Roady
11-18-2007, 03:41 PM
Below is a review of James Taylor's new CD/DVD from Rolling Stone. The DVD is just awesome. His voice and guitar sound better than they did when I heard him live at the Wang in Boston and at Tanglewood. Also the Colonial theater, where the DVD shoot took place, has been beautifully restored and I'm wondering if it might be a possible venue for Janis next summer?
From the Rolling Stone
There's no shortage of James Taylor hits collections out there, but that doesn't make this new live CD-DVD, any less welcome. Taylor's fans regard each reframing of his career as an artistic snapshot of his life at that moment, and this set offers a particularly warm portrait. Recorded at the Colonial Theatre near Taylor's home in the Berkshires, One Man Band finds the singer re-engaging such classics as "Something in the Way She Moves," "Sweet Baby James" and "Fire and Rain" in spare, mostly acoustic settings. While the nineteen-track CD is more specifically performance-oriented, the two-hour DVD features Taylor sharing photos, video footage and memories in ways that provide a rich context for his songs. Taylor's supple baritone remains a wonder of intimacy, and it finds its match in the effortless intricacy of his finger-picking. More recent songs like "My Traveling Star" and "Mean Old Man" hold their own next to the likes of "Shower the People." Taken together, the One Man Band CD-DVD is more a musical biography than simply a greatest-hits set, Taylor's latest missive from the long and winding road he's on.
ANTHONY DECURTIS
(Posted: Nov 15, 2007)
From the Rolling Stone
There's no shortage of James Taylor hits collections out there, but that doesn't make this new live CD-DVD, any less welcome. Taylor's fans regard each reframing of his career as an artistic snapshot of his life at that moment, and this set offers a particularly warm portrait. Recorded at the Colonial Theatre near Taylor's home in the Berkshires, One Man Band finds the singer re-engaging such classics as "Something in the Way She Moves," "Sweet Baby James" and "Fire and Rain" in spare, mostly acoustic settings. While the nineteen-track CD is more specifically performance-oriented, the two-hour DVD features Taylor sharing photos, video footage and memories in ways that provide a rich context for his songs. Taylor's supple baritone remains a wonder of intimacy, and it finds its match in the effortless intricacy of his finger-picking. More recent songs like "My Traveling Star" and "Mean Old Man" hold their own next to the likes of "Shower the People." Taken together, the One Man Band CD-DVD is more a musical biography than simply a greatest-hits set, Taylor's latest missive from the long and winding road he's on.
ANTHONY DECURTIS
(Posted: Nov 15, 2007)