'JT'

For James Taylor's eighth album, titled simply JT, the label was new (Columbia Records) but the producer was an old friend, Peter Asher. Although Asher was James's manager through out the period, JT marked his return as producer after an absence of three albums. The album was recorded in March and April, 1977, at The Sound Factory in Hollywood, California, and was released shortly thereafter, on June 22.

The album opens with a tune that has become a perennial Taylor classic. "Your' Smiling Face" is notable for the infectious guitar hooks from Danny Kortchmar with able accompaniment from other members of the Section, Taylor's long-time backing band. The song is short but very sweet, perhaps James happiest song, and its optimism took the song into the Top 20 in the summer of '77.

"There We Are " is a prototypical JT love song, a piano-based beauty featuring Clarence McDonald's keyboards and Russ Kunkel once again working his magic with brushes on the drums. Taylor takes the unusual approach of mentioning his wife's name in the lyric ("Carly I do love you") but this is still a universal and quite beautiful love song. Top-notch.

"Honey, Don't Leave LA" is written by Danny "Kootch" Kortchmar and originally recorded by his band The Attitudes, a short-lived ensemble that included Jim Keltner and David Foster and whose origin story is that they backed George Harrison on his Extra Texture album. The version here is a fine and needed up-tempo piece for the album, which was exceptionally ballad-based even for Taylor, and served as a fine vehicle for David Sanborn on saxophone. In fact, the song was a staple of JT concerts when Sanborn was in the band, one example of which is the version released as part of the No Nukes album, which was recorded in 1979 at Madison Square Garden.

"Another Grey Morning" is a rather downbeat song, with lyrics in complete contrast to "Your Smiling Face," laid over a bed of Russ Kunkel's congas. It goes down smoothly but its melancholy coming off of "LA" is striking.

"Bartender's Blues" is a country weeper in the George Jones style--a tale of a bartender unhappy in his work and his life. Fellow Asher client Linda Ronstadt sings excellent backing vocals on the track and David Campbell (father of Beck) conducts the string section.

While "Bartender's Blues was not a big success as the album's first single, it was an impressive country song nonetheless and just a year later became the title track by none other than George Jones, with its author providing background vocals for his hero. It was also the choice of Taylor's son Ben for a 2007 compilation album called "A Song for My Father," that featured the offspring of Jim Croce, Carole King, Carlos Santana, Brian Wilson and others singing songs written by their parents.

"Secret o' Life" is an introspective philosophical song. Taylor wrote the song at his home in Martha's Vineyard as the sun was setting. In some ways, it's a pretty standard message but a necessary one and it hit a nerve with many; its' been covered by numerous jazz singers, such as Shirley Horn and Rosemary Clooney, not to mention Taylor's friend Art Garfunkel.

The mellow streak continues with "Handy Man," a song originally recorded by Jimmy Jones and written by Jones and songwriter Otis Blackwell. It was an inspired cover choice as the original had by then been largely forgotten, and James hit number 4 on the Billboard chart and won James a Grammy for Best Male Vocal Performance. James' version features nice backing vocals from Leah Kunkel, wife of drummer Russ Kunkel.

James brings to the fore one of his slow blues numbers with "I Was Only Telling a Lie," which opens with a hi-hat and bass drum flourish by the aforementioned Russ Kunkel before Kootch's electric guitar sets the stage for Taylor's vocal.

"Looking For Love On Broadway" is a nice ballad in the JT style, with double-tracked vocals. A strong track, though it gets lost among the brighter lights on this album.

"Terra Nova" is a rarity--written by James with then-wife Carly Simon, who also sings on the track. The harmonies follow McDonald's nice electric piano, while Kunkel and Peter Asher add tambourine and handclaps on the choruses. It ends with a striking vocal coda by James and Carly.

"Traffic Jam" is a lively novelty song, one last up-tempo number before the final ballad. It features drums and tambourines as the only instrumental accompaniment to James's double-tracked vocal detailing his anger at being caught in--well, a traffic jam..

"If I Keep My Heart Out of Sight" is another great love ballad driven by Dr. Clarence McDonald's excellent keyboard work along with James's trademark guitar stylings and unusually heartfelt vocal performance. This may be the most overlooked gem in the Taylor catalog.

Perhaps the label change was the reason but without question JT is among the two or three best albums Taylor ever produced. If there is a criticism it might be that the album is on the mellow side, with only a few half-hearted, somewhat jokey up-tempo songs among the last dozen tracks. But record-buyers evidently didn't mind. The album peaked at number four on the Billboard album charts, Taylor's highest ranking since Mud Slide Slim and The Blue Horizon. The album was nominated for an album of the year Grammy but lost to Fleetwood Mac's Rumours, one of the most popular albums of the decade. Taylor was once again at both a critical and commercial highpoint, something that the next several far less consistent albums would badly dent but would not destroy.