I OFFICIALLY DESPISE JAMES TAYLOR

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go.to/stevek

But the fact that people find relation to his stylings just adds to my "zombie class" theory of human nature. ha!

he was on the simpsons, too. they made a joke about 'former president james taylor!' but i didn't get it at all. i still don't. then buzz aldrin said, 'with all due respect, mr. taylor, this isn't the best time for your unique brand of bittersweet folk rock.' he came up with the idea to blast the ants out into space by opening the door. he saved their lives, kind of. so, he's a hero.

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go.to/stevek

James Taylor is the Applebees of folk/pop music. It's so bland and non-offensive that it's the worst thing on Earth. And all those fucking "Big Chill" generation baby boomers can take their fucking James Taylor and their fucking "You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman" and their Champagne fucking brunches and have a nice fucking day, thank you.

I said good DAY sir!

He played acoustic guitar yes? That's a black mark.

He played acoustic guitar yes? That's a black mark.
Not necessarily. Some people can do amazing and uplifting things with an acoustic guitar. James Taylor just happens to not be one of them.

Also, he played 'The Driver' in '71 road/drug flick Two-Lane Blacktop which is classic.

He wrote and sang backup on one of George Jones' most beautiful songs!

I mean I hear what you're saying, but it's a little obvious. Wyld peppermouthed youngsters would be better off eating at the curry shop cross the street than the nursing home cafeteria, sooo-prize soo-prize!

.still better than a gas chamber...

but james taylor didn't DO YOU SEE!!!

You prefer Jimmy Buffett, Lord Custos--you are IN-saaaaane.

You prefer Jimmy Buffett, Lord Custos--you are IN-saaaaane.
Face it: "Why Do We Get Drunk and Screw" is loads better than anything James Taylor ever did.

For example, I used to utterly despise Burt Bucharach when I was a teenager...I dated this girl who loved him, and couldn't stand it. But I was listening to the Ruins at the time!

Years later, I just bought the Bacharach box set. It's terrific, ingenius pop music.

But I've listened to James Taylor intermittenly throughout my life, and every time I hear it, I instantly blurt out "jesus fucking christ, this is the crappiest fucking bullshit on the fucking planet! Jesus!" Even in front of the elderly.

Yes,yes. Plus he was married to Carly Simon. But in my usualy consistent thought of Yin-Yang his music makes me ill.

ME TOO!

Lord Custos, WXPN is far from perfect. Now back in the old days, before some point in the little 1980's thast was a fine station. I remember how they used to play an eclectic. . .

I'm going to say this here since it's a stupid thread anyway but this little habit of Lord C's annoys me a ridiculous, beyond-reason amount: more than James Taylor, Phil Collins, anything else on the board or indeed almost anything else I am likely to encounter in my daily life. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARG.

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

Every second and every detail of "Fire and Rain" is brilliant. It came out in February of '70: if you don't object to the arbitrariness of what constitutes a decade, I'd put it right alongside "Whole Lotta Love" (Oct. '69) as the two key gateways into the '70s. (I'm probably forgetting something else.)

This is the only James Taylor I can stomach. He plays a great Lord/huckster.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqHjbowiLPQ

his unapologetic-white-dude-voice is kind of what interests me about him, albeit maybe not on Motown covers per se

some dude otm

underrated Aerosmith otm too. Just a solid album.

i dunno his new stuff is p cool

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChLJbkfEOp0&feature=player_embedded

reminiscent of

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugRq52VN6G8

No love for Steamroller Blues?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VXr6U-BwMs

I used to think Carolina In My Mind was pure nostalgic pap but lately the song is resonating with me and the lyrics are more interesting than I noticed before.

I read something the other day saying that the next revival would be James Taylor and now here this is. I blame you.

James Taylor wrote some great songs

https://media1.giphy.com/media/V2JcZ0608BfEY/giphy.gif

i continue to dislike the music of james taylor
his lyrics do not resonate with me, i dislike his voice, and the most charitable thing i can say is that he reminds me slightly of Kermit
most loathed song: the one about smothering the people you love with love

I think James Taylor might be the whitest music ever made.

and "Mexico" is certainly the whitest song

just checked into a hotel on the spanish island of fuertaventura

playing in the lobby? james taylor

Say hi to him from ILX

i would but tbh I think i pissed on my chips when i yelled ‘freebird’ at him

Depends. Was he playing Angry Birds?

