My Amazon Reviews: James Taylor "Sweet Baby James"

I Always Thought That I'd See You Again
5 Out Of 5 Stars

Basically the pivot point for American Singer Songwriters, "Sweet Baby James" was James Taylor's ode to fallen friends, new babies and coming to terms with being an old man in a younger man's body. Set free from his brief tenure at Apple Records but still with producer Peter Asher, Asher allowed Taylor a much freer range of music making the second time around. Gone were the Beatles-esque flourishes that buried the songwriting on that debut, in were gentle pianos, strummed guitars, and Taylor's voice as the primary focus. Armed with a batch of intimate and personal lyrics, the album became an instant classic in 1970.

It's easy to hear why some 40 years on. The confessional "Fire and Rain" ties the suicide of a best friend and Taylor's own recovery from heroin addiction into a deeply moving song about loss and redemption (and makes the cover of "Oh Susannah" relevant). At the same time, the title track conjures images of winter on the prairie as a lullaby to a newborn nephew. The album's other big hit, "Country Road," was all about soul searching for a moment of transcendence and wondering if it could ever come.

There are plenty of other reasons to adore this album. "Steamroller" eventually morphed into "Steamroller Blues," the staple of Taylor's live shows and a slow-burner event then. "Blossom" was enough of a favorite that Taylor and Carole King (who plays piano on the album) revived it for their reunion tour. Each song has a magic to it that Taylor would capture again on "Mud Slide Slim" and many times through his career, but this was the album that introduced Taylor and his signature sound to the world. Much due for remastering, like the rest of Taylor's Warner Catalog.

     

My Amazon Reviews: Carole King "The Essential Carole King"

A Songwriting Tapestry
Out of 5 Stars

A delightful collection that offers both essential music and an educational process in the creation of the Great American Songbook. The first disc of Carole King's own productions is wonderful, showing the evolution of King as a writer and performer, the second disc looks at King's mastery of many forms of songwriting and how much she (and often, husband Gerry Goffin) worked innovation into songform.

The first disc starts with a rarity, King's "It Might As Well rain Until September." It was originally written as a hand-off to Bobby Vee, whose record company didn't want to use it. It became one of Carole's first hits in 1962, and sounds like the Brill Building style. But when she moved to California almost a decade later, she had changed profoundly. "Tapestry" became a watershed moment in pop culture; one of the first albums to spend multiple years on the chart, the first female artist to write and hit with her own compositions, a multiple Grammy award winner.

It established King as a star in her own right, and led to many more hits through the seventies. "Jazzman," "Sweet Seasons," "Only Love Is Real" are all here, but the Capitol records period is left out (including her own hit version of "One Fine Day"). The interesting material is the music made in the current decade, like "The Reason" for Celine Dion, where here Dion returns the favor and sings backup. "Now and Forever" was from the movie "A League of Her Own" and is included here in a new version. It's a reminder of how her talent has stayed strong.

The second disc is the eye opening chronicle of her contributions as a performer. "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" was an early hit that was one of the first to include strings to a pop record. "Crying In The Rain" was the last big hit for The Every Brothers, but was unique in its early use of internal rhymes. "The Loco-Motion" was a cash-in on the dance crazes like The Twist, bit the open saxophone blast and chugging drums that dominate the recording were new for their time. In the book "Always Magic In The Air" about the Brill Building years and the songwriters, Goffin, King, Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann were on a trip and decided to count the number of songs each had written while listening on the radio. King won because "Cryin' In The Rain" played and she had written that with Howard Greenfield had co written it with Carole instead of her husband Goffin.

You also hear the standards. "Will You Love Me Tomorrow," "You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman," "up On The Roof" to name just three. I have a couple of quibbles, like why Billy Joel's cover of "Hey Girl" instead of Freddie Scott's (or even Donnie Osmond, who at least had a hit with it). And at 15 songs, a repeat of two (like A-ha's international #1 version of "Cryin' in The Rain" or James Taylor's "Up On The Roof") would have been nice. I would have been really tickled to hear The Motels' cover of the controversial "He Hit Me and It Felt Like a Kiss." But all together, this is a substantial collection of great music.

