For some artists the end of the global pandemic acted as a kind of “great reset”, a moment of rebirth, regeneration and renewed vigour, and that was certainly the case with James Taylor. Not only has he hooked up with his former band mates in The Prisoners, but he’s also been busy recording with Billy Childish. It’s been a welcome burst of activity and the juiciest fruit from his current endeavours gets released via his jazz/funk project, the James Taylor Quartet. Never an artist to remain stagnant means that latest album Hung Up On You finds James and band forging forwards whilst paying homage to an illustrious past.

Opening with a white hot blast of ‘77-styled power pop, on hearing the first (and title) track you might think you’ve come into the wrong room and stumbled upon the latest album by the Buzzcocks. Awash with lovely and warm retro organ and wrapped up in an irrepressible beat, it’s an addictive, earwormy slice of rock that’ll immediately spike your interest for the rest of the record and what follows are ten diverse cuts that are stitched together by their own eclecticism. Born from the Medway scene, James Taylor’s musical schooling was very much influenced by the mod subculture and when it comes to music, that’s probably the best education you can have. It’s a musical lineage that includes jazz, funk, soul, garage and the aforementioned power pop and they all come into play here. It’s an approach best exemplified by ‘She Dreams In Crimson’ and the following ‘Chicken Leg’, the former being a Nuggets bomb of proto-punk, the latter a Stax-inspired, Hammond-heavy workout and while there’s little sonic similarity between the two, they nestle together nicely and make for easy bedfellows. It’s an approach that ensures Hung Up On You ululates like an old school album, it ebbs and flows, lifting the listener up one moment, then dropping us down the next, the loud acting as a foil for the quiet, meaning that when the more raucous cuts like ‘Miss Your Life’ kick in, it is with some force.

This is the first album where James Taylor has sung lead vocals and aside from being long overdue, he’s brought a musical suss to the mic stand. Like all good musicians he understands that sometimes it is not what you play, but what you don’t, he doesn’t feel the need to sing on every song and presenting ‘Small Thing’ instrumentally is exactly the right move for that track and it is the bringing of all his experience to bear that makes it, and the whole of Hung Up On You, a triumph.

• Hung Up On You is released via JTI Records on 25th October 2024.
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Track List:

1. Hung Up On You
2. She Dreams In Crimson
3. Chicken Leg
4. Feet On The Ground
5. Miss Your Life
6. Perche Non Vai Da Lui
7. Put Your Hands Up
8. Small Thing
9. My My My
10. The 4th Dimension
11. My Wife