James Taylor

James Taylor | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 19, 1991)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Capitol
• ASIN: B00000CKZH
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #82,303 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Don't Talk Now

2. Something's Wrong

3. Knocking 'Round The Zoo

4. Sunshine Sunshine

5. Taking It In

6. Something In The Way She Moves

7. Carolina In My Mind

8. Brighten Your Night With My Day

9. Night Owl

10. Rainy Day Man

11. Circle Round The Sun

12. The Blues Is Just A Bad Dream

Editorial Reviews

Available for the first time on compact disc, James Taylor's first album, recorded for Apple in 1968. It includes "Something in the Way She Moves" and "Carolina In My Mind."
No Track Information Available
Media Type: CD
Artist: TAYLOR,JAMES
Title: JAMES TAYLOR
Street Release Date: 11/19/1991
Domestic
Genre: ROCK/POP

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Original Apple Records Release of First James Taylor album!, August 20, 2000

By 

Barron Laycock "Labradorman" (Temple, New Hampshire United States) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: James Taylor (Audio CD)

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 this album to play before he appeared. The rest, as they say, is history.

This is a fantastic folk album, and shows a different aspect of his talents in that he is much more somber, reflective, and open about his own uncertainties and personal troubles in the songs he sings, and in the delivery as well. But many of my favorites are here, including a spare and lean version of "Something In The Way She Moves", "Carolina In My Mind", and "Rainy Day Man". Yet I actually prefer many of the other cuts, such as "Brighten Your Night With My Day", "Don't Talk Now" and Something's Wrong". My all time favorite song from this album is a sleeper that he never plays and that no one else seems to be familiar with, a traditional song called "Circle Round The Sun".

His performance on it is a brilliant early indication of just how incredibly talented an interpretive artist Taylor really is, transforming this old folk song into a stunning contemporary number, complete with an indelible guitar accompaniment with the usual "Taylor" treatment and a haunting, suggestive vocal that literally oozes with heartfelt sincerity. This is a lesser album only in the sense that many of the works are unusually spare and folksy, but it is certainly a terrific showcase for how well Taylor can deliver on a variety of original works and covers of traditional folk songs. Enjoy

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Warm Reflection of Gentle Toughts, May 6, 2003

By 

jeff hirshberg (New york) - See all my reviews

This review is from: James Taylor (Audio CD)

An old record my sister had in a Paul McCartney cover had more scratches on it than a couch in a house with twenty cats. I listened to it, and came to adore it. It was JT's first album on Apple records. To save my needle, I copied it onto a cassette, and played it for over twenty five years before a radio station told me the album was rereleased on CD. Talk about luck, the first store I went to had a copy of it. It was mine; all mine. For the first time, I could hear the guitar music without the background of all the scratches.

There is a tender sensitivity to this album reflecting a great deal of JT's emotional experience in his early years. His songs tell of warm loving relationships, expressed through greatly tender poetry. There is a softness and vulnerability in his voice, lyrics,and music we never see quite the same in his later productions.

"Something in the Way She Moves"

"And I feel fine any time she's around me now;
She's around me now almost all the time.
And if I'm well you can tell she's been with me now
She's been with me now, quite a long long time,
and I feel fine"'

"Circle Round the Sun"

"I love my baby, and she's bound to love me some;
Let me say that I love my baby,
And she's bound to love me some.
Now she throws her arms around me,
Like a circle round the sun, yeah".

"Sunshine Sunshine"

"Sounds of laughter, here comes sunshine;
Smiling faces all around;
They possess you, bless you sunshine
Now, you can never let them down
I say sunshine".

This album was always there for me when I shared the same vulnerabilities James had in his youth. What I could not express on my own was right there on that old cassette tape.

There are some reviewers here who write about any and every album ever created. I only write about those which have touched my life as this one did.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The less well known first half of Sweet Baby James., March 31, 1999

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: James Taylor (Audio CD)

James Taylor's first album remains largely undiscovered. JT fans who think Sweet Baby James was his best, enjoy his later stuff but feel he never quite reached that level again, MUST hear this album. It is a masterpiece. Much of it reminds me of "Country Road" with strings bridging the songs (the strings style reminds me of Beatles orchestral works, such as in Yellow Submarine, from this era). Anyone who has wondered where the song, "Carolina On My Mind" came from will now have their answer. Another magnificent selection is "Circle Around the Sun," a traditional song that has been borrowed in part by the Grateful Dead (I Know You Rider) and Janis Joplin (Piece of My Heart). This album is hard to find. It is really the first half of the Sweet Baby James work. Get it-you'll thank yourself!