Mick Taylor did a short tour of selected European cities this spring, with his All Star Blues Band. This is a list of dates done and due soon:
A year ago when the Rolling Stones played Finland it was impossible not to find out about it. Press, radio, ticketholders, people without tickets in fact everybody went crazy. This year things were different. It was almost impossible to find out about. Mick Taylor´s visit to Finland. There was only a small ad in a music paper. Luckily me and my friends saw the ad. The consert took place in Kajaani (one hour flight away from Helsinki to the north) at a jazz fetival. The venue was a "october fest styled" tent outside Hotel Kajanus, the hotel where some events of the festival took place and where we and Mick Taylor stayed.
The show started at 1.15 am. (after midnight), when the audience (500 people) was quite drunken. Unfortunately Mick Taylor was drunken too. His band started the show and he joined them for the third number which was "You Gotta Move". Though Mr.Taylor had problems standing up his playing was good.
Unfortunately most of the audience didn´t share my view because they started to leave. After "You Gotta Move" Taylor played blues numbers like "Little Wing","Red House" and "Going South".The highlight for the Stones fans (me,my three friends plus two other people) was to hear "Can´t You Hear Me Knocking" a "killer" track from "Sticky Fingers" which is Mick Taylor´s favourite Stones album. The day after the show he told me that apart from "Sticky" he likes also "Beggars Banquet" (he is not playing on it!) and early Stones stuff.He also told me that when he was young he was a Beatles fan!
Mick Taylor´s show was a disappointment if you expected lot of Stones numbers (he played three riffs of "It´s Only Rock´n´Roll" to a guy who kept screaming "play It´s Only..."!). Also the band was a disappointment. They had finished their tour some time ago and played Kajaani as a bonus gig, so they weren´t a tight unit anymore. As I said earlier Mick Taylor can still play guitar and there were some great moments if you had the patience to listen his playing.
For me and my friends the biggest highlight of the trip was to have a chance to talk to Mr. Taylor. We got autographs, we took photos etc. He told many interesting things. For example, he regrets playing with Jack Bruce because he should have realised that their band won´t be a long lasting one. He also thinks that John Mayall´s Bluesbreakers is the best thing that has happened to him as a musician. In my opinion Mick Taylor should play in a famous well rehearsed band (like The Stones or The Bluesbreakers) and get the repect he deserves as a guitar player instead of just being an ex-Rolling Stone.
Mick Taylor did an interview on Super Channel, broadcasted on June 1st this year. It was part of the Talkin' Blues series from Las Angeles. The Mick Taylor part lasted for just 5 minutes or so.
The interview is illustrated with Mick playing great blues riffs. Also, they show the crazy video for It's Only Rock'n Roll, sailor's type with lots of bath foam, you know... Mick T. looks very nice there.
I have to admit Mick T. did not appear too great in that interview. He seemed detatched and remote, really having problems with himself, sorry to say. Such a waste of talent.
Talking about influences, he stated he was inspired by Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis, but most of all by Bob Dylan. With Bob Dylan, Mick could just sit in, play the blues spontaneous, without any tight schedules. His own style of playing was developed at his time with John Mayall, when he no longer aimed at imitating other guitar players.
Mick Taylor plays the lead guitar on all of the 10 tracks on the soon to be released CD tilted SHADOW MAN, issued on Savebone Music of New York. All songs are penned Sasha except for Honky Tonk Women by Jagger/Richards.
Mick Taylor at the Kajaani Jazz Festival, Finland, May 23, 1996.
Photo by Arto Tulima, Kajaani, Finland.
It's Only Rock'n Roll no. 26 June 1996 - © The Rolling Stones Fan Club Of Europe