He's revered in Americana, so don't worry, the revival has been quietly gathering steam for a while. I have no idea what saying that Taylor is the "whitest artist ever" even means, btw. I can't take the guy for more than 10 minutes, but those 10 minutes are often sort of good. "Mexico" is his best song unless it's "Don't Let Me Be Lonely." I always heard the lyric in that one as "Go away, Ben Daniel," as if he were writing in the mode of the Band or something similar in the tune.

the most charitable thing i can say is that he reminds me slightly of Kermit

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WJoU2sTqslM

He's revered in Americana, so don't worry, the revival has been quietly gathering steam for a while. I have no idea what saying that Taylor is the "whitest artist ever" even means, btw. I can't take the guy for more than 10 minutes, but those 10 minutes are often sort of good. "Mexico" is his best song unless it's "Don't Let Me Be Lonely." I always heard the lyric in that one as "Go away, Ben Daniel," as if he were writing in the mode of the Band or something similar in the tune.

― eddhurt, Tuesday, February 6, 2018 12:11 PM (one minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Whitest music* ever. Like his work embodies all of the cliche lazy comedian old white people music qualities: stiff, safe, inoffensive etc.

For me it's the most direct audio association to the image of a bunch of old rich white people in the suburbs snapping their fingers and bobbing their heads down at the local concert hall.

whitest comment ever

How old are you, Evan?

my soul or my body?

For me it's the most direct audio association to the image of a bunch of old rich white people in the suburbs snapping their fingers and bobbing their heads down at the local concert hall.

― Evan,

this could be a Metallica or Arcade Fire show tbh

Xp /r/lewronggeneration?

anyway, I was thinking about how Carolina in My Mind turns kind of dark in the last verse -- dogs that bite, omens, dark side of the moon, seems like it goes on like this forever, so that "going to Carolina in My Mind" seems to change from a metaphor for homesickness and nostalgia to a metaphor for slipping away from a sound mental state.

or could also be nodding from heroin

still cheesy, not sold

not a fan by any means but the song "late for the sky" is tops

The fact that he was a narcissistic self-absorbed junkie for years and years does tend to be overlooked.

that just makes him seem even more predictable imo

Inspired by this thread I'm listening to the LPs for the first time... with the caveat that my parents love this guy so his music was all over the place growing up. My dad never sings along to anything but he sings along to James Taylor.

The first truly bad moment on the first album was "Oh Baby, Don't You Loose Your Lip on Me". Embarrassing.

Two-Lane Blacktop made me appreciate him more but his music remains a bridge too far.

i trust those who tell me he's got dark corners to explore and interesting veins to mine if you look close enough but my bête noire is this exact type of '70s singer/songwriter folk, the comedown tracks on Freedom Rock type shit, in which the edges are mostly sanded off (to my ears.)

i like a couple of his standards but I mostly get a full of himself vibe. And the one time we saw him at a Bridge School Benefit he took a very imperious tone with the stagehands & it turned me off

i feel bad for those that have to sit through him at a live show to get to carole king THE G.O.A.T.

well yeah, he's no carole king for sure

I mean I grew up really detesting him, but I've been on a challenge-my-taste kick

dare I tackle John Denver next?

I prefer him to James Taylor tbf.

i can handle a decent taste-challenge but that doesn't include interest in james taylor. his music is boring.

listen to this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQnHAb_6sOs

i like john denver!!

For me it's the most direct audio association to the image of a bunch of old rich white people in the suburbs snapping their fingers and bobbing their heads down at the local concert hall.

this is really weird; I grew up in North Carolina and my primary association with James Taylor is "grew up in North Carolina and probably attended UNC"

(this also doubles as my excuse for really liking James Taylor)

in fact his dad was the dean of the UNC school of medicine

playing in the lobby? james taylor

― i gotta be a gazpacho man (bizarro gazzara), Tuesday, February 6, 2018 4:33 PM (two hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

You know you're going to have to liveblog this

he is the essence of "large family vacation on the outer banks"

and i don't despise him but i don't see a possibility of liking his music in my future

TBH that sounds really appealing to me, I think I'm goin
goin
goin to carolina in my mind

xxpost, I also grew up in North Carolina & have a soft spot for JT despite forced exposure during my teens.

