Goliath

Description

Goliath is the debut album by the American rock combo Steve Taylor & The Perfect Foil, Kickstarter-funded and independently released on Splint Entertainment in 2014. The album was recorded by band member John Mark Painter with the band producing. (Overdubs recorded by Danny Seim.) Featuring Steve Taylor on lead vocals backed by Jimmy Abegg of Vector fame on guitars, and a rhythm section consisting of bassist John Mark Painter (of Fleming & John) and drummer Peter Furler (formerly of The Newsboys). “Comedian” features guest vocals by Fleming McWilliams of Fleming & John, and Lori Chaffer of Waterdeep. Goliath was The Phantom Tollbooth’s Album Pick of the Month.

The American singer, songwriter, and producer Steve Taylor hadn’t released an album as the frontman since early ’90s, but had been a primary force behind The Newsboys, Sixpence None the Richer, and Chevelle. No new music came, but there was talk of the Taylor/Peter Furler (former Newsboys member) project, so it seemed as if some action was happening. But in the fourth quarter of 2013, the Kickstarter campaign began for Steve Taylor & The Perfect Foil, a new band featuring Furler on drums, Vector guitarist Jimmy Abegg, and everything else by John Mark Painter of Fleming & John fame (as well as the go-to orchestrator for most of Ben Folds Five’s albums). Late 2014, their debut album, Goliath, arrived.

This is the album long-term followers of Christian music have been longing to hear, featuring as it does the return of one of Christendom’s most dazzling talents. In recent years we have enjoyed Steve Taylor’s productions and lyric writing for acts like Sixpence None The Richer, Guardian and the Newsboys and admired Steve’s move into film direction (The Second Chance, Blue Like Jazz). But nothing could quite fill the void once this man of many talents stopped recording and gigging. Returning, after 21 years, Taylor has pulled off a masterstroke by choosing as his accompanists guitarist Jimmy Abegg (A Ragamuffin Band), bassist Jon Mark Painter (Fleming & John) and drummer Peter Furler (Newsboys). They are indeed a perfect foil to Taylor’s unique way with songs. And what songs! The opener «Only A Ride» brilliantly encapsulates the spirit of the Rolling Stones with a biting guitar riff and a vocal which knowingly uses the images of amusement park rides to explore the pointlessness of a thrillseeking life; «Comedian» with its acerbic observations (“Man makes plans. God laughs”); and the expression of sheer thankfulness on «A Life Preserved» – a song first heard on the Blue Like Jazz soundtrack (“Calling me out of the shallows of my world/ Called to something graceful and true/ Gratitude is too cheap word for all you’ve reassembled/ From the spirit broken and unnerved – a life preserved”). It’s not just Taylor’s masterly way with words which keeps the listener glued to the stereo speakers. There’s the full throttle rockabilly rhythms of «Double Negative», the punk rock fire of «Rubberneck»; and the new wave thrust of «Standing In Line» – wherever one delves on ‘Goliath’ one finds modern rock happily prepared to make references to yesteryear but also consistently applying a new coat of production paint. The latest news that Steve and The Foil are now working with avant-gardist Daniel Smith on a new EP assures us all that ‘Goliath’ isn’t just a reminder of past achievements but a starting block for a whole new creative era for the veteran. Welcome back Steve. [Tony Cummings, Cross Rhythms, January 2016]

It’s about four years ago. I’m shooting stills on a video shoot in New York City. The director is Jimmy Abegg. We break for lunch and between bites of Chinese food I bring up the band Vector and the first Jimmy A (as he was known then) solo album. So we talk music. Abegg says he has some Mp3s of something he’s working on with Steve Taylor, Peter (newsboys) Furler, and John (Fleming and John) Painter – would I like to hear a sample? My fan-boyness overcomes my germ-o-phobia and I stick one ear-bud in my left ear with the other in Abegg’s right.

Bliss.

I’m sworn to secrecy and I stick to it – but now, the jig is up. Steve Taylor and The Perfect Foil have unveiled Goliath to the world, and it’s lived up to its legend.

