![]() ![]() But, lest you think this is a completely atypical album, there are also sounds of the James Taylor that everyone would come to love in such fine tracks as “Brighten Your Night with My Day,” “Something’s Wrong,” “Rainy Day Man,” and “Circle Round the Sun,” and the album boasts two later James Taylor concert standards in “Something in the Way She Moves” and “Carolina in My Mind” (the latter featuring Paul McCartney on bass and an uncredited George Harrison on backing vocals), though both songs are probably better-known via the re-recorded studio versions that appear on 1976’s Greatest Hits. ![]() The standout “Sunshine Sunshine” is similarly atypical of his later output, its orchestral baroque pop sound sounding like a fusion of Sweet Baby James and the Moody Blues’ Days of Future Passed it’s actually a shame James never again tried anything quite like it as it’s very appealing indeed. “Knocking ‘Round the Zoo,” for instance, sounds a bit more like Blood, Sweat & Tears than James Taylor, while the harpsichord-driven “Taking It In” vaguely recalls The Partridge Family and “Night Owl” is pure Memphis soul. What most separates this album from the rest of Taylor’s catalog, however, is its design, most of the cuts being separated by brief – and unlisted – orchestral or harpsichord interludes, such as the brief rendition of “Greensleeves” that follows the soulful opener “Don’t Talk Now.” There are also several songs that are very out of character from the James Taylor sound that would become his trademark. It definitely has an aura of mystique about it, not in the least since it’s the first and only album he ever made for one of the most intriguing of all vanity imprints, the Beatles-owned Apple Records. It’s not his best album, but James Taylor may have never made a more inherently fascinating album than this one. ![]()
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