Any James Taylor Fans? New CD Sounds Great.


I guess September 11 is as good a day as any to confess to my taste for sappy, sentimental pop, so I just wanted to say that although I have just about every JT album in my collection, the new one might become my all time favourite.

It was produced by Russ Titelman and through a friend, I had the pleasure of watching Russ and JT go over and over and over and over and over the percussion track on "Raised Up Family" in their New York studio in February.

Their obsessive attention to detail explained the quality of the mix and JT couldn't have been more polite, friendly, warm or humble in person which made everything even more impressive.

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas sounds great and might remind you to not leave your shopping to the last minute. I also love the jazzier, bluesier rendition of Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight.

Yo yo Ma, Steve Gadd and others perform on the album, Dave Grusin arranged the strings in one of the tracks and at least on my system, the recording sounds very, very good.

Reminds me that this wonderful insanity is really all about the music.
cwlondon
Sorry -- the name is "October Road".

You might have to buy the "limited edition" version which actually contains 2 CDs -- the other disc including the "Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight" that I mentioned, the Yo Yo Ma and something about Mark Knopfler....
I am a long time James Taylor fan also and I agree this is one of his best albums in years. If you like JT you may want to give his sister Kate Taylor a listen. She has a new lp out sold on her website , www.katetaylor.com called "Beautiful Road". James sings on 2 cuts and it's an exceptional album.
Speaking of JT,anybody get "trio"-the channel? (315 if you get direct sat.)They do lots of vintage concerts,and re-run them. I saw a 2hr show from the early 70's JT had 40min,Cat Stevens had 40, and Neal Young did the last 40 minutes. Good stuff.
Maxcast

I haven't listened to all of it but I am pretty sure just music. There are also some CD ROM features but I have only played it in my SACD player. Again, this is the "limited edition" version.
try a listen to his daughter Sally (Carly Simon's her mother). Really tasty. My favorite disc of hers is 'Apt. 6s' which also has the best sound quality of her releases (HDCD) and Maceo Parker to boot! JT plays guitar on at least one track (unmistakeable). 'Tomboy Bride' is also quite good, though I don't care for 'Shotgon' as much as the others. If she plays nearby, give it a shot. She puts on a great live show.

'Apt 6s' is available from CDNow.com, and her other two releases are available through http://sallytaylor.com/.