  

My Amazon Reviews: James Talyor & Carole King "Live At The Troubadour"

Treasure Trove for Boomers
4 Out of 5 Stars

This delightful, wonderful bit of Beemer Rock will melt the hearts of most of us over 45 types, comprised of two of out countries finest singer songwriters playing live with a legendary band. Both James Taylor and Carole King have written enough songs that they could have dome a triple album and still left songs off; and yet "Live at The Troubadour" still feels warm and fuzzy.

Taylor only pulls a couple of oddities out ("Machine Gun Kelly" and "Blossom") while King stays strictly with the chestnuts. Taylor's voice has maintained his whiskey smoothness, King's has developed a husky rasp. They still sound fine, and when they harmonize together on "Will You Love Me Tomorrow," it could just give you goosebumps. And let's face it, these are soft rock classics and American Standards; "Up One The Roof," "It's Too Late," "You've Got a Friend," "Country Road," "Fire And Rain" et al. The duo do very little re-imagining of their hits, so they fit to the ears like a comfortable old hat.

The band is terrific, too. If the names Lee Sklar (bass), Russ Kunkle (drums) and Danny Kortchmar (guitar) ring any bells, it's because just about every Cali-Rock album though the early 70's on had their playing. They have only gotten clearer and cleaner with time, and the recording is well honed by their considerable skills (although there's too much high end in this CD for my tastes). Despite that, "Live At The Troubadour" is one of the most enjoyably pleasant CD's I've bought this year.

  

Folsom, The Earth Moves, and Lights Out

The week went pretty well here until Thursday. Joel and I started out Sunday in NYC with Russ, the Rubber Rebel, holding a booth at Folsom East. The usual suspects were all about, and the day was perfect. For a change, no mad downpours to drive everyome off and make me lunge for plastic, book protecting tarps.

Two days later, we were swaying back and forth to the music of Carole King and James Taylor, who brought their reunion tour to Philadelphia. We had pretty nice seats and the revolving stage made the view perfect. While Taylor's voice remains as silky smooth as every, King's has gained a rasp, but still sounds great. They played for about two and a half hours and the band was legendary. Danny Korthcmar, Lee Sklar and Rusty Kunkle on guitar, bass and drums, respectively. If those names seem at all familiar, it's because just about every Cali-rock album of the seventies and early eighties probably had them on it.

Even though her voice has aged a bit, King was the rocker of the pair. When she belted out "I Feel The Earth Move," she really came off strong. She also had a highlight of the show by singing "You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman." James Taylor was almost a jukebox; "You've Got a Friend," "Country Road," "Sweet Baby James," "Fire and Rain"...he hit all the classics. There was one more pair of great duets, when they joined together for "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" and the lone unexpected surprise, highlighting King's songwriting legacy by performing "Crying In The Rain."

Little did I know that, as she was performing "I Feel The Earth Move," Teutonic plates somewhere in Canada and the northern USA where preparing to shift the following day. And the day after, a sudden storm would drop me and Joel off the grid for over a day. A storm system that ripped through the area in about 45 minutes, whipping up peak winds of 75 MPH and subsequently knocking out power to about 200,000 people. Including me. From about 3:30 in the afternoon Thursday until about 8:30 Friday night, the elements had us at their mercy.

Oddly enough, Friday morning and less than a mile away, the power was on. By 7:30 Friday, I got tired of sitting in the heat and went to a movie ("Jonah Hex" was the only thing starting within my arrival time, it was pretty dreadful, even with Josh Brolin and John Malkovich). The traffic light a block from my house was on, but not the one three blocks way. With all the uprooted trees and downed tree limbs, I guess the campaign was block by block.

But the electric was on when I got home, so a cooked dinner was worth the wait. Now on to catching up with the weekend.