I OFFICIALLY DESPISE JAMES TAYLOR

FWIW, this was the reference CD-R I compiled for Taylor. Sequenced in more or less chronological order. (no re-recordings or live versions)

1. Knockin' Round the Zoo
2. Something in the Way She Moves
3. Carolina in My Mind
4. Night Owl
5. Rainy Day Man
6. Sweet Baby James
7. Steamroller
8. Country Road
9. Fire and Rain
10. You Can Close Your Eyes
11. Long Ago and Far Away
12. Chili Dog
13. Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight
14. Walking Man
15. Mexico
16. Gorilla
17. You Make It Easy
18. Shower the People
19. A Junkie's Lament
20. Money Machine
21. Your Smiling Face
22. Another Grey Morning
23. Secret O' Life
24. Handy Man

No copperline huh

Eh, come on! It's not nostalgia! This suggests passivity. Trust your intelligence. You hear these bros' good qualities.

"Copperline"'s all right (so is "Her Town Too" FWIW) but I'm still fine leaving them off. I'm not a big James Taylor fan - I dislike most of his stuff, but there was enough I was drawn to that warranted a reference.

One reason I kept it a sharp cut off after JT was just to have a disc that could trace his development over that length of time, or at least what I thought was the better part of it, especially while the singer-songwriter movement was at its peak with Taylor being representative of it. Sometimes I like hearing a chronological comp for that reason, so I kept it concentrated on those first eight albums.

I've been listening to his 1968 debut album and experiencing a big disconnect between his writing/singing/playing style (which I'd say is fully developed at 20, even if he'd write better songs later) and the psychedelic production trappings. Weird interludes between tracks, "crazy" overdubbed screaming, varispeeded backing vocals, even the bass and drum sounds don't fit with the "tasteful" latter-day James.

birdistheword, you have a greater love for his uptempo songs than I do. Stuff like "Knockin' Round the Zoo" and "Steamroller" sound too cute and showcase his weaknesses more than the ballads do.

Apparently him and Linda Ronstadt contributed harmonies to something on Harvest

He sang and played on Neil Young's two biggest hits, and I just realized that, as far as I know, they never collaborated again before or since.

Every second and every detail of "Fire and Rain" is brilliant.

My favourite detail is the arco bass holding on a pedal C for the entire third verse.

Just wait. In twenty years, the members of ILXOR 2022 will be posting to a thread called I OFFICIALLY DESPISE PHIL COLLINS...and saying the same damn things we're saying about JT now.

It actually seems that despising old music is seen as tedious here, these days.

He sang and played on Neil Young's two biggest hits, and I just realized that, as far as I know, they never collaborated again before or since.

This came about--like the rest of the initial Harvest session in Nashville--because the three of them were in town to film an appearance on the Johnny Cash Show. A snowstorm came in, preventing their return to LA, so studio time was quickly booked at Elliott Mazer's studio with an equally hastily-assembled backing band (who only turned out to be the Stray Gators) and we all know what happened next...

BTW, "Old Man" is/was the only instance of JT playing banjo on a record.

I can't say it's a great album, but I think his Apple debut is more interesting than most, maybe all, of his records. I think it's underrated in the sense that Taylor has openly expressed his reservations about it and it isn't consistently available - after a pretty good 2010 CD reissue, the physical release has again fallen out-of-print. (At least you can still stream it.) IIRC Taylor even mentions in recent interviews that he still cringes when he hears some of the production elements of that album. The interludes weren't his idea - I think Paul McCartney may have suggested them - and the album feels too ornate, but I don't think it was necessarily a bad idea, just overdone in spots. I also think he wrote a surprising number of strong songs for that album, and it kind of makes sense he would want to revisit them later. Not just for practical reasons like avoiding any licensing for his Greatest Hits - I think he really wanted new versions that suited his own tastes.

Halfway, with regard to those two songs, I kind of gravitated towards them because lyrically the former seems like one of his more harrowing songs diving into his own struggles and I actually appreciate the humor behind "Steamroller." I can see how they can seem a bit cute, especially the former, but they've always been more interesting or engaging to me than a lot of his other work. I do think both songs benefit from their original context, specifically the time they were released. I mentioned earlier that I kept my reference chronological for a reason, and this is partly why. I always keep in mind the counterculture when I hear those early songs, and though the production may be too much, it does keep the times in mind, including the drug experimentation that became harmful to that scene. When we shift into the Sweet Baby James songs, they sound better coming after those initial cuts for a lot of reasons: it's clearer why the stripped down production is so groundbreaking for a hit, mainstream album, the idea of the singer-songwriter movement being tied to the fallout from the '60s becomes clearer, and something like "Steamroller" suggests that Taylor came out of his struggles with his sense of humor intact. (It also reminds me that the overdone second-hand blues he was ribbing was fairly popular at that time.)

Imagine having that many thoughts about that album

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

he doesn't have to imagine

Shower the people, y'all.

LMAO