Now Available: James Taylor, THE WARNER BROTHERS YEARS 1970-1976

When discussing artists who hit their creative and commercial stride in the ‘70s, you can’t end the conversation without talking about James Taylor, whose hits during the course of the decade included “Sweet Baby James,” “Fire And Rain,” “Don’t Let Me Be Lonely Tonight,” “Walking Man,” “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You),” “Mexico,” “Shower The People” and Carole King’s “You’ve Got A Friend.”

Now, if you’re a regular reader of Rhino.com, then by the first comma of the preceding paragraph, you were probably already going, “Yadda, yadda, yadda,” since this is in no way the first time we’ve brought up this matter, but we admit that we really started pumping the gas on this premise a few weeks back. Why? Because we were doing our job and hyping the heck out of THE WARNER BROTHERS YEARS 1970-1976 as soon as the set was announced.

Thankfully, that’s all over now – or at least it will be after this post – because today’s the day that the set is finally, finally in stores!

Just a reminder: it’s a 6-CD or a 6-LP set, depending on which format you prefer, and the albums have all been remastered under the watchful eye and ear of Peter Asher, who – in addition to producing several of the albums – also signed Taylor to Apple Records in 1968 and worked as his manager for 25 years.

Lastly, just in case you’ve forgotten exactly what albums Taylor released between 1970 and 1976, here’s the full track listing for the set:

Sweet Baby James (1970)
1.    “Sweet Baby James”
2.    “Lo And Behold’
3.    “Sunny Skies”
4.    “Steamroller
5.    “Country Road”
6.    “Oh, Susannah”
7.    “Fire And Rain”
8.    “Blossom”
9.    “Anywhere Like Heaven”
10.  “Oh Baby, Don’t You Loose Your Lip On Me”
11.  “Suite For 20 G”

Mud Slide Slim And The Blue Horizon (1971)
1.    “Love Has Brought Me Around”
2.    “You’ve Got A Friend”
3.    “Places In My Past”
4.    “Riding On A Railroad”
5.    “Soldiers”
6.    “Mud Slide Slim”
7.    “Hey Mister, That’s Me Up On The Jukebox”
8.    “You Can Close Your Eyes”
9.    “Machine Gun Kelly”
10.    “Long Ago And Far Away”
11.    “Let Me Ride”
12.    “Highway Song”
13.    “Isn’t It Nice To Be Home Again”

One Man Dog (1972)
1.    “One Man Parade”
2.    “Nobody But You”
3.    “Chili Dog”
4.    “Fool For You”
5.    “Instrumental I”
6.    “New Tune”
7.    “Back On The Street Again”
8.    “Don’t Let Me Be Lonely Tonight”
9.    “Woh, Don’t You Know”
10.    “One Morning In May”
11.    “Instrumental II”
12.    “Someone”
13.    “Hymn”
14.    “Fanfare”
15.    “Little David”
16.    “Mescalito”
17.    “Dance”
18.    “Jig”

Walking Man (1974)
1.    “Walking Man”
2.    “Rock ’n’ Roll Is Music Now”
3.    “Let It All Fall Down”
4.    “Me And My Guitar”
5.    “Daddy's Baby”
6.    “Ain’t No Song”
7.    “Hello Old Friend”
8.    “Migration”
9.    “The Promised Land”
10.  “Fading Away”

Gorilla (1975)
1.    “Mexico”
2.    “Music”
3.    “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)”
4.    “Wandering”
5.    “Gorilla”
6.    “You Make It Easy”
7.    “I Was A Fool To Care”
8.    “Lighthouse”
9.    “Angry Blues”
10.  “Love Songs”
11.  “Sarah Maria”

In The Pocket (1976)
1.    “Shower The People”
2.    “A Junkie’s Lament”
3.    “Money Machine”
4.    “Slow Burning Love”
5.    “Everybody Has The Blues”
6.    “Daddy's All Gone”
7.    “Woman’s Gotta Have It”
8.    “Captain Jim's Drunken Dream”
9.    “Don’t Be Sad ’Cause Your Sun Is Down”
10.  “Nothing Like A Hundred Miles”
11.   “Family Man”
12.  “Golden Moments”