitar lovers will hate it, I suspect even a lot of jazz guitar lovers won't like it, but I think it's great - smooth, mellow, dazzlingly virtuosic playing warmly and sympathetically recorded. Highly recommended.
