Sweet Baby James (1970) is the second album from James Taylor, his breakthrough and his best. The sweet, bluesy acoustic guitar and vocals on this album are authentic and interesting. No, this isn't the easy listening JT of Handyman and Your Smiling Face fame, this is the down home and down-to-earth folk-blues singing and guitar picking JT. Of course, the quiet thoughtful folkie side of James Taylor is here, too. The themes are often reflective, and Taylor's sense of melancholy mixes well with his instinct to survive. He accepts his sadness in a realistic way by acknowledging it, but not letting it get the best of him.The title song is one of JT's greatest, a two-part cowboy lullaby that's a description of James' car trip to meet his baby nephew (also named James) for the first time, and images of a young cowboy on the range.And as the moon rises he sits by his fireThinking about women and glasses of beerAnd closing his eyes as the doggies retireHe sings out a song which is soft but it's clearAs if maybe someone could hearJT gets bluesy on Steamroller Blues, which starts as a one-man-band guitar and vocal blues, and shifts into a delicious and lazy rocking blues swing with help from a big brass band. Country Road is another one of Taylor's greatest songs. The Carolina boy sings of finding peace of mind on a country road in soulful tandem with his heavenly acoustic guitar.I guess my feet know where they want me to goWalking on a country roadSunny Skies is a lighthearted tune, and JT does a remake of Stephen Foster's 1847 song Oh Susanna that sounds surprisingly good. Of course, the big hit on the album is the signature Fire And Rain, and JT has said the song was written in three parts. The first, about his friend who suddenly died, the second, about his own battles with drugs and depression, and the third, his dealing with new found fame and fortune. The song has a particular and profound personal meaning for many people in the world, myself included.Well there's hours of time on the telephone lineTo talk about things to comeSweet dreams and flying machines in pieces on the groundJT gets bluesy again with the country-blues tinged Oh Baby, Don't You Loose Your Lip On Me. There's some great acoustic blues guitar and laid back blues singing here, and it sounds sweet and soulful.Sweet Baby James is quiet, down-to-earth and folk-style bluesy. It's also sweet in a soulful and thoughtfully acoustic way. It's James Taylor at his singing-songwriting best, playing songs that are touching, fun, sad, contemplative and of the highest quality. If you get any of James Taylor's albums, this should be the one.
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