I hate him so much that flames flames one the sides of my face.

I have an irrational hatred for him and I've never been able to articulate why. Yes, he's boring as shit but so are lots of people and I don't hate them. I can't listen to or watch him for even a couple seconds. My co-worker/friend had a babby last year and named him James in part because of JT and so I've been calling him JT2 ever since. Not to her though.

james taylor: better than shag dancing

it's weird because I have an irrational hatred for everything else that falls under the "southern fraternity tailgate" category but not this

My wife attended a JT concert where she was next to a wasted dude who kept wanting the people in the row in front of them to sit down. Apparently he wanted to sit down for the show. During "Shower the People" wasted dude starting trying to light peoples' hair on fire, with some success.

That's the second most vivid music memory I haven't directly experienced. Number one would be a guy who saw someone killed in a bar fight while "Long Cool Woman" was on the jukebox.

I grew up in Massachusetts and always associated the Taylor clan with Cape Cod. Livingston showed up on local TV a lot, looking overwhelmed by life. But I'm in NC now and the "large family vacation" associations are spot on. Seems pretty malleable for anywhere on the east coast, or even lake cottages further inland, provided there are well-worn sweaters and boxes of chardonnay.

did James Taylor ever rock out? is there a lost or "weird period" album of his with synths or swamp rock style guitar?

wait that song is actually called "shower the people"?!
ugh

sweaters + booze otm
at the far end: matching outfits for photo shoots on the beach

All this stuff is so exotic to me as a northeast lifer jew with nerdy parents. I think JT might be the most goyish non-Nashville music.

it's not familiar to me either, aside from pictures i see of other people's vacations

fairly or unfairly i file him along w/Harry Chapin and other sincerecore folk types which remind me of my childhood, raised on such music all the damn time.

i mentally filed him in the same folder as jimmy buffett

> did James Taylor ever rock out?

Doesn't he belt "motherfucker" Blueshammer style at the end of a bluesy number. It it called Steamroller? I do not want to check.

I've never listened to any James Taylor other than what I've heard on the radio but he was apparently _the_ nice guitar-playing sensitive man of my mom's peer group and she definitely had a crush on him

I'm sure if he ever "rocked out" it'd still be appropriate as background music for any typical dentist's office waiting room

xp I never looked it up to correlate, but apparently his breakthrough album came out around the time she was graduating high school

I should have known

jimmy buffett only + emo, +family

one time in early hs i went to a church youth group weekend with my friends. i was not a member of the group, i just wanted to meet new people, spend the weekend away from home.
we were asked to sing "you've got a friend" at the beginning and end of the weekend. i found it extremely embarrassing since i only knew my 2 friends i had gone to the retreat with and had a hard time singing "you've got a friend" to a bunch of total strangers, or feeling any feelings that they were singing it to me. i had exactly 2 friends there, singing wasn't going to change anything. that wasn't even the dumbest part of the retreat, and i tried to get over my dislike of the experience but it did not fade!

I didn't want to but it did look it up

http://www.infinitelooper.com/?v=kfzMLRzH2yw&p=n#/312;323

at the far end: matching outfits for photo shoots on the beach

― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Tuesday, February 6, 2018 2:48 PM (eleven minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

^ I also have an irrational hatred for these.

I drive by Maclean Hospital pretty often and every time I do he pops into my head and I get angry. Ugh.

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

Oh no the semi-colon in that link subjects you to the whole five minutes, let's try this again

http://www.infinitelooper.com/?v=kfzMLRzH2yw&p=n#/312;323

James taylor looks like a slightly miffed Richard Jenkins when he's rocking out

i am not moved by that rendition of road runner
it's nice that he is having fun -- i just have a hard time thinking that "james taylor is having a good time" is reason enough to get over how much i can't stand his music

he looks a little like ian mackaye there

At the bar last weekend there was some 70s playlist going and JT’s “mexico” played along side Steely Dan’s “night by night.” Same planet, different worlds.

I hate "Mexico" fwiw

I officially despise this song!

I still only know that one from National Lampoon's Vacation.

