Elaine Taylor Solo > Live @ Crush Recorded Date: November, 2003 Label: Catch Me Music Rating: Andy doesn't dig rating stuff. Who knew that Crush would provide such a light and delicate-sounding recording? I was surprised by this disc's quality a lot - it was the second thing I noticed about Elaine Taylor. I've watched live music in Crush before, and it's by no means a bad place to do so, but this comes off sounding like a dimly-echoed, crystal-clear concert hall. In reality, it's a smallish, swanky lounge space. You can hear the room breathe in this live recording - it's beautiful. So, that's brilliant regardless of anything else. The first thing, though, that I noticed about Elaine Taylor is her incredibly unique, full-bodied voice. Sometimes it's very low, sometimes she swings up to a high lilt. She sings with a very well-enunciated quality, rolling R's out and spitting out hard vowels, and tells grand stories through her songs. It's just her and an acoustic guitar whispering and soaring through eight charming folk songs, each one with a different vibe. There's songs like "Weekend Thing," which playfully look at the simple joys of life. There's songs like "Four Kings," which, as described in her liner notes, was originally a poem written for her that she enjoyed so much, she turned it into a song. And songs like "Changing Of The Time," that delve deeper into her mind. She attacks these songs quite cerebrally - it's easy to tell she's well-spoken and well-educated in all things 'art.' For being a collection of songs with the same voice and instrument, of similar tempo, they all manage to stand out. This debut disc from the Vancouver-based singer-songwriter shows a lot of promise for future work. Lyric of Choice : Maybe later I'll stroll just in reach/ of that place where I meet/ your extraordinary point of view.... Song Of Choice : "Changing Of The Time" -Andy Scheffler Elsewhere Elaine Taylor website Published : May 27, 2004.