James Taylor – Sweet Baby James (1970)

This was James second album, his first released by Apple in 1968 is quite difficult to get on CD except in a Japanese release which is pretty expensive.  But he fell into a bad drug habit after leaving London for New York and was in a pretty bad state before being rescued by his father who drove him back to his North Carolina home for recuperation.  He then had an motorbike accident breaking both hands and feet.  It seems almost a miracle that he ever got back to playing and singing and releasing this splendid album on new record label Warner Brothers.  One result of his Apple days was meeting Peter Asher, girlfriend of Paul’s then girlfriend Jane – he became James’ manager and record producer and life-long friend.  This album was a huge success reaching number 3 in America and he was one of those artists promoted by Noel Edmunds on his Sunday afternoon show.  James has a laid-back style and mostly soft, soothing vocals which belie his skillfull songwriting and guitar playing.  This album is simply sublime from opener ‘Sweet Baby James’ to closer ‘Suite for 20g’ (which refers to the pay he would receive from Warners on the album release as he cobbled together the last song) he doesn’t put a foot wrong.  Favourites are ‘Steamroller’, ‘Blossom’ and of course ‘Fire and Rain’.  The rest is, as they say, History.