He's got a nose like a doughnut, got a tendency to overeat.
I was always drawn to James Taylor music for some reason. It's light and breezy most of the time, his hits could fill any soft rock collection that Time Life tried to peddle on TV in the 90's, but I think I recognized the quality of it over a Captain or even a Tenille. When I started to play guitar, I really enjoyed watching his live stuff, I always appreciated his, pretty impressive, finger-picking.
Gorilla showcases this, but it's also a, kind of, weird white guy soul album, featuring the most over enunciating version of a Marvin Gaye song this side of an high school chorus kid's American Idol audition. Many of the songs have a groove based around acoustic folk picking, which doesn't always sound right, but I guess it didn't scare white people in the 70's so it sold pretty well. Of the singles that were released from this album, Mexico is the highlight for me and I didn't realize this until today but it features some guest vocals from Graham Nash and David Crosby, who do have the tendency to make things better... all things, not just music, just ask Melissa Ethridge. I have to imagine Jimmy Buffet being pissed that he didn't write that song. The real surprise on the record for me is "You Make it Easy". It's a delightfully smooth song about adultery that I don't imagine sat well with Carly Simon.
Overall, probably not the world's greatest James Taylor album, but certainly solid. Also, If you think you know James Taylor, and you've come to the conclusion that he's not a bad-ass, I recommend you listen to his interview on Marc Maron's WTF podcast or watch Two Lane Blacktop. He's cooler than you think.
3/5
