Review Summary: Greates Hits displays Taylors many talents through a collection of Taylor signature classics that will appeal to new fans and those with him from the begining.
James Taylor is an often over looked and underrated artist. He is consistently lumped with the mellow and soft singer songwriters of the seventies, but Mr. Taylor is quite unique. His music isn’t as concerned with storytelling as it is with conveying emotion. His music carries and expresses emotion in almost the same way as the blues. Taylor doesn’t play guitar with emotion however and that is one the fascinating aspects of his music. His playing is very technical, and his guitar intros are very progressive and add to the body of the song.
It is his greatest hits collection that captures the true essence of his music. The first five tracks are not only the highlights of the album, but also some of the defining songs of the era. “Fire and Rain” and Carolina on my mind” are the hallmarks, but “Country Road” and “Sweet Baby James” add to Taylor’s signature sound of basically a man and his guitar creating elaborate melodies. “There something in the Way she moves” sucks the listener in with the beautiful guitar intro and Taylors soothing voice. The second half of the album features some of his more mellow work like “Shower the People” and “You’ve got a Friend”. These are great in their own right, but you could stop after the fifth track and still have a compete album that highlights Mr. Taylor’s talents in not only songwriting, but his voice and guitar work as well.
Greatest Hits is a great starting point for people to enjoy Taylor’s Music. This collection doesn’t touch any of his later work, but it will encourage listeners to seek out his entire catalog new to old. Traditional rock fans may have a hard time switching gears to the softer sounds, but they need to treat themselves to an artist who knows his sound and can convey it on a tremendously high level. Greatest Hits is a great all around collection
