Greenbelt Festival Review
Buzz Magazine (England)
October 1984
Page 33 (Excerpted)
On the Saturday mainstage, after a couple of proficiently anonymous bands (well, they have names but no definable character) there appears the first gen-u-wine sensation of the weekend.
In fact, apart from certain highlights of Philip Bailey's Sunday performance which run him a close second, this man is the ace deal in thew hole deck: the performer that really makes it worth the while to be on site.
Wolfhound
He is Steve Taylor.
Born in California, raised in Colorado, arriving on the Greenbelt stage like a wolfhound amonst dinosaurs.
Physically he's lean, angular, fast. All over the place on stage; always pushing and pumpking. Vocally he's strong, aggressive, or sometimes sort of snidey, whimsical.
Not a pretty singer (not a pretty boy) but always cutting through; never limp.
Lyrically, there isn't a dull song in his book. And not a cliche in evidence; he writes like he looks, like he moves, like he thinks. With personal conviction.
Musically he's mostly up and urgent; of a generation that draws on the likes of Bowie, Clash and Costello, but with his own twist.
He has a good, tight, sharp hand. He is nothing less than a star--if he wants to be. His current album is 'Meltdown' on Sparrow Records. I suggest you buy a copy immediately.
Two other 'star turns' followed Taylor onto the mainstage: Britain's Andy Piercy then America's Larry Norman.
Each received his appropriate level of ovation and didn't do me any great harm, but I wasn't really enthralled by either; not in the wake of Taylor.
