A beautiful evening with beautiful songs by a man at the peak of his powers at 67 years of age. Given all the ways James Taylor’s life might have gone, his brother Alex, sweet baby James pop, died of a drug overdose decades ago, that James could have lived through it all and reached this place better than ever? It is a testament
“The sun’s not so so hot in the sky today, you know I can see summertime slipping away…” The end of the summer is maybe the saddest season of the year, it brings everything to an end: it is like the embodiment of the end of childhood. Taylor’s masterpiece catches it in aural terms – A+
Given all the way James Taylor’s life might have gone, his brother Alex, sweet baby James pop, died of a drug overdose decades ago, that James could have lived through it all and reached this place better than ever? It is a testament to the possibility that life may redeem you, if you’re lucky… not a bad description of James Taylor’s songs, either.
With one of the best albums of the year to his name, Before This World, you might be hoping for hits plus the newbie from Taylor, who sure knows how to shower the people with love and singalongs. But the setlist has been going deeper than usual with lost gems from Gorilla, Walking Man, October Road and That’s Why I’m Here, alongside “How Sweet It Is” and “You’ve Got A Friend”. I know what you’re thinking but you missed the word “gems”. The restroom break will be “Angels Of Fenway” at Forest Hills Stadium on Tuesday.
Before This World – James Taylor – A late career masterpiece by Sweet Baby James Uncle, songs as sweet and strong as memory and as strong and lasting as this exact moment, as though before this world there was this world and just this world was then and now.
James Taylor’s first number one album ever. How wonderful for him and sure, 96,000 copies sold isn’t exactly the smash Sweet Baby James was 45 years ago, still you play with the hand you’re dealt and this hand finds a terrific album at the top of the charts!
Taylor has a large catalog, from covers like “You’ve Got A friend” and “How Sweet It Is (To be Loved By You)” to original songs like the lullaby “Sweet Baby James” and anthem “Shower The People”, all fine stuff, though over an album he could get a bit much, but his last three albums are something more, they honor the aging, they honor this time of life.
Jame’s lyrics are very sweet,an ode to his Nana who was a diehard Sox fan, and died with a smile on her face after watching her team come back from 0 – 3 Yankee lead in the playoffs in 2004, to win the World Series for the first time since the year Nana was born: 1918
Of those I am seeing, Ed is always a blast live and should have no problems rocking the joint. I do wonder if he has an actual band yet? James Taylor I had tickets at MSG last winter but found myself in Florida instead, and Alabama Shakes have a terrific new album, so, yeah, let it rock.
Taylor was a mentally disturbed, introverted formerly institutionalized guy barely past his teens, who hit it big and became a suicidal junkie and now? Now he is a caustic wit nostalgia MOR trip, maybe the best in the business. I’m sorry I missed it.
It’s difficult for me to accept the steady decline in the music industry. Streaming services are killing record sales, and are slowly dying out one by one themselves. With that, they are slowing dragging down the entire music business
In “September Grass”, Taylor is lying in the grass with a woman, and he feels secure and so small, so far away, like tiny, he compares him and his girl to ants on a leaf of grass and the huge world is surrounding them but they are ignoring it. Their smallness and their togetherness protecting them from the world, their insignificance is their freedom and that is exactly how I felt
Tokyo, Oklahoma – John Anderson – I’m a big fan so not sure how this song passed me by but Steve Crawford’s momento mori of Mack Vickery (you’ll find it at the top of today’s rock nyc), turned me on to it: a country blues work out stomps its way with so much smarts – A
The Golden Age – Beck – The lethargy is deathlike, the thing about death in a body is its lack of animation, it simply stops the body and then the body decays to dust. This decay, this rotting of the self, the inertness of life is the hidden subject matter of Beck’s masterpiece.
Sweet Baby James – James Taylor – Written for his nephew when his nephew was still a baby, it remains a self-portrait and a lullaby to loneliness and aloneness and late night fears put away and rocked to sleep – A+
