James Taylor Album Reviews

With his warm voice, pretty guitar-picking, and introspective songwriting, James Vernon Taylor was the figurehead of the singer-songwriter movement in the early 1970s. The son of a physician, his four siblings all became professional musicians.

Introduction

Taylor’s 1968 debut album on The Beatles‘ Apple label flopped, despite featuring one of his best songs ‘Carolina In My Mind’. It also featured ‘Something In The Way She Moves’ which inspired the famous George Harrison song. After spending time in rehab for heroin addiction, Taylor joined Warner Brothers for Sweet Baby James, his second album, and hit the big time with a cover story in Time Magazine.

After 1976’s Greatest Hits, Taylor strayed away from folk-influenced music and into generic soft-rock, although in later years he returned to his core style; ‘Copperline’ from 1991’s New Moon Shine is one on his best songs. Taylor was famously married to fellow singer-songwriter Carly Simon. The marriage ended after Taylor provocatively titled an album Dad Loves His Work in response to Simon’s ultimatum that he needed to spend more time with his family.

James Taylor is talented – he has a warm voice, his lyrics are elegant, and his guitar picking is accomplished. He’s rarely shown the ability to deliver convincing work beyond his core skillset of introspective, acoustic, pretty songs. A handful of classic songs like ‘Fire and Rain’, ‘Copperline’, and ‘Carolina In My Mind’ overshadow the rest of his catalogue. As a result, I’ve only covered a handful of his early albums and a compilation.

James Taylor Album Reviews

Favourite Album: Sweet Baby James
Overlooked Gem: James Taylor

James Taylor

james-taylor-debut

1968, 7.5/10
James Taylor played with Danny Kortchmar in Flying Machine in the 1960s. When the band failed to break through to popular success, Taylor spent six months receiving mental health treatment, before relocating to London. Taylor connected with Peter Asher, formerly of Peter and Gordon and now A&R for The Beatles’ Apple Records. Paul McCartney and George Harrison were impressed by Taylor and he became Apple Records’ first non-British act.

Taylor already had a stockpile of songs from his Flying Machine days, although ‘Carolina in My Mind’ was a new composition. It was inspired by homesickness, while the “holy hosts of others” line refers to Harrison and McCartney. Soft rock hadn’t yet been popularised in 1968, and James Taylor lacked the mellow sounds of Taylor’s later catalogue. The tempos are markedly faster, while arranger Richard Anthony Hewson added orchestral passages that invite comparison to The Beatles’ mid-1960s records.

It makes sense that the 1976 re-recordings of the two best-known tracks from James Taylor – ‘Something in the Way She Moves’ and ‘Carolina in My Mind’ – have become the definitive versions because they’re more in step with the rest of his catalogue. But despite the overbearing orchestration and markedly different style, James Taylor is arguably Taylor’s best set of tunes on record with highlights like ‘Knocking ‘Round The Zoo’, ‘Night Owl’, and ‘Rainy Day Man’.

James Taylor was ultimately a false start for Taylor’s career – he was unable to promote it due to heroin addiction, and it’s ended up as a rewarding oddity in his catalogue.


Sweet Baby James

james-taylor-sweet-baby-james

1970, 8/10
James Taylor recorded his debut on The Beatles’ Apple label, but it failed to make him a star, partly because Taylor was spending time institutionalised, trying to break free of his drug habits. Taylor turned these experiences into ‘Fire and Rain’, and re-launched his career with Warner Brothers. Taylor is joined by Carole King on piano, future Eagles’ bassist Randy Meisner, and session musicians Danny Kootch and Ross Kunkel, who steer the record in a country direction, underscored by the album’s opening line “there is a young cowboy/he lives on the range.”

Sweet Baby James is helped immeasurably by the presence of the classic ‘Fire And Rain’, which is the album’s outstanding song. There’s an emotional pull in the lyrics, about the suicide of a friend which shook Taylor out of his own depression, also referencing his and Kootch’s former band The Flying Machine in the final line “Sweet dreams and flying machines in pieces on the ground.” The other key track is ‘Steamroller’, where Taylor demonstrates a sense of humour on a gentle blues parody. There’s also a great cover of the Stephen Foster standard ‘Oh, Susannah’, and solid album tracks like ‘Lo And Behold’, ‘Country Road’ and ‘Anywhere Like Heaven’. The only real filler is the second blues parody ‘Baby Don’t You Loose Your Lip On Me’, while the maudlin ‘Sunny Skies’ makes for uncomfortable listening sometimes.

