carol king & james taylor "live at the troubadour" review

james taylor and carol king's newest release, "live at the troubadour," is a trip down memory lane, for the two of them - and fans as well. this performance was recorded in 2007, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the troubadour, a west hollywood venue that hosted many of their early concerts (together with the likes of elton john, the eagles, and joni mitchell, among other notable artists to have played there). what was intended as a "one-off" reunion (and included members of their original group), instead turned-into a world tour. the album release (together with a dvd of the performance) just kicked off their tour.

as expected from two of the most prolific and successful song writers, the fifteen song set list is heavy with their major hits: "so far way," "carolina on my mind," "it's too late," "fire and rain," "sweet baby james," "i feel the earth move," and "you've got a friend." but taylor gets in a few old chestnuts ("blossom" and "machine gun kelly"), while king performs a couple of songs she wrote for other groups ("up on the roof" for the drifters and "will you still love me tomorrow" for the shirelles). it's an impressive mix of songs. despite the co-billing however, only one song, "you've got a friend," is performed as a duet.

still taylor and king play as old friends - and it's difficult to image that almost 40 years have elapsed since they last played together in the early 1970s. there's an intimacy to the performance that goes beyond two seasoned musicians playing side by side - they genuinely like each other. that mood is certainly enhanced by their original band mates on stage. as taylor introduced them ("the section"): "... still alive and at the top of their game." the trio includes, danny kortchmar (guitar), leland sklar (bass) and russell kunkel (drums).

the chatter between songs is also fun. right after "blossom" carol king noted that as she prepared for the tour, her brain didn't remember the song. but when she played it, her fingers and heart did. taylor recites the familiar story of his drive down to visit his newborn nephew as the catalyst for "sweet baby james." and, for their duet on "you've got a friend," taylor noted how much he was moved by the song when he first heard carol perform it. then, taylor added, he didn't know then that he'd perform it every night, ever since!

this is a must get for any taylor or king fan!

here is the set list:

blossom
so far away
machine gun kelly
carolina in my mind
it's too late
smackwater jack
something in the way she moves
will you still love me tomorrow
country road
fire and rain
sweet baby james
i feel the earth move
you've got a friend
up on the roof
you can close your eyes

happy birthday: james taylor is 61 years young today!

today, march 12, 2009 is james taylor's 61st birthday. it's was an incredibly busy and productive year for him, which included a successful tour with his "band of legends" (a concert of which pat was happy to attend), a new album (albeit of covers (no new material) - and of the same name), and an intimate appearance on the sundance channel's "spectacle" with elvis costello!

in addition to his music, james taylor also exercised his political voice and took the time to campaign on behalf of obama. not only did taylor (along with fellow 1960's era icons, the grateful dead) attend the president's inauguration, but performed as well!



happy birthday james taylor - here's to another productive year!

james taylor is elvis costello's guest on sundance channel's "spectacle"

elvis costello's foray into the world of talk shows, "spectacle," debuted this season on the sundance channel. the fourth hour-long instalment of the series aired on christmas eve, and was spent with james taylor. it was an incredible program, and included not only the expected q & a with, and songs from, taylor himself, but the show opened with costello covering taylor's "bartender blues," and costello join taylor for a couple of duets! the show itself was filmed last september, here in nyc at the appollo theatre.


elvis costello (w/laura cantrell) performs "bartender blues"

as an on and off again fan of elvis costello since i first saw him in concert in 1979 (with the "attractions"), seeing him perform in this intimate context was awesome. while pat is the resident james taylor fan in our household (having seen not only james in concert this year, but his sister kate and brother livingston, as well), i also enjoyed watching the normally shy and reticent taylor not only perform, but talk.

it was fascinating to listen to taylor get metaphysical with his discussion of "words" - their symbolism in particular. it was just plain great to hear his acappella (along w/the back-up singers) version of "the lonesome road" and learn that he sang it at john belushi's graveside! it was also interesting to see the paternal taylor emerge in the discussion of his son ben following him into the music business. it's got a "wild side" he said and went on to mention the tragedies of jimi hendrix, janis joplin, and his luck in escaping similar disaster!


jame taylor introduces and performs, "sweet baby james"

as an aside, this was my third rock-related program over the christmas break (neil young's "heart of gold" and the huge tom petty documentary, "runin' down a dream"). between football games and those great shows, it's been tough to find the time to watch the johnny cash "at folsom prison" concert dvd - my actual christmas present!

