MUSIC REVIEWS JAMES TAYLOR'S COVERS

By R. A. Pearson

James Taylor released a CD of covers in the fall of 2008 appropriately entitled Covers. In his press release he notes, ‘I’ve done covers of other people’s songs since the beginning. Looking over the various collections of my tunes a fair-sized portion of my “hits” have been covers: “You've Got a Friend,” “How Sweet it Is,” “Up On the Roof,” and “Handyman” were all covers so this is not uncharted water for me.’ Taylor also notes these were all songs he had done in concert many times over the years but never recorded.

The songs on Covers represent a major swath of American music from the folk sounds of Leonard Cohen’s emotional “Suzanne” to the pop country hit “Seminole Wind” by John Anderson. Taylor’s unique voice and musical interpretations of the music help the listener hear the songs in a new way. Taylor covers two of my personal favorites on this CD, the “Wichita Lineman” by Jimmy Web and made famous by Glenn Campbell and “On Broadway” by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, made famous by George Benson. The collection also contains Eddie Cochran and Jerry Capehart’s “Summertime Blues” covered by the Who and several other bands through the rock era. Other artists covered on the 12-song Covers song list include the Dixie Chicks, The Temptations, Buddy Holly, and county music legend George Jones.

James Taylor’s Band for this CD includes Steve Gadd on drums, Jimmy Johnson on bass, Luis Conte on precussion, Michael Landau on guitars, Lou Marini and Walt Fowler on woodwinds and horns, Andrea Zonn on Violin and Larry Goldings on keyboards. Arnold McCuller, David Lasley, Kate Markowitz, perform backup vocals on the CD. Yo Yo Ma made a guest appearance on the cello on “Suzanne.” The album was produced by James Taylor and Dave O’Donnell. Covers has been nominated for a 2009 Grammy award for Best Pop Vocal Album and “Wichita Lineman” has been nominated for a Grammy in the Best Male Pop Vocal category.

James Taylor fans will want this CD, and the casual J.T./Pop Vocal aficionados may wish to listen to Covers and download a few tunes for their computer or Ipod.

Folk artist Joan Baez also released a cover CD in 2008 entitled Day After Tomorrow. This 10 cut CD contains covers from artists from Steve Earle and Patty Griffin to Tom Waits. The use of acoustic instrumentation on the album helps put the songs and Baez’s voice in perspective. As one would expect from a Joan Baez CD, there is political content and social commentary in some of the songs chosen for the collection.

Interesting songs on the Day After Tomorrow include: “Requiem” by Eliza Gilkyson, the title cut, “Day After Tomorrow,” by Tom Waits and Katherine Brennan, “Rose of Sharon” by Eliza Gilkyson and three songs by Steve Earle, “God is God,” “I Am A Wanderer,” and “Jericho Road.”

It was great to see Joan Baez out with a New CD. Day After Tomorrow is a timely and relevant work, almost a throw back to Baez’s early years, and hopefully the music world will hear from her again soon.

The estate of Frank Zappa has released Imaginary Diseases, a CD recorded live in 1972. It was edited, mixed, and mastered by F.Z. then stored away instead of being released. The album shows Zappa as a creative jazz artist very much like the albums Waka/Jawaka and The Grand Wazoo. While the world remembers Frank Zappa more for his comedy music and social commentaries, he was a noted rock/fusion jazz player. Imaginary Diseases may be Zappa’s best live jazz album, and it shows Zappa could run with the big boys like Miles Davis, Chick Corea, and John Coltrane.

The Frank Zappa estate, especially his son Dweezil Zappa, is doing a great job in handeling the F.Z. vault. It is sure to be full, but the decision on what to release and when is very important. Speaking of Dweezil Zappa, he has his own band and is on tour now. Good luck D.Z.

At last the first two John Kay solo albums, Forgotten Songs And Unsung Heroes and My Sportin’ Life have been re-released in their entirety. While an abbreviated 10 song CD was released under the title Lone Steppenwolf the collection carried only half of this excellent two-album song list. Now BGO Records has released all twenty songs, many of them covers, done by John Kay shortly after the demise of the original Steppenwolf in the early 1970s. The double release CD contains John Kay doing songs like “You Win Again” by Hank Williams, Steely Dan’s “Giles Of The River,” “Drift Away” by Mentor Williams and made popular by Dobie Gray, and many of Kay’s originals to boot. If you were missing this great collection it is now available at the online music stores.