Sweet Baby James is an effective work and a time capsule of a certain period, even if Taylor lapses into sentimentality too often to allow the album to appeal to music snobs.


Mud Slide Slim (And The Blue Horizon)

james-taylor-mud-slide-slim

1971, 7.5/10
Sweet Baby James made James Taylor a star, and the following year’s Mud Slide Slim finds him already sliding into irrelevant pleasantness. There are no significant lyrics like ‘Fire And Rain’; Taylor is now prepossessed with straight-from-the-genre-handbook subjects of love and lonesome travelling; ‘Riding On A Railroad’, ‘Let Me Ride’, ‘Highway Song’ and ‘Isn’t It Nice To Be Home Again’ are all eligible for the latter category. To give it credit, this record is more sonically adventurous than Sweet Baby James, with wah-wah guitar on the excellent title track, but it slides into cliché too often and it’s often a little insubstantial. Carole King again guests on piano, while Joni Mitchell adds backing vocals on several tracks

Regrettably, Greatest Hits, which has become the quintessential James Taylor album, only includes the sentimentalised cover of King’s ‘You’ve Got A Friend’, meaning that there are some strong songs here that have been unfairly overlooked. The second single was the gorgeous ‘Long Ago And Far Away’, which is far more deserving of recognition, while the funky title track is the album’s highlight. The latter is far too short, only using the memorable “There’s nothing like the sound of sweet soul music to change a young lady’s mind” chorus once, but makes some amends with a lengthy jam at the end.

Even wimpier than Sweet Baby JamesMud Slide Slim is hardly a record to convince James Taylor sceptics, but it’s a solid if often slight addition to his catalogue for his fans.


One Man Dog

james-taylor-one-man-dog

1972, 6.5/10
One Man Dog is a single LP jamming eighteen short tracks into thirty-eight minutes. The obvious reference point is the second side of Abbey Road – One Man Dog is essentially a countrified version of that suite. There are guest stars galore – Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon, and Linda Ronstadt all provide backing vocals, while most incongruously, Mahavishnu Orchestra’s John McLaughlin plays acoustic guitar on ‘Someone’. The final result is unsatisfying as pieces flash by without quite sticking, but it’s a valiant attempt at expanding his sound from Taylor.

One Man Dog has plenty of beautiful songs – the traditional ‘One Morning In May’ is gorgeous, with Ronstadt and Taylor harmonising, while the single was ‘Don’t Let Me Be Lonely Tonight’, slight but pretty. If you’re an awkward white boy like me, you’ll dig the album’s opening lines; “Do believe I’m gonna clap my hands/Think I might tap my feet.” The suite near the end of the second side with ‘Hymn’ and ‘Fanfare’ is also gorgeous.

One Man Dog is an album that probably appeals to dedicated James Taylor fans – there are plenty of pretty songs, but it’s bewildering with its fast-paced song skeletons and instrumentals.


Walking Man

1974, 6/10
Taylor changed gears in the mid-1970s, moving away from singer-songwriter fare and towards a more polished pop-rock sound. It’s a similar path to contemporaries like Paul Simon and Joni Mitchell, but Taylor’s less equipped for it. Most of his great songs are low-key and personal. As a pop artist he’s less distinctive, even with his charm and melodic sensibility. Walking Man feels uninspired – the cover photo is mundane and the tracklist is skimpy. It was an unsuccessful by Taylor’s standards – it failed to break into the top ten. Paul and Linda McCartney supply backing vocals on ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll is Music Now’ and ‘Let it All Fall Down’.