update: tonight (12/31) the sundance channel will air the first four episodes, starting at 5 p.m., as the lead in to the newest one (w/tony bennett) at 9 p.m. - the james taylor interview is on at 8 o'clock.

james taylor (and his band of legends) at the jones beach theater: guest review

following up on the great review of kate taylor's show last month, i now have the great pleasure of posting pat's review of james (a/k/a kate's big brother) taylor's performance at the jones beach theater in wantagh saturday night.
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This past Saturday night I went to see James Taylor and his “Band of Legends” at Jones Beach Theater in Wantagh, New York. I have been a huge JT fan since 1976, when I was 13 and he was 28. By that time, I had just learned algebra and he had already released eight albums plus his “Greatest Hits.” Thirty-two years later, I can barely help my daughter with her math, but I know the lyrics to, oh, about 50 or 60 of JT’s songs. And my daughter, who is now thirteen, has been properly brainwashed by being around me - - and held captive on long car rides - - for many years and now knows the words to at least 10 or 15 songs (though she might not admit it to her middle school friends). In fact, “Sweet Baby James” could have been written for her.

I am the biggest JT fan I know . . . personally, that is. There is a great unofficial James Taylor website, which I periodically check out. In fact, after Frank posted my review of Kate Taylor’s show in May, I found out that the guy I had met there is “Bill,” who posts on that site and is a big fan of the Taylor family as well (Hey there, Bill!). So, when it turned out that I had to go to the JT concert by myself, I was okay with that, since these venues are always packed with JT junkies. I love seeing all the people tailgating and making a night of it!

The concert began at about 8:20 and James came out in his typically understated light blue long-sleeved button-down shirt and beige khakis. Over the course of the night, James introduced the other ten members of his band: Luis Conte (percussion), Lou Marini (saxophone), Jimmy Johnson (bass guitar), Walt Fowler (trumpet, flugelhorn), Steve Gadd (drums), Larry Goldings (piano and keyboards), Andrea Zonn (vocals, fiddle), Kate Markowitz (vocals), Arnold McCuller (vocals), and David Lasley (vocals). I don’t remember James introducing Jeff Babko but it is possible that he was there too.

James immediately explained that he and the other band members had spent some time last December in a barn in Western Massachusetts recording covers of other artists’ songs, so they’d be doing a bunch of covers at this concert. He didn’t say when the album would be released, but based on what I heard that night, it should be terrific!

They started out with “It’s Growing,” by the Temptations, and then “Get a Job,” by the Silhouettes, both of which I thoroughly enjoyed (probably because I had never heard them before and was not doing the comparison thing). Before the crowd got too restless, the band played James’ own “Country Road” to give us JT addicts a fix. Then came a wonderful folk/bluegrass instrumental tune called “Whiskey Before Breakfast,” played by Andrea Zonn on the fiddle. She was really amazing and you can tell that she, like the other members of the band, really love playing together.

Next came “(I’ve Got To) Stop Thinkin’ ‘Bout That,” one of James’ own songs which is always lively and upbeat. Looking around, it seemed that the crowd was enjoying the mixture of JT originals and his covers. “Wichita Lineman,” by Glen Campbell, and “Why Baby Why,” by George Jones, were the next two, and, again, were in keeping with James’s apparent desire to play great songs that most JT fans (at least this one) didn’t know.

When James introduced the next song by saying that it was from “Oklahoma!” I immediately smiled because I knew that his rendition of this song was one of the sweetest things I’d ever heard, having heard it at his “One Man Band” concert last year. “Oh, What a Beautiful Morning,” as sung by James, had a warm, mellow clarity and purity that is hard to describe. Since I love James’s voice no matter what he sings (his Christmas album gets a lot of play in my house, even though most of those songs are standards), I’d be happy hearing him sing out names from a phone book. But his slow and soulful “Beautiful Morning” could make even the biggest pessimist glad to be alive.

Okay. Enough with the sentimentality. Next came James’s version of “Everyday,” a Buddy Holly song that he first recorded for his 1985 album “That’s Why I’m Here.” It’s a happy song that always reminds me of my first year out of college, when I was living in a house in D.C. with three other recent college grads and life held so much promise. Ah, youth.

