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James Taylor

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(This page is for the American singer-songwriter. For the British band who did one Peel session, see James Taylor Quartet).
220px-James Taylor - Columbia

James Vernon Taylor (born March 12, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A five-time Grammy Award winner, Taylor was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000.

Taylor achieved his breakthrough in 1970 with the No. 3 single "Fire and Rain" and had his first No. 1 hit the following year with "You've Got a Friend", a recording of Carole King's classic song. His 1976 Greatest Hits album was certified Diamond and has sold 12 million US copies. Following his 1977 album, JT, he has retained a large audience over the decades. His commercial achievements declined slightly until a resurgence during the late 1990s and 2000s, when he recorded some of his best-selling and most-awarded work (including Hourglass, October Road and Covers). (Read more at Wikipedia.)

Links to Peel[]

James_Taylor_-_BBC_1971_-_Country_Road

James Taylor - BBC 1971 - Country Road

James Taylor was the most commercially successful of the American singer-songwriters who emerged in the late 1960s. Peel played tracks from his early albums, particularly the eponymous debut album recorded in 1968 in London for the Beatles' Apple label, and the critically acclaimed and commercially successful follow-up, Sweet Baby James. Although Taylor lived in London in the late 1960s, he was unwell and did not perform live, so he was not among the many singer-songwriters who did sessions for Peel's Night Ride programme. When the singer returned to America his career took off, and he returned to Britain for TV appearances and a couple of Radio 1 concerts.

After James Taylor's initial success, however, Peel became more critical of the singer's output, at one point claiming that the work of Joni Mitchell (who had shared the billing with Taylor on a 1970 Radio 1 In Concert programme introduced by Peel) had "disintegrated into a James Taylor-like welter of self-pity and self-indulgence." Peel was not alone in his criticism of Taylor's work; in the rock press there was a reaction against the singer, who some saw as epitomising everything that had gone wrong with pop music in the early 1970s. The critic Lester Bangs, an early champion of punk, and of Peel favourites such as Captain Beefheart, even wrote a notorious article (in praise of The Troggs) in which he stated he would like to kill James Taylor. Not surprisingly, Peel played no James Taylor tracks in his later shows, but the singer became a lasting favourite of Bob Harris. In his autobiography, Harris recalls visiting the home of Taylor and his then wife Carly Simon on Martha's Vineyard in 1976 to interview them for the Old Grey Whistle Test, before returning to Britain to be confronted with the onset of punk.

Introducing a track by James' sister Kate Taylor on 02 August 1990, Peel rather tartly commented, "there will be those amongst you of course who don't know who James Taylor was and I think it's perhaps better that it remains that way."

Festive Fifty Entries[]

  • None

Sessions[]

  • None

Live[]

  1. Carolina In My Mind
  2. In My Reply
  3. Untitled
  4. Night Owl
  5. Diamond Joe
  6. Highway Song
  7. Fire And Rain
  8. Sweet Baby James
  1. Rainy Day Man
  2. Steamroller Blues
  3. Carolina In My Mind
  4. (with Joni Mitchell): You Can Close Your Eyes
  1. (with Joni Mitchell): You Can Close Your Eyes

Other Shows Played[]

(The list below was compiled only from the database of this site and Lorcan's Tracklistings Archive and may be incomplete. Please add more information if known.)

See Also[]

External Links[]

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