The title track’s the best-known song on the record – it was written for Taylor’s father, who spent long spells away from home during Taylor’s childhood, serving in the army and working in Antarctica. It like a rare case where Taylor has something to say on this record – song titles like ‘Me and My Guitar’ suggest an artist low on inspiration. It’s fun to hear him cover Chuck Berry’s ‘The Promised Land’, but it’s inessential. The orchestrated ‘Hello Old Friend’ is one interesting moment, leaning even harder into soft-rock than the rest of the record and showcasing Taylor’s smooth vocal.

Even more than One Man Dog, you only need to bother with Walking Man if you’re a hardcore Taylor fan.


Gorilla

1975, 7.5/10
The lacklustre Walking Man indicated that Taylor couldn’t create a satisfying pop album. But Gorilla is much stronger – it enthusiastically embraces pop music, with stronger songs, as well as more humour and energy. Crosby and Nash provide backing vocals on the opener ‘Mexico’, while Randy Newman and Little Feat’s Lowell George also appear.

‘Mexico’ was the lead single, but the best-known track is Taylor’s charming cover of Marvin Gaye’s ‘How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)’, with Carly Simon on backing vocals and virtuoso electric piano from Clarence McDonald.

There are plenty of other solid tracks. ‘Lighthouse’ successfully marries pretty acoustic guitar with a pop sheen. There are memorable love songs like ‘I Was A Fool to Care’ and ‘You Make It Easy’. ‘Sarah Maria’, written for Taylor’s newborn daughter, is pretty.

Gorilla isn’t quite a great album – it’s a little too lightweight – but it’s one of Taylor’s stronger efforts.


In the Pocket

1976, 7/10
In The Pocket was Taylor’s last studio album for Warner Brothers. More than any other album on this page, it breaks Taylor out from his usual singer-songwriter style. It’s less built around guitar than usual, with more variety in texture – Taylor uses electric piano, saxophone, and synths. It’s unusually ambitious, and songs like ‘Daddy’s All Gone’ and ‘Slow Burning Love’ are atmospheric and moody. It’s not quite the masterpiece that Taylor was perhaps aiming for, as the songs are a step down from Gorilla, especially towards the back half of the record, but it’s surprisingly diverse and ambitious.

‘Shower the People’, with Carly Simon on backing vocals, was the album’s hit – it’s always bothered me how Taylor pronounces “the” as “de” here, making the song unnecessarily close to reggae. There’s another effective R&B cover – this time it’s Bobby Womack’s ‘Woman Gotta Have It’. Again, it’s packed with guest stars.

The Stevie Wonder collaboration is a little disappointing, but Art Garfunkel adds harmonies to two of the most ambitious tracks – ‘A Junkie’s Lament’ and ‘Captain Jim’s Drunken Lament’. Taylor is surprisingly bluesy on ‘Money Machine’. ‘Golden Moments’ is one of Taylor’s prettiest tunes, framed in shimmering voice organ and horn organ.

In The Pocket is uncharacteristically ambitious from Taylor, and it’s worth some effort.


Greatest Hits

james-taylor-greatest-hits

1976, 7/10
I’ve always found James Taylor more satisfying in terms of individual songs than in full albums, so you’d figure that a compilation would be a good option. But this 1976 Greatest Hits is a story with two clear halves, the first side with highlights from Taylor’s singer-songwriter days and a more pop-oriented second half. The first side opens with excellent new versions of ‘Carolina On My Mind’ and ‘Something In The Way She Moves’, originally from Taylor’s Apple debut. There are three strong selections from Sweet Baby James, although it’s a shame there’s no space for ‘Long Ago And Far Away’ or ‘Mud Slide Slim’ from Mud Slide Slim.

The second side is bordering on mediocre, with predictable pop fare like ‘Shower the People’ and a slight but charming take on ‘How Sweet It Is’, although Crosby and Nash’s harmonies render ‘Mexico’ enjoyable. The nadir is a live version of ‘Steamroller’, which misses the humour of the original and has Taylor dropping an out-of-character f-bomb.

I’m keeping my copy of Greatest Hits since I’m very fond of ‘Carolina In My Mind’, but I’m not sure if I need to own two James Taylor albums; the debate between keeping the stronger overall Sweet Baby James or Greatest Hits, because it has ‘Carolina In My Mind’, is a dilemma.


