Greatest Hits - Taylor, James (Popular) (CD 1987)

I discovered James Taylor from my faithful friends over at the Simpsons, who guest starred James in the episode "Deep Space Homer". In the episode, he played You've Got A Friend to a space shuttle, broadcasting live from NASA HQ.

I liked his style, so I, as I do with all 70's music that sounds promising, asked my dad about him. Taylor got the thumbs up, although on the other hand, this is the guy who called Pink Floyd "depressing crap" so I wasn't sure what to think.

That day, I discovered an old caseless, coverless cassette labelled "James Taylor's Greatest Hits" floating around in my room. I decided to listen to it one day.

The next day, I saw the same album in a bargain bin. The next, James's music was featured in an episode of Dawson's Creek. Next day, I hear that he plans to release a new album "October Road". Then, when I was reading through a friend's Epinions, I noticed he had one of Taylor's "Hourglass". Clearly, the powers that be were signalling me towards James Taylor.

So, I popped Greatest Hits into my stereo. I was in love! Here was relaxing American music for study, sleep, driving or just about anything: basically Paul Simon meets Enya. Perhaps Buzz Aldrin put it best: "With all due respect, Mr. Taylor, this isn't quite the time for your unique blend of laid-back bittersweet ountry folk/rock..."

James is an excellent lyricist, singer and guitarist: what more could you ask for? All his hits are here, from Walking Man to Fire and Rain and Country Road, plus a new live version of Steamroller. ALL are great songs!

This particular album is, unsurprisingly, one of the biggest selling albums of all time, clocking in at 11 million copies and counting. What can I say? This is a must have!

I'm not going to do the usual track-by-track analysis here, as most songs are essentially the same, and as I know very little about Taylor, I would be at a lack for comment. I know that 'all songs sound the same' sounds like a bad thing, but it really isn't: they all share the same laid-back melodies and folksy American charm.

Highlights, however, include the wonderful Walking Man (And the walking man walks...), his big hit Fire and Rain not to mention the excellent Steamroller [Live]...the list goes on. So give this album a listen and see what you think: I'm sure you'll enjoy it!