Customer Reviews

Walking Man

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

There is no bad album by James Taylor in the 1970s, so from there it's a matter of how the recordings from that decade stack up against each other. "Walking Man" does not have the same consistency as classic albums like "Gorilla" and "In the Pocket" but the good songs are great. The title track, "Daddy's Baby" and "Fading Away" rank up there with Taylor's best ballads, while tunes like "Aint No Song" and "Let It All Fall Down" have an interesting, understated melodic quality - they're not-quite-pop pop songs. Things slide a little bit at the end with "Hello old Friend", "Migration" and "The Promised Land," but on the whole the CD still possesses that peculiar Taylor charm and intimacy that few other artists can touch even at their best.

This record is Taylor's "Astral Weeks" or "Revolver," a record of sure, truth-telling merit and no-apologies intensity. If you don't know this album, you don't know JT.

What I really love about this album is because it is electric taylor but it still truly maintains that awesome charm and beauty of Sweet baby James. It is not electric like "gorilla" or "In the pocket" which are good discs, but this is a more "tasteful electric". Taylor alters between ballads with strings, ballads with horns and ballads with himself, as well as jazz and folk. Not bad James! Paul and Linda McCartney as well as Carly simon are featured on a lot of songs and it gives the album a great feel. The album has 10 songs which for this type of album is perfect. You will be hooked with the first 5 songs. However, song 4 "me and my guitar" has awful lyrics but still a nice hook. skip "ain't no song"-he didn't even write it and go onto the beautiful "Hello old friend". By then you have 3 songs left and they are all soothing. the album has a few loose ends but once it's over you'll be glad you've listened to it.

JT's Walking Man is a good album. Not great but good.

The title track is the highlight for me, but there are also a few nuggets in here like "Daddy's Baby", "Me & My Guitar", "Let It All Fall Down", and "Fading Away".

They one thing I must mention is that this album is the first with that has the "comtemporary" JT feel to it.

Bottom Line: Walking Man is "good", not James' finest though so do not start with this album. -- try out the previous 3 albums to get that cool sound.

While this album did not receive great critical acclaim...I couldn't even find it in local CD stores. It is one of my favorite JT albums. The music is so soothing. It takes me to where I am most comfortable. It is sitting in a easy chair holding a nice cup of hot chocolate in front of a fireplace with a roaring fire on a chilly night. Safe and secure.

While this may not his best album,it has some excellent songs on it.The good songs are Walking man,Let it all fall down,the beautiful Daddys baby,written for his daughter Sarah Maria,Aint no song,Hello old friend and the mesmerizing Migration.When he sings the part,''BUT LOUD AND REALLY CLEAR'',the background harmony is hauntingly beautiful.The other four songs arent that bad either.This probably didnt go gold since there was no hit single from it.Still its one of my favorites.

As someone who's been a JT fan since Day One, this must be said: Every artist that I love has put out at least one weak album in his/her/their career. This would have to be one of James' weaker efforts (along with FLAG), but it would hardly deserve being tossed into the circular file. As I stated when I reviewed this for iTunes, there are some real clunkers on this album, and it makes me wonder what made James include them on what is otherwise another great 70's JT release. For me, the gems on here are the title track (one he thankfully still performs in concert), Let It All Fall Down, Migration, Fade Away, and ESPECIALLY Daddy's Baby. Lord, what a beautiful piece of music that is. Every dad in the world who's a musician must have wished they could write a lullaby like that for their own children. Easily one of the most gorgeous, priceless acoustic guitar ballads James has EVER written. The Vox Humana (vocal synthesizer) coda at the end of the song will send pleasant chills down your spine and maybe bring a tear to your eye.

So here's the bottom line: James has never put out a terrible album--it's not in his nature to do that. There are just other records in his library that are better than this one. But DO NOT pass on this one; for the beautiful songs in here alone, it belongs in your JT library.

James Taylor / Walking Man: There are just a couple of hits on this one, but the album is memorable, moving, and excellent. This album rates Five Stars.

I went a long long time without having this JT album in my collection. Why? I was busy getting his other more great albums from the 70's and waited until it came down to checking this one out. For anyone on the fence and like me, looking to add to their James Taylor collection, do not hesitate to grab the album if it is one of the final one's you need from the 70's. It's got a bunch of decent tunes and really, the only one i could do without is the Chuck Berry cover. (and of course, that still is pretty alright as well)

An easy album to get into. Nothing amazing but i liked it and would pick it over many other singer-songwriters albums. --It just isn't one of his most amazing albums----

James Taylor was on a huge artistic pinnacle with his first two Warner Bros. releases.As he approched mid decade some of that success had began to dimminish,at least commercially. This recording finds Taylor at kind of transitional period.On tunes like the title song,"Daddy's Baby","Hello Old Friend","Migration","Ain't No Song" and of course "Fading Away" he still has tons of that classic sound he'd developed back in the Sweet Baby James era and is delivering at full power overall. One thing that seems to have changed is the the "one man and his guitar" format seems to have given way to heavier orchestration and use of a horn secion. This does give the general sound more of a bite but even so "Rock 'N Roll Music Is Now" points toward a stronger element of horn heavy,Stevie Wonder-ish funky soul with a very assertive,bluesy lyric and musical base-it's one of my favorite songs here too."Me And My Guitar" has a similar tone.On "Let Me Down Easy" Paul & Linda McCartney,not to mention Carly Simon show up on a great mellow pop tune,again forcasting the future for Taylor.A rocking update of Chuck Berry's "The Promised Land" up's the tempo again and turns out to be a fine choice of cover.This was never one of James Taylor's most popular albums and doesn't have the well known tunes and hits some of his albums possess.Even still it's a potent reminder that through this developmental stage James Taylor had a lot more to offer artistically even under such circumstances then some might imagine.