You're in for a treat.

TBF "You've Got a Friend" is a Carole King song, not JT. Having grown up with a family who played a lot of JT I have to admit I have a liking for quite a few of his songs - "Carolina In My Mind" (quite a dark song as mentioned upthread), "Sweet Baby James", "Millworker" et al. When he's anodyne he grates, but there's something more there.

as was noted somewhere upthread, he's a first-rate guitarist

he's seen rain

what is that "something more"? i feel like he is that guy who is given the benefit of the doubt for being smarter and better and more skilled than he really is when he doesn't do anything I can directly identify to show he deserves this generosity.

if it's nostalgia motivating most people's affection for him, that's valid and ok -- but it's subjective and personal and not related to his actual musical output (which has yet to distinguish itself to me)

apols about "you've got a friend" -- the version we had to sing along with was the JT version

I never knew James Taylor was the Outer Banks Jimmy Buffett! my family only ever went vacationing in east central Florida when I was growing up & I don't think they fuck w/Sweet Baby James as much down there

I don't know much of his music aside from the biggest hits; I can't even remember how "You've Got A Friend" goes. His version of "How Sweet It Is" is p decent imo

xp the "something more" is a darkness I perceive in his otherwise-sweet music. I'm occasionally moved by his songs in a way that, say, Billy Joel never does for me, an artist with whom I have the same or even greater familial nostalgia connection.

Adding to what I said five years ago: "Fire and Rain," by itself, is worth more to me than Billy Joel's entire recorded output (it's that perfect, and he's that mediocre).

Yeah I'll never change my mind about Billy Joel. All his attempts at dark just read as butthurt.

I guess I'm also a sucker for that sort of "beneath the surface" stuff, where a song that ostensibly sounds like vanilla lovemaking by the fireplace has some demons lurking in it.

Fire and Rain is the only James Taylor song I know. I think I've mentioned that to people before, and their response was usually something like "surely you know ..." And then they play a song and maybe I recognize it and maybe I don't, but months later, regardless, Fire and Remain remains the only James Taylor song I know. And I only know the chorus, come to think of it! If it came on the radio I don't think I would even recognize it as Fire and Rain. I have a similar problem retaining Jackson Browne, but even with him I know (and can recall) several songs.

I know lots of Billy Joel, I guess. Probably not a single cut not on the hits collection, though. I only know (the) one Jimmy Buffett song. I had a friend back when I was maybe in my very early '20s who was into Buffett, and I asked him, if you're listening to Jimmy Buffett now, what are you going to listen to when you're 50? His answer (duh) was Jimmy Buffett.

Jackson Browne is someone whose voice I can never remember but I know a few of his songs due to Nico and others covering them

as was noted somewhere upthread, he's a first-rate guitarist

― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, February 6, 2018 9:48 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

that's him on joni's "california" and he really makes the song

that's him on joni's "california" and he really makes the song

yeah I've listened to that song a million times and not really noticed his parts

His banjo parts on "Old Man" by Neil Young are pretty iconic

xp obv Joni is the the most important thing about the song, lyrics, vocal, etc. When I say he "makes the song," I don't mean to say "he's the reason the song is good," but just he helps the song stand out among the dulcimer-only songs like "a case of you" or "all I want." He adds a little California sunshine, with the little counter melodies between the verses

No need for sass, matt k

hadn't really paid attention before but I'm listening now and it's cool how they have the dulcimer panned right and hard left and they kind of duel with each other

dulcimer panned right and guitar panned left

apologies for sass, I just have an intense love for that song and specifically the vocal melody

me too! i love everything about the song and i think Taylor's playing adds a lot.

