Project 1001: Sweet Baby James by James Taylor
I've seen fire and I've seen rain
I consider James Taylor one of the most celebrated and beloved of the cadre of singer-songwriters who arose in the early 1970s. I think I’ve seen maybe a hundred guys with a guitar in bars perform “Fire and Rain” over the years. And that song hits every time. It “pretty much set the tone for the singer-songwriter confessional.”1 The record was a departure from the style he’d established with his first album and “fans were greeted on Feb. 1, 1970 with a more intimate sound that would define the looming singer-songwriter era.”2 Listening to this album brings back lots of memories of good times with good friends.
My Rating:
Enjoy and listen without prejudice. Cheers!
Prime: 144. Sweet Baby James by James Taylor
The Rolling Stone review was highly complimentary.
Throughout, his vocal stance is low-key and perfectly matched to the country-styled guitar work. No acute solos or overstressed melodies appear as musicians and vocalist together manage to mandala their way through Taylor’s persistent lonely prairie/lovely Heaven visions that, at times, work their way up to the intensity of a haiku or the complexity of a parable.3
AllMusic gave Sweet Baby James 5 out of 5 stars.
The heart of James Taylor's appeal is that you can take him two ways. On the one hand, his music, including that warm voice, is soothing; its minor key melodies and restrained playing draw in the listener. On the other hand, his world view, especially on such songs as "Fire and Rain," reflects the pessimism and desperation of the 1960s hangover that was the early '70s. That may not be intentional: "Fire and Rain" was about the suicide of a fellow inmate of Taylor's at a mental institution, not the national malaise. But Taylor's sense of wounded hopelessness -- "I'm all in pieces, you can have your own choice," he sings in "Country Road" -- struck a chord with music fans, especially because of its attractive mixture of folk, country, gospel, and blues elements, all of them carefully understated and distanced. Taylor didn't break your heart; he understood that it was already broken, as was his own, and he offered comfort. As a result, Sweet Baby James sold millions of copies, spawned a Top Ten hit in "Fire and Rain" and a Top 40 hit in "Country Road," and launched not only Taylor's career as a pop superstar but also the entire singer/songwriter movement of the early '70s that included Joni Mitchell, Carole King, Jackson Browne, Cat Stevens, and others. A second legacy became clear two decades later, when country stars like Garth Brooks began to cite Taylor, with his use of steel guitar, references to Jesus, and rural and Western imagery on Sweet Baby James, as a major influence.4
In 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, Jamie Dickson wrote:
What he does have is a fine grasp of human frailties and a sense of the power of redemption.5
Charts
• Peak on Billboard 200 album chart: #36
• Singles on Billboard Hot 100 chart: “Fire and Rain” #3; “Country Road” #377
• RIAA certification: 3x Platinum | October 13, 19868
Released on February 1, 1970. Here’s what else was happening:
Pop Culture
• Number one song: “I Want You Back” by the Jackson 59
• Number one album: Led Zeppelin II by Led Zeppelin10
• Number one movie: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid by George Roy Hill11
• Most watched TV programs: Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, Gunsmoke, Bonanza12
• NYT bestseller, fiction: The Godfather by Mario Puzo13
• NYT bestseller, non-fiction: The Selling of the President by Joe McGinniss14
Other albums released that month
• The Delfonics by The Delfonics
• Burnt Weeny Sandwich by The Mothers of Invention
• Morrison Hotel by The Doors
• Black Sabbath by Black Sabbath
• Funkadelic by Funkadelic
• Hey Jude by The Beatles
• The Great Songs of Roy Orbison by Roy Orbison
• My Prescription by Bobby Womack
• Nilsson Sings Newman by Harry Nilsson
• Uncle Charlie & His Dog Teddy by Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
• Robin's Reign by Robin Gibb15
Sport
• Jan 26 Australian Open Women's Tennis: Margaret Court beats fellow Australian Kerry Melville Reid 6-1, 6-3; Court retains title for 9th Australian singles crown and 1st leg of her Grand Slam.
• Jan 27 Australian Open Men's Tennis: Arthur Ashe beats big serving local Dick Crealy 6-4, 9-7, 6-2.
• Jan 27 NFL Draft: Louisiana Tech quarterback Terry Bradshaw #1 pick by Pittsburgh Steelers.
• Feb 2 Louisiana State University's Pete Maravich becomes 1st to score 3,000 college basketball points.
• Feb 6 NBA expands to 18 teams with Buffalo, Cleveland, Houston & Portland.
• Feb 7 US male Figure Skating championship won by Tim Wood.16
Notable Births
• Jan 24 Matthew Lillard, American actor (Scream), born in Lansing, Michigan.
• Jan 26 Kirk Franklin, American gospel singer, choir director, and 16 time Grammy Award-winner, born in Fort Worth, Texas.
• Jan 27 Mark Trojanowski, American rock drummer (Sister Hazel), born in the USA.
• Jan 29 Heather Graham, American actress (Drugstore Cowboy, Diggstown), born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
• Jan 29 Paul Ryan, American politician (R-Wisconsin) & Speaker of the House (2015-2018), born in Janesville, Wisconsin.
• Jan 31 (Amelia) "Minnie" Driver, British-American actress (Good Will Hunting; The Riches), and singer-songwriter (Everything I've Got in My Pocket), born in London, England.
• Feb 3 Warwick Davis, English actor (Willow, Professor Flitwick in Harry Potter films), born in Epsom, England.17
Historical Events
• Feb 1 Stalled commuter train rammed by express in Argentina, 139 die.
• Feb 10 Dry powder avalanche moving at 120 mph smashes into youth hostel at Val d'Isere, France, killing 40 Belgian, French, & German youths.
• Feb 13 Man-eating tiger is reported to have killed 48, 80 km from New Delhi.18
Notable Deaths
• Jan 24 James "Shep" Shepherd, American R&B singer-songwriter (The Heartbeats - "One Thousand Miles"; Shep & Limelites - "Daddy's Home"), beaten to death in a robbery at 34.
• Jan 25 Eunice Hunton Carter, 1st African American female district attorney (NY), dies at 70.
• Feb 2 English mathematician and philosopher (Nobel 1950), dies at 97.19
Stanley, Bob, Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! The Story of Pop Music from Bill Haley to Beyoncé, p. 297
Dickson, Jamie, 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, ed. by Robert Dimery, p. 216
Ibid