Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

To the Outsider looking in, the world is not just a mad, obscene, and quite often ridiculous place, it is the source of all the wealth of inspiration and creative encouragement they need in which to place before those inside the bubble of insecurity and bid them the spur in which to change the world.

However, it is in that madness that the insiders dwell and party as though there is no tomorrow, and for all the beauty, all the demanding truth you lay at their door, inside the bubble of insanity, inhabited by no moral gangsters, charlatans and fake messiahs and gods, they continue listening to only their over inflated opinions and irrational brainstorming insight.

It takes an outsider to recognise the path that those inside have built from chaos, and whilst the definition of outsider might vary from person to person, to feel it, is to understand it, and it takes courage to not only admit that you are the stranger, but that to acknowledge that even if you could penetrate the bubble, you would not enjoy the view, that you would wish to retreat away from the confusion, that you would sing defiance against the turmoil caused by the money laundering racketeers who profit from all but who disavow their responsibility from society.

It is a theme, a message perhaps from one of the rebels of his age, who despite his own personal fame as one of the biggest and much loved bands of all time, still comes across as a human being who dislikes the status quo of allowing men and women in sharp suits and with parasitic ambitions to match, the privilege of being in charge, a cool rebel perhaps, certainly someone with a voice and an attitude to match.

For Roger Taylor and his new studio album, Outsider, the shift from his 2013 release Fun On Earth is arguably not initially seen as being different, but once you step inside the space he has created, once tracks such as I Know I Know I Know, Gangsters Are Running This World, Isolation, the shot from left of field in The Clapping Song, Absolutely Anything and Journey’s End all leave their sizeable impression on the listener, then the aural voyeur is given all the proof they need in which to down tools and see the world, not as they believe that they are sheltered from the collapsing storm in the bubble, but they are the ones who will suffer for this folly of allowing well paid hoodlums the crown in exchange for all our lives.

We are on the brink of losing what matters most to us, not only is it time to stop pretending to be on the inside looking out, but it is also time to finally admit, it is only outside of the bubble that it all makes sense. The Outsider in us all lays thanks to Roger Taylor for reminding us of that.

Ian D. Hall