Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon
The 1971 album that carried his only number one single, with Carole King, Joni Mitchell and the Memphis Horns in the room.
James Taylor, 1971
- Released
- April 1971
- Recorded
- January to February 1971
- Label
- Warner Bros.
- Producer
- Peter Asher
Taylor recorded it between early January and late February 1971, with Peter Asher producing, while Carole King was making Tapestry. The album reached number two in the week before his version of You've Got a Friend, with Joni Mitchell singing backing vocals, reached number one on 31 July 1971. Tapestry kept it from the top. Long Ago and Far Away reached 31 on the Hot 100. The Guardian reported in 2020 that he wrote You Can Close Your Eyes for Mitchell. The album sold 2.5 million copies in the US.
Ben