The whole sweet baby James is solid

sweet baby James album, I mean

2 things
1) if he was such an amazing instrumentalist (I believe those of you who say he is), I guess what I don't like about him are a) his songs and b) his voice. I applaud his instrumental prowess and can only wish he had quietly gone about his musical business wordlessly

2) last night i was watching some of those "what's in your bag" amoeba videos and one of the guys from red kross had a james taylor album. the clip they played didn't sound as repulsive as i expected, kind of like heavily produced sunshine pop. so much more palatable than his usual sack of singles. i will admit that i did not hate it. i didn't like it, but i didn't recoil in disgust.

this was the song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oAInzTXu_Y

Ha - I watched TWO-LANE BLACKTOP for the first time last night and nearly fell over when I saw the lead actor. He's pretty affectless and not much of a presence, but the disc includes his screen test with what I'm fairly sure is Joaquin Phoenix pretending to be James, performing the newly-written Riding on a Railroad which is bittersweet brilliant, fuiud
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jgg0ym7O6Rc#t=4m32s

Oh - time link failed to work, jump to 4:32 for the song.

just watched Two-Lane Blacktop for the first time. it was OK, but I liked James Taylor a lot in it. my man's pupils were pinned throughout

James Taylor will win over the grouches eventually. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uQa4dvrg1E

Also a fan of "Carolina in My Mind."

is james taylor the guitar player sitting on the stage in this video?
if so, i revise my assessment of james taylor. i don't like his singing or his songs, but now i have enjoyed his guitar playing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBI669Ac3cg

yes

James Taylor rules and this thread is absolute insanity.

pshaw

That's a beautiful performance

(also, james taylor wrote some great songs)

Terra Nova , come now

Never saw the gatefold art for Flag before--James and his gang look like a bar band that was forced to go 'New Wave'.

https://recordsalbums.com/11430-thickbox_default/james-taylor-flag-vinyl-lp-record-for-sale.jpg

What a douche

He's like 80% on the way to David Byrne in that pic.

he has a full substitute teacher sneer

god i hate him

I've never even really liked this song, but goddamn what a brilliant guitarist
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ws5kp1_iksw

Yup

https://images.45worlds.com/f/ab/james-taylor-flag-3-ab.jpg

https://images.45worlds.com/f/ab/james-taylor-flag-2-ab.jpg

Flag inners of New Wave of JT & band from upthread

hearing this to the tune of "I Think I Can Beat Mike Tyson"

https://i.imgur.com/H5pLovP.png

still hate him

Not really a fan, although I did recently enjoy reading how he was jealous of Mick Jagger, at least partially because of “You’re So Vain,” which humanized him a bit for me, and he did write this, which I never tire of posting:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vAuXP4hIoo

seen fuckin fire and seen fuckin rain

Have you read that book?

someone did Steamroller Blues at a karaoke night once, it was so jarring to realize it was a JT song, even if it's a satire of the blues

Yeah. It kind of works either way, as put-on or not.

https://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/24/books/fire-and-rain-by-david-browne-book-review.html

seen fuckin fire and seen fuckin rain

― Duke Detain (Neanderthal), Sunday, August 29, 2021

not the lyric iirc

Surely Neanderthal is referring to the old joke about the wise guy who makes a request to hear “Strangers in the Night” in 5/4.

seen fuckin fire and seen fuckin rain

Oh, General Motors and IBM
AFL-CIO and all the king's men
When I began the game
See me singing about fire and rain
Let me just say it again
I've seen fives and I've seen tens

(from Taylor's own "Money Machine" - xgau was right, guy had a sense of humor that was nowhere to be seen on his worst yet best-selling hits)

He admits he gave John Lennon opiates in 1968, maybe for the first time. BAD MAN.

Taylor had a harrowing addiction. He actually wrote a few good songs drawing on that experience, but again, it's a side of him that isn't really seen in his best-known hits which tends to be bland or syrupy..

James Taylor, hung or not hung?

http://www.kennethinthe212.com/2022/04/secret-o-life-epic-endowment-of-sweet.html#more

Joni Mitchell said he was her best lover, no contest.

JT BDE

https://c.tenor.com/nGJdVgAyHaQAAAAM/eddie-murphy.gif

So long, walking man, so long...

pic.twitter.com/vujQLCLjUi

— SNL Hosts Introducing the Musical Guest (@snlhostsintro) September 1, 2022

Also a fan of "Carolina in My Mind."

That's a great tune.

I despised JT, along with Dan Fogelberg, John Denver, et al. back in the day. Like much of the music I hated then, it now has a huge appeal to me. Nostalgia is a hell of a drug.

Oh, and I especially hated Jackson Browne, mostly because he would get much more AOR airplay than those other dudes.

JT blowing Stephen Colbert's mind about how he actually played on Blue (starts around 1:23)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJcZGK1yCYA

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