This is what a music lens should be like: James Taylors’ non-hits

Although this is a bit out of my category, being folk-pop I suppose, I can't resist giving a shout-out to Joan for her wonderful lens, My favorite non-hits by James Taylor.

Joan wrote about this song, "Another Gray Morning:"

I don't have any real experience with depression myself, but James Taylor does, and I get the feeling that "Another Grey Morning" paints a picture of what depression is like. You can feel heaviness in the song right along with its beauty.

The main guitar riff has a bluesy feel and the bass line partly resembles another great blues tune, Ain't No Sunshine by Bill Withers. The guitar groove is very appealing and could even sound a little bit funky or sexy if it were paired with a different melody and lyrics, but in the context of the song it adds to the feeling of droning repetition; it succeeds in sounding like a rut instead of a groove.

And James, of course, complements it perfectly with his singing. The intimacy of his vocals help you feel like you're getting inside someone else's head.

So this lens has everything I want to see in a music site: lots of musical examples, and then lots of interesting description of why these particular songs spoke to Joan.

It doesn't hurt that James Taylor has it all: one of pop music's best voices ever; wonderful guitar playing; spectacular song-writing; and he's smart, and self-effacing too. Oh, and he was a dream-boat before he lost his hair...

If you want me to like your music lens, don't just list songs - pick them carefully, and tell my why you chose them. And most importantly, I want to HEAR them so be sure there is playable music a'plenty.

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This entry was posted on January 27, 2010 at 5:38 pm and is filed under Folk Music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.