Liver - Steve Taylor

One listen to this CD and you know why Steve Taylor is both a popular and a controversial performer. The hook-laden "Jim Morrison's Grave" shows that the man and the band can rock. "The Lament of Desmond R.G. Underwood-Frederick IV" shows that he can infuse heavy music with a sense of humor that is arch, sarcastic, and intelligent. So it goes through the CD, with Taylor's engaging stage banter creating a sense of what the show was really like on that particular night. His Christian outlook is expressed passionately and without a hint of the pompousness that mars most god rock for the average listener, and it's a shame that so many minds were closed to any hint of religious sensibility that this album was overlooked. The anthemic closer, "Violent Blue," is one of the greatest songs ever written on the topic of boy meets girl who is so wrapped up in herself that she doesn't notice, and you have to wonder why it wasn't a hit. Liver is a great album, one of the rare releases that is smart, literate, passionate, and really rocks. ~ Richard Foss, All Music Guide