There’s something quietly defiant about a career retrospective that doesn’t start at the beginning. Like its predecessor from 2023, “Anthology II” runs in reverse chronological order, opening with Julian Taylor’s most recent singles and working backwards through a catalogue that refuses to sit still. It’s a choice that suits him. This isn’t about nostalgia. It’s about continuity.
Straight out of the gate, “Hunger” sets the tone: gorgeous, laid-back acoustics and a warmth that pulls you in, even if the sentiment about never knowing hunger lands with a bittersweet sting. That sense of empathy — of looking outward — runs deep here. “Don’t Let ’Em (Get Inside of Your Head)”, track two, leans more bluesy and even psychedelic, drifting rather than pushing, and features Jim James of My Morning Jacket, whose presence feels entirely natural — a kindred spirit rather than a stunt guest. The pairing works because it serves the song first. Then “Dedication” lands a quiet knockout blow, underlining just how beautiful — and how overlooked — great harmonies have become.
There’s groove too. “Tulsa Time” swaggers with funky, CCR-flavoured ease, while “Ain’t Life Strange” meanders beautifully, Taylor wandering through the song rather than marching it toward a conclusion. On “Pathways”, there’s a sense that whatever life throws at him, he’s ready — which makes “Weighing Down” hit harder still, its plea to be kind to yourself feeling earned rather than instructed.
This collection keeps revealing new shades. “Wide Awake” confirms that this is a timeless body of work, before “100 Proof” brings a real back-porch intimacy. “Stolen Lands” is where the temperature shifts — taking issue with Woody Guthrie as it tells an Indigenous story, and sounding genuinely angry for the first time. It’s bracing, necessary, and powerful.
There’s cinematic darkness to “The Ridge”, while “Emily” takes us back to Julian Taylor’s Blank Tape Levy days. From there, the anthology digs deeper into his alt-rock past with Staggered Crossing, and it’s here that everything locks into place. There’s jangle on “Under Circumstances Like These”, grit and urgency elsewhere, and a clear sense that Taylor subscribes to the same belief I do: there are only two kinds of music — good and bad. Genres don’t matter. Songs do.
That refusal to sit still continues. “Grow” surprises with an almost hard-rock edge, even flashing touches of The Police, while “What You Were Yesterday” heads somewhere unexpected again. I never imagined we’d be using the word grunge here, but we are — and Pearl Jam fans would absolutely find something to love. “Photograph” slows things down, lugubrious and surprisingly heavy, before “A Million Works Of Art” leans into warmth and emotion, carrying unmistakable Counting Crows flavours.
Elsewhere, “Further Again” is quite superb, driven by a properly catchy chorus, while “To Catch A Fever” feels more involved and layered. The closing “Living On 45”, kept acoustic, feels deliberate — a signpost of what’s to come, a bridge rather than a full stop.
After more than 25 years of music-making — from the formative alt-rock of Staggered Crossing, through Blank Tape Levy, to the genre-blending Julian Taylor Band — you’d get a gold clock in another job. Julian Taylor, though, is a lifer. A music lifer.
This isn’t a victory lap, and it’s not a history lesson. It’s a reminder of what happens when you follow the songs wherever they want to go, ignore the lines people try to draw around genre, and trust the work to speak for itself.
This matters. And “Anthology II” proves exactly why.
RATING: 9/10