Then came the funniest part of the night. Beware: SPOILER ALERT - if you want to hear James’s jokes first yourself, skip this paragraph. So, James says something like, “This next tune is one that I first heard Carole King sing in 1905.” Laughter and clapping all around, as most of the crowd knew the song to which he was referring. “We were playing at the Troubadour together and as soon as I heard this song, I asked her if I could sing it. So I did.” Pause. Then with his signature deadpan: “’Course I didn’t realize that I’d be singing it every day for the rest of my life.” Laughter. “It’s kind of like a prison sentence. Doing the same thing every day. But here it is.” So, as always, James put his all into “You’ve Got a Friend.” I guess that is the mark of a true entertainer: you can go out, for eight or nine months at a time, year after year, decade after decade, and make the song you are singing sound exactly the same - and as good - as when you first recorded it 37 years ago. Amazing.

“You’ve Got a Friend,” has got to be some sort of junior high/high school/college theme song that can transport millions of listeners back to the exact day when “so-and-so” was “really there” for them. For me, it reminds me of a bike trip I went on during the summer after seventh grade, with my best friend Jill and 11 other teenagers, along with two “adult” leaders (they were the ripe old age of 21). For two weeks, as we traipsed around Cape Cod, Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard, an older girl named Ginny and her good friend went around singing “You’ve Got a Friend,” while our female leader played the song on her guitar. What fun we had, Jill and I. We still keep in touch, though I’m not as good about it as I should be.

The next two songs were “Mexico,” which is an old favorite, and “Shed a Little Light,” a relative newcomer, having been recorded in 1991 for the “New Moon Shine” album. I absolutely love “Shed a Little Light,” mainly because of the lyrics. If ever there was a song that was perfect for this promising time in the history of our country, this is it:

“Let us turn our thoughts today
To Martin Luther King
And recognize that there are ties between us
All men and women
Living on the Earth
Ties of hope and love
Sister and brotherhood
That we are bound together
In our desire to see the world become
A place in which our children
Can grow free and strong
We are bound together
By the task that stands before us
And the road that lies ahead
We are bound and we are bound”
(Okay, so if I were a certain presidential candidate, I’d ask James to do a commercial for him using this song.)

Intermission came and went, and when the band returned, it played “Hound Dog,” written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. It did not sound much like Elvis’s version but who cares - it was still lively and fun. Then the band played one of my favorites, “Only One,” which is a sweet love song from his “That’s Why I’m Here” CD. Then, right before James played “Walking Man,” he delivered another one of his corny one-liners: “This next one is a song about the fall of the year, but since we won’t be here in the fall, we’re going to sing it now.” Cute.

Next, the band played “Roadrunner,” by Junior Walker and the All-Stars, which, as I recall was a lively 50s-type song, followed up by the crowd-pleasing favorite, “Sweet Baby James,” which always reminds me of the JT concerts I took my daughter to year after year, before she had more important things to do. Boo hoo. Then came two more covers, “Some Days You Gotta Dance,” by the Dixie Chicks, which the crowd loved, and “On Broadway,” by the Drifters, which reminded me of Roy Scheider in “All That Jazz.”

The band moved on to “Steamroller,” a fun song that was a riot to watch. While singing out of the corner of his mouth, James screwed up his face so much that he looked much older than his 60 years. He seemed to have a lot of fun singing it, even if, at some point a while back, he made the decision not to sing the curse words that are in the version from his “Greatest Hits” album - a song I always had to fast-forward through when I had seven-year-old Katie in the back seat of the car!

No JT concert would be complete without “Carolina in My Mind,” “Shower the People,” and “Your Smiling Face,” three feel-good songs that had the crowd clapping and singing along. Although I did not know the woman next to me, by the time “Smiling Face” was over, she was yelping for an encore as loudly as I was whistling for one.

Of course, the band came out for the encore and played “Wait Til the Midnight Hour,” by Wilson Pickett, and then “Knock on Wood,” by Eddie Floyd. Considering that I’d never heard either song before, I enjoyed hearing James and his band do something new. The show ended with “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You),” a tune that had everyone up and clapping to the beat. Though I knew he wouldn’t play a second encore, and that the 26 songs he’d played were more than any fan could ask for, I could have easily stayed for another hour, listening to more of the tunes that James wanted to introduce to us junkies.

It takes a lot of guts to go out there and sing twelve new songs to old friends who love the familiar old tunes. But, just as I like hearing “new” news from old friends like my junior high school pal Jill, I think it’s great that James is excited about some new music and enthusiastic about playing it for us. And although I have to admit that I am waiting and waiting for the (unlikely) announcement that James will do a performance with the other talented members of the Taylor clan - sister Kate, brother Livingston, children Ben and Sally, and maybe even brother Hugh - I will, in the meantime, await the release of JT’s new and exciting CD!

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update: check out jame taylor's appearance on elvis costello's spectacle program on the sundance channel!