I OFFICIALLY DESPISE JAMES TAYLOR

Don't get me wrong, I officially despise Phil Collins too. But we're talking about James Taylor right now.

By the way Fritz, after recess, it's your turn to clean the erasers. I've GOT DIBS ON THE TETHERBALL!

Yeah, well I have it on pretty good authority that he *HATES YOUR SKINNY WHITE ASS TOO*, so be prepared for a big SWEET BABY JAMES-STYLEEE BEATDOWN when you least expect it, punk, `cos Dad Loves His Work...and hates hatas like yourself!

"HONOR THE FIRE & RAIN!"

(Mod Up Dan Perry: +1 Contrary Asshole)

When I was a little kid my parents had the album 'Sweet Baby James'. And whenever they got it out people would smile in my direction and go "hey, this is for you, sweet baby James. Aaaahh."

And even at the age of 4 that really irritated me.

Man, I love "Fire and Rain" after hearing it in 'Running on Empty', but it would sound even better with a full blown hippy choir joining in on the chorus.

if you despise james taylor you might as well despise bob dylan. that's all I'm saying.

i love james taylor

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go.to/stevek

+2 insightfulness

I know it was all a bit Acid Jazz but James Taylor is a decent organist.

kool and gang backed him up, criteria miami sessions still soulful still unreleased.

such knee-jerk isms above--james taylor is good, a bit self-involved but so what. "mexico" and "don't let me be lonely" are really good.

his voice creates a weird bio-chemical response in me...creating physical sensations of depression and nausea, general off-ness. kind of like car sickness. theres also something about his nostalgic sentimentality that gets me. (cat steven's voice does the same). so i hate the bastard, but can't claim it has anything to do, realy with his merrits or lack thereof.

in general i find the cleanliness of that era of singer-songwriter musics a bit shlocky, but far from hateable. and my love of melanie is documented around here

taylor though can stay as far away as possible from my ears

Haven't heard this new Covers album, but he did a really good version of John Anderson's "Seminole Wind" on Letterman the other night.

taylor is perplexing. he seems like a deeply thoughtful and intelligent man. his music is almost unerringly tasteful, his phrasing can be quite good, his voice is appealing, some of his melodies are really pretty. i watch interviews with him and think, here's a guy that should be making really great, subtle music.

and yet all his thought and intelligence seems to be focused on making music that is often deeply, deeply banal. his lyrics tend towards the unforgivably trite (although he can pull off good turns of phrase when he wants to, it seems), his "conceptual" moves are embarrassingly obvious. what is the deal?

i unofficially despise james taylor

^ that was off the record

he's also an excellent guitiarist

think this guy has been getting a bad rap for years, Mud Slide Slim is a good record and so's Sweet Baby James, it's just that he does his own thing and it's low-key and unaggressive and what little darkness there is in it is tempered by this deep conviction that life is sweet

near #1 on my list of music that's underrated by music-thinkin cats -- feel like most people's opinions on this dude are way phoned-in

funny thing is, when you look a little bit into James Taylor's background, there's a bunch of darkness there...Fritz otm re: him being a drugged out mental patient...

oh yeah - some of those mellowest 70s records are written during full-on heroin addiction iirc. and like "fire and rain," if you actually give that one a hard listen it's a profoundly sad song. frankly puzzled by people still being dismissive of James Taylor - a lot of the biases that went into the general animus toward him among Thinking Types have rightly been outgrown but it's like JT has to carry the banner for those biases

so basically you officially despite amateurist

don't know much about his music other than what makes me change radio stations but can't hate a dude who was in two lane blacktop

i don't know why taylor should have to have a "dark" side or why we should care whether his personal biography validates that or not. lots of music is really cheerful and not quite as trite as much of his music.

i should say that i make this criticisms in the context of "rediscovering" some of his albums and getting a reasonable amount of enjoyment out of them.

i guess it's just the disjunct between listening to this guy give really thoughtful, inspired answers to interview questions (and the guy has mega-charisma, in a totally strong-and-silent way) and then listening to, i dunno, pick your least-favorite banal JT song here.

but can't hate a dude who was in two lane blacktop

― puff puff post (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Monday, May 2, 2011 5:00 PM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark

well, yeah. actually rewatching that movie inspired this whole "maybe i should try JT again" thing.

also say what you will about the man but damn he was/is good looking.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ErG3tAEqx98/Taik7LBvP5I/AAAAAAAAqn8/EHYptsk_wdY/s1600/James+Taylor+1.jpg

"don't even try it or i'll cut you..."

