We continue our look at the music of 50 years ago….
We have talked about how popular singer-songwriter albums became in 1971 and today we look at one of those that exploded early in the year. James Taylor and Carole King were friends. They played together in the studio and in concert. And they both were at the forefront of the singer-songwriter movement of the early 70’s when more and more people craved the introspective music of a songwriter singing their own songs. We already visited Carole’s classic “Tapestry” in one of these dispatches and today we look at an LP, released about the same time, Mud Slide Slim & The Blue Horizon, from James Taylor. Released in April of 1971, Taylor’s 3rd album will always be attached at the hip to Tapestry. Taylor’s LP reached #2 on the charts, kept from the top spot by King’s classic. It also produced his only #1 single, a cover of King’s tune “You’ve Got A Friend” that also appears on Tapestry. Taylor’s version won a Grammy for best Pop Male Vocal Performance and King’s version won a Grammy for Song Of The Year. To further the connection…Taylor played on Tapestry and King played on Mud Slide Slim. Critics didn’t really like this record. It was described as “weary” and “self-pitying”. And yet music fans gobbled it up. With the exception of Machine Gun Kelly, a song written by guitarist Danny Kortchmar, the songs are slow and laden with Taylor’s fine acoustic guitar. His backing band is top-notch including Kortchmar, Russ Kunkel, Lee Sklar, John Hartford, the Memphis Horns, and, of course, King. It contains two of my favorite Taylor compositions, “Hey Mister That’s Me Up On The Jukebox” and the beautiful “You Can Close Your Eyes”, both covered by another pal, Linda Ronstadt. You Can Close Your Eyes was written about his short-lived romance with Joni Mitchell (another singer-songwriter that we will hear from soon) (oh, and by the way, has anyone had more songs written about them than Joni Mitchell?)
Taylor and King in concert from 1970
Taylor and King collaborate on the tune they both had a hit with…
Linda Ronstadt knows good songs when she hears them…
It is said that music can take you to “Places In Your Past”. If you came of age in the early 70’s…you probably had this one in your collection and played it alot…
Enjoy this re-visit.
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