Languid Guitar Playing, Singing From Taylor
Mick Taylor, the man who in the ‘60s succeeded Eric Clapton and Peter Green in John Mayall’s seminal Bluesbreakers and spent the first half of the ‘70s with the Rolling Stones, displayed none of the passion of either group at the House of Blues on Wednesday. Leading a band of veteran sidemen, the 51-year-old guitarist delivered a tepid set of classic tunes and new material that nearly eradicated the memory of his finer supporting roles.
He languidly, if expertly, finger-picked through such hoary crowd-pleasers as Muddy Waters’ “You Shook Me” and Mississippi Fred McDowell’s ‘You Gotta Move,” croaking in an undistinguished voice that was hardly serviceable even for the blues. Further hampered by the band’s side-of-the-road treatments, not even Taylor’s liberal slide work could ignite the 90-minute set.
The tunes from Taylor’s recent European release, “A Stones Throw,” proved as watery and slick as any ersatz modern blues artist’s. These mid-tempo rockers and ballads were so utterly beige that it was almost a relief when the players went back to bludgeoning the classics.
The most interesting turn came with Taylor’s closing choice--if not the actual execution--of Bob Dylan’s “Blind Willie McTell.” That selection did reveal the band’s ability to actually put some spirit into what was otherwise a fire-free performance.
