James Taylor - Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 [EXTRA TRACKS]

James Taylor

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 7, 2000)
• Original Release Date: November 7, 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Extra tracks
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B000050HV9
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,755 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
After the frequently dark themes of his Warner Bros. years, James Taylor lightened his approach in the '80s and '90s with gentle affirmations such as "That's Why I'm Here" and "Shed a Little Light." Greatest Hits Volume 2, a sequel to the 1976 disc that has sold 11 million copies, covers this material with a generous 16 cuts. Unfortunately, thanks to the often too-polite production and a couple too many oldies covers ("Handy Man" is exquisite, "Up on the Roof" and "Everyday" somnolent), the work here is uneven and blurred together. A handful of gems do prevail, though; especially notable are "Secret o' Life"--perhaps Taylor's truly wisest song ever--and "(I've Got to) Stop Thinkin' 'Bout That." --Rickey Wright

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

71 of 72 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good News, Bad News, November 9, 2000

By	Steve Vrana (Aurora, NE) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This companion to James Taylor's 1976 Greatest Hits package, which chronicled his Seventies' output for Warner Brothers, is cause for celebration for casual James Taylor fans who have not kept up with his infrequent studio albums since signing with Columbia in 1977--there have only been seven, and they're all represented here.

The sixteen songs collected here are presented in chronological order from 1977's J.T. through 1997's Hourglass. The good news is that you get his late Seventies hits "Handy Man" (No. 4, 1977), "Your Smiling Face" (No. 20, 1977), "Up on the Roof" (No. 28, 1979) and his final Top 40 hit "Her Town Too" (No. 11, 1981), a duet with J.D. Souther from the album Dad Loves His Work. You also get most of the key album tracks including three from each of his Nineties albums, New Moon Shine and Hourglass.

The bad news? You get only three tracks from his Columbia debut J.T. Okay, maybe that's a personal bias, but it was arguably his best album for Columbia and second only to Sweet Baby James as the best album of his career. It would have been nice to have made room for "Honey Don't Leave L.A.," "Bartender's Blues" or "Traffic Jam." [Did 1985's That's Why I'm Here really need to be represented by four songs? It was not is strongest album, yet it is the most represented on this collection.] The problem was that Taylor's first greatest hits album covered only six years, and Volume 2 tries to cover twenty years with a single disc. When it comes to one of popular music's best singer-songwriters, that's a daunting task. Overall, it succeeds and this will make a welcome addition to your CD collection. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Wonderful Compilation Of Later James Taylor Hits!, November 23, 2000

By	Barron Laycock "Labradorman" (Temple, New Hampshire United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

I was lucky enough to first see James Taylor live in a small outdoor venue called Avaloch in rural Lenox, Massachusetts in the summer of 1970, after this first album recorded by the Beatles in London had been released and just before the release of the fabulously successful "Sweet Baby James" album by Warner Brothers. He appeared alone on-stage with a full head of long, long hair in a simple denim shirt and cut-up jeans with his four or five acoustic guitars, and for two and a half hours proceeded to absolutely enchant the sprawling lawn-full of hundreds of audience members with a spellbinding performance of all of the work from both of those albums. Although virtually unknown at the time, word of mouth had spread so quickly in the Berkshires area (who still considers him one of their own) that many of us went out to get both of the albums to play before he appeared. The rest, as they say, is history.

Of course, most of the songs included on this second volume of his greatest hits were not on either of those two early albums, but for those of us who became life-long admirers of JT's work early in his career, it has been a delight to watch his career continue over the thirty years since with all these wonderful songs, ranging from "Copperline" to "Your Smiling Face", from wonderful covers of classics like "Handy Man" to "Up On The Roof", this is a fantastic collection of his greatest hits as he began to mature as an artist. This second greatest hits album is a terrific summary of that continuing work. Many of my favorites are here, including the very recent "Enough To Be On Your Way", "Secret O' Life", and "That's Why I'm Here". Of course, so is "Stop Thinkin' `Bout That", "Only A Dream In Rio', and "Never Die Young". His performance here is living proof of his lasting appeal , and proof positive also of just how incredibly talented an interpretive artist Taylor really is. He always pleases with songs like those included here, and this album is sure to please even the most cautious music fan. It is certainly a terrific showcase for how well Taylor can deliver on a variety of original works and covers of classic pop hits like "Everyday" by Buddy Holly and the Crickets. Enjoy

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nice Compliment To Volume 1, December 2, 2000

By	"dough63" (Belpre, OH USA) - See all my reviews

Any major fan of an artist is going to own each of the different CDs from that artist and will not settle for a greatest hits package. Thus I would imagine that some diehard fans won't be impressed with this CD. However, if you just want to catch up on what James Taylor has been doing since he moved from Warner Brothers to Columbia, I highly recommend this CD. Doug Sax and Ted Jensen did really nice jobs in remastering the cuts to sound better than on the original CDs the songs were on. The diehards will want a 6 CD comprehensive Boxed Set with unreleased and other non-hit songs with Warner and Columbia playing nice together-- fat chance. For the folks who normally wouldn't buy just a single album from an artist anyway...this is a great buy!!