In late 2020, Cory Taylor declared he must be stopped with the release of his debut solo album. Whilst the album had its issues, it was still a fun romp and even now, I’ll stick it on for when I want a fix of up-tempo rock. CMFB…Sides comes as a surprise announcement as Taylor adds another release to his solo catalogue in the form of everyone’s favourite type of EP – odds and sods. Taking acoustic renditions of his solo album, live versions and a handful of covers, he’s got all the bases, well, covered.
The Metallica Blacklist, albeit this was one of the highlights of that. It’s still an addictive romp laden with punk fury and with the subject matter, sounds downright vicious in Taylor’s hands. Indeed, given the collection of songs found here, no other track would be better suited to kick off.
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Elsewhere, “Kansas” and “Halfway Down” from the solo album are stripped down to acoustic numbers. The former may have been one of the album’s high points but in this incarnation, with its twanging and diving headfirst into country territory to underline the song title, there’s a feeling that he did the song a disservice in its original form. Indeed, the acoustic rendition’s less-is-more approach serves the track well, more mature sonically and would have made for greater variation to the album. Likewise, the latter is more assured and holds the same similarities, albeit without the deviation into country.
The medley of “Home” and the bombastic “Zzyzx” hold up the live part of the deal. As “Home” is introduced by Taylor, it has more heft to it, putting even more of him into the performance and coupled with the reverb in the live recording, the ethereal ambience found on the track is elevated. Similarly, Red Rider’s “Lunatic Fringe” is reinterpreted into an acoustic number but like “Zzyzx”, it’s every bit as grandiose. Not quite as punchy as Toque’s version, its calming yet bouncy melody walks at a brisk pace for one of the most captivating tracks on the EP.
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Much like the debut album, it’s a fun listen and this one aims for those moments of “I can’t decide what to listen to, I’ll stick this on”, gifting you with nine different tracks, some of which will likely be familiar to even the most casual music fan. With its shiny, glossy production and the tracklist pieced together from a few sources, it would be easy to call this a shallow listen. Thankfully, Taylor’s own vocals anchor it in reality but CMFB…Sides, like most similar releases are for the die-hard fans.
CMFB…Sides is released on 25th February
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