Sweet Baby James/Lo & Behold/Sunny Skies/Steamroller/Country Road/Oh Susannah/Fire & Rain/Blossom/ Anywhere Like Heaven/Oh Baby Don't You Loose Your Lip On Me/Suite For 20G
With a stunning collection of mostly original songs Sweet Baby James enabled James Taylor to leapfrog to the top of the early 1970s singer songwriter movement. Includes the US No. 3 hit single Fire & Rain. (US:3 UK:6)
"A little country, a little jazz and some funky R & B to boot, fiddles instead of string quartets and steel guitars instead of harps. The simple arrangements allow Taylor to project his songs unencumbered by any artistic pretensions extraneous to the concept. In hindsight it's easy to see why it was such a success, it spoke in an uncomplicated way to a generation of genteel pacifists at a time of violent disillusion.”
"It's a good, lyrical, album, which, like the best of the folk genre, can be studied as well as listened to, as well as simply soaked in without really even understanding the words at all. It's possible to listen to some of these James Taylor songs many times, and still be surprised by them, to discover that you never knew what they meant."
"Melodic music is always undervalued. James Taylor has real talent in his music and lyrics. From Sweet Baby James to Country Road this is a masterpiece."
"Set free from his brief tenure at Apple Records producer Peter Asher allowed Taylor a much freer range of music making the second time around. Gone were the Beatles-esque flourishes that buried the songwriting on his debut; in came gentle pianos, strummed guitars and Taylor's voice as the primary focus. Armed with a batch of intimate and personal lyrics, the album became an instant classic in 1970. This was the album that introduced Taylor and his signature sound to the world."
"Taylor's light vocals mix well with sparse accompaniment. This record has many great songs, and is consistently brilliant. Fire & Rain is perhaps Taylor's most famous song, but I prefer Country Road. The singer-songwriter boom was yet to reach its peak, and Sweet Baby James established James Taylor as one of the forerunners in this genre."
"The entire A-side is a knockout, not a bad song throughout. Once you turn it over to side-B, it starts with the best song on the whole album Fire & Rain. Taylor's soulful, smooth country voice is so pleasant to listen to. I recommend this to all my friends who are going on long country drives. Its essential for that."
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