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/A1W0JUZFT1L._SL600_.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_D0i7UC9UY&feature=related

if the singer's voice itself tells half the story, JT's delivery is so well-articulated and non-specific that we miss out on the personality required to get hooked into it. it's like a report of a song instead of the song itself. there's just no purchase there, the brain slides helplessly off its smooth surfaces. which is a shame because he wrote some good songs (as dave q mentions way up there in re: elvis live in hawaii)

i don't know why taylor should have to have a "dark" side or why we should care whether his personal biography validates that or not. lots of music is really cheerful and not quite as trite as much of his music.

he doesn't have to, he just does and like I said it's not a "dark side" it's that there are these tempered bits of darkness - in a way, I think he's a realist, and that's why he's popular - he writes songs that are a lot like the average life: largely pleasant, not without significant trials and the occasional real glimpse of grief but overall a good thing to be enjoyed - he kinda hits all those bases in "that's why I'm here" actually!

dude is also one of the nicest ppl on Earth

anyone like alex? or liv? or kate? i don't much...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9FaUdKL6VE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I83fzex4TmE&feature=related

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Brh-_4zmOmc&feature=related

Gage O.: Lester Bangs's ghost? Taylor shouldn't be in the Rock and Roll HOF (he's not alone there), but "Fire and Rain," "Something in the Way She Moves," and "Carolina on My Mind" are close to as good as early-'70s singer-songwriter gets. "Fire and Rain"'s harrowing.

Gage O.: Lester Bangs's ghost? Taylor shouldn't be in the Rock and Roll HOF (he's not alone there), but "Fire and Rain," "Something in the Way She Moves," and "Carolina on My Mind" are close to as good as early-'70s singer-songwriter gets. "Fire and Rain"'s harrowing.

- clemenza

I feel the same way about him. Not brilliant and many of his compositions are downright offensive in their corniness but those 3 songs are pretty good. I've had 'something in the way she moves' stuck in my head all morning.

love the hammond people

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_5csvww0fY

Surely there are worse culprits than the otherwise inoffensive James Taylor!
― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, October 28, 2002 5:41 PM (8 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Was really surprised to scroll down and see this tame Alex in NYC post! Expected furious vitriol, tbh.

seek the funny people outtake where seth rogen is improvising some questions to j.t. and j.t. is batting them right back, making adam sandler laugh

Further evidence that I am not, in fact, a two-dimensional cartoon character.

So that brings the evidence count to...2?

near #1 on my list of music that's underrated by music-thinkin cats -- feel like most people's opinions on this dude are way phoned-in

― five gone cats from Boston (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Monday, May 2, 2011 4:36 PM (1 year ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

whats the dopest james taylor record #seriousq

nb my dad used to play this song out & i liked it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWeaO4ZobeA

i was also wondering this after reading 'girls like us'. joni and carly can't both be wrong.

His Apple debut has three songs I love: the original versions of "Something in the Way She Moves" and "Carolina on My Mind," and "Circle Round the Sun." The two big LPs after that have lots of good stuff, some of it well known, some not. I understand why, in the context of when he wrote it, Lester Bangs went off on James Taylor--it was 1971, the post-Beatles '70s were starting to take shape, and some of the critics who were aligning themselves with the singer-songwriter wave were dismissing Led Zeppelin and glam and such in the process. Forty years later, that doesn't seem all that important.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rtr5ehjihNU

Ha, I was just thinking about this yesterday while reading the neil young bio Shakey. Apparently him and Linda Ronstadt contributed harmonies to something on Harvest and I was like "maybe I'll have to check out some James Taylor."

Sweet Baby James is pretty essential - it's got "Fire and Rain." If you've ever lost anybody, but especially to death, that song can really be there for you at the right time - a remarkable accomplishment in tone and feeling imo. One thing that can be challenging w/Taylor if if you have a great love for Motown and/or blues, he pretty unabashedly does this "well, I'm a super-white dude who digs this tune so here's what it sounds like coming from a super-white dude" and it can be jarring - I hated his take on "Handyman" back when but he's one of those dudes who once you've sorta developed a taste for his schtick you're able to cut him loads of slack. Check also Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon, JT ("Your Smiling Face" is an all time jam imo). That's Why I'm Here from '85 is really good though I don't know if it's diggable unless you're already into his whole deal, I find "That's Why I'm Here" really moving and "Only A Dream in Rio" has a terrific melody

Sweet Baby James is def a great album

imagine being a rich, drunk, stupid bitch all the time

he doesn't have to imagine

Shower the people, y'all.

LMAO