If ever there was a super-group to emerge from the ghetto of Christian music, this is it. Closer to Steve’s Chagall Guevara days than his I Want to Be A Clone period, Steve and The Perfect Foil are a driving, elemental rock band, fueled by the solid drumming of Peter Furler and the well-defined bass lines of Painter, both musicians pounding through the underbelly of the music with an unrelenting propulsion. On top of this groundwork is the articulate guitar of Jimmy Abegg, sometimes delivering chunky grooves («Moonshot») and other times getting downright nasty («In Layers»). Of course, the reason we all noticed this – and the man who’s got the top billing, after all – is our old buddy, Uncle Steve. A bit wiser, and no less potent than in the days of his Squint albums, Taylor still fires off his clever lyrics like a sanctified punk rocker, his uniquely-recognizable tone occasionally rising into the shriek-zone, and to great effect.

The album starts appropriately, with the sound of Furler’s sticks hitting together to count off the lead track, «Only A Ride», a song that seems to talk about life sometimes becoming a little more than we bargain for: “It’s only a ride/ keep your feet in. Only a ride/ It’s only a ride/ If it’s only a ride – why am I bleedin’?” Certainly not all sweetness and light, lyrically, one wonders if the title track, «Goliath», could be a metaphor for life in general as well as for the record industry (my own speculation on that last idea – but lyrics like, “We’re all aware/ that you don’t play fair, but we’re done trying to appease you/ You wanna run it/ like you already won it/ I think you’ve got amnesia…” makes that a fair guess, I think).

Oh, and the lyrics… I suspect they’ll make more and more sense with repeated listening, but – like all really good lyrics – the meanings are only implied as opposed to being overtly stated, and must be taken in conjunction with the whole performance. Is «Rubberneck» about our social-media obsessed society? ‘Could be. Is «A Life Preserved» about redemption? I think so: “Calling me out of the shallows of my world/ called to something graceful and true/ Gratitude is too cheap a word/ for all you’ve reassembled/ From a spirit broken and unnerved/ a life preserved…”

Taylor and The Foil (couldn’t they have come up with a shorter name?) are unashamedly about rock and roll – intelligent rock and roll. Taylor’s lyrics live somewhere between social commentary, introspection, and poetry and the band enters into the songs sometimes with a fury and sometimes, like in the intriguing closer, «Comedian», with an anticipatory pulse – the heart of rock and roll is still beating and Furler, Abegg, Painter and Taylor are holding paddles – just in case.

Steve Taylor and The Perfect Foil are: Steve Taylor… Vocals, Peter Furler… Drums, Jimmy Abegg… Guitar, and John Mark Painter… Bass (and, no doubt, some of the tasty horn work that shows up on some songs)

The humor and trade-mark Steve Taylor word play are still there. The band rocks. If you liked Chagall Guevara, this one is even more nuts and bolts. The CCM world will be scratching their heads. But, then again, we’re talking about Steve Taylor… [Bert Saraco, The Phantom Tollbooth]

> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/goliath-deluxe-edition/976407539)

CD tracklist:

01. Only A Ride – 2:23
02. Double Negative – 3:37
03. Goliath (feat. Fleming McWilliams) – 2:49
04. Moonshot – 2:57
05. Rubberneck – 2:49
06. The Sympathy Vote – 2:53
07. Standing In Line – 3:54
08. In Layers – 3:51
09. Happy Go Lazy – 3:34
10. A Life Preserved – 3:59
11. Comedian (feat. Lori Chaffer) – 6:27
Deluxe Edition Bonus Tracks:
12. Am I In Sync? (Missing Link Version) – 3:36
13. Foils On 45 – 5:12
Goliath: A Conversation with Donald Miller & Steve Taylor (Plus Secret Hidden Track) – 15:29
14.1 A Conversation with Donald Miller & Steve Taylor
14.2 Hero (2015 Version)

Note: Originally released on CD by Splint Entertainment. Re-issued on cassette and 12-inch vinyl LP by Sounds Familyre Records, March 31, 2015. Both the vinyl and cassette editions were pressed in multiple colors – green, yellow, orange, violet and pink for the former, and red, yellow and “Splint blue” (named for Taylor’s own indie label) for the latter.