JT

1977, 5.5/10
On the back of a successful greatest hits album, JT was a commercial rebound for Taylor. It was his highest-charting album since Mud Slide Slim, and it’s his best seller. Taylor’s backed by most of The Section (Danny Kortchmar, Leland Sklar, and Russ Kunkel), while Carly Simon, Linda Ronstadt, and Leah Kunkel all feature on backing vocals. JT is wildly inconsistent both in style and quality, veering from the nasty blues of ‘Honey Don’t Leave L.A.’ to routine adult contemporary material.

The record starts well with ‘Your Smiling Face’, a propulsive and sophisticated pop song that echoes Van Morrison’s work from the same period. Taylor turns in an agreeably impassioned vocal on Kortchmar’s ‘Honey Don’t Leave L.A.’, while the cover of Jimmy Jones’ ‘Handy Man’ suits his warm voice. Otherwise, JT is an adult contemporary morass; the record’s momentum is immediately destroyed by the placement of ‘There We Are’ as the second track, a pretty adult contemporary piece that’s badly sequenced.

The smooth and sophisticated ‘Your Smiling Face’ is a worthy addition to Taylor’s catalogue, but overall JT is rough going, with a few gems among routine and unremarkable soft-rock.

Ten Favourite James Taylor Songs

Fire And Rain
Carolina In My Mind
Mud Slide Slim
Copperline
Long Ago and Far Away
Your Smiling Face
Steamroller
One Morning In May
Country Road
Only a Dream in Rio

Back to 1970s Album Reviews….

11 Comments

  1. I’m a fan of Mud Slide and Sweet Baby James. They’re always in my best albums of all time lists. But I agree with you that it was pretty much over after those two. Although one man dog had a handful that probably rose to the level of the other two albums. What made the albums great is that there were so many tracks with such high quality melodies. And also the perfection of the musical Arrangements. And just his General musicianship. Recently I read that Carole King, who was on both albums, did much of the arranging on those albums. And I have to say I always noticed that after she no longer was involved with his albums, they suddenly weren’t very great. His albums became typical mediocre 70s studio work. They had none of the flair or quality of the earlier albums. With the exception of the songs Walking Man and Handy Man, he just never did anything excellent again. But then, none of the Great singer-songwriters made it to the end of the seventies. I’ve always wondered why this was so.

    • Carole King’s a very good pianist as well. Taylor does sound best with that acoustic, stripped back sound.

      Does Neil Young count as a great singer-songwriter? The first side of Rust Never Sleeps is pretty great, and Hawks and Doves from 1980 has some good acoustic tracks.

  2. Yeah, I guess he is. I forgot about Neil Young. And he certainly continued to make good music for decades, even though I never listen to anything but his 70s stuff. Even Joni Mitchell had some good stuff through the 90s. Although generally I think that after the 70s she wasn’t half of what she used to be. I kind of like the album Chalk Mark in a Rainstorm. At least half of it is really good.

    • With Young, I feel like his late 1980s and early 1990s comeback suffers in retrospect from being in the CD era – Freedom, Ragged Glory, and Sleeps With Angels are all good 60 minute albums that could have been great 40 minute albums.

      I don’t know Mitchell’s stuff from the 1980s and 1990s very well – just the Misses compilation. From that, she’s interesting, but not that likeable.

  3. Top 10 songs

    Sweet Baby James
    Suite for 20 G
    Places in My Past
    Love Has Brought Me Around
    Sunny Skies
    Fire and Rain
    Mid Slide Slim
    Country Road
    Walking Man
    Riding on a Railroad

    Runners up
    One morning in May
    Long ago and far away
    Highway song
    You’ve Got a Friend
    Blossom

  4. Yeah I have all those albums but other than a few songs they’re not that great. Walking Man I think was his last great song but it’s the only good one on the album. Gorilla has Mexico on it which is pretty good. And the only two later songs after that that I like by him are the covers of Handy Man and Up on the Roof.

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Aphoristic Album Reviews is almost entirely written by one person. It features album reviews and blog posts across a growing spectrum of popular music.

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Graham Fyfe has been writing this website since his late teens. Now in his forties, he's been obsessively listening to albums for years. He works as a web editor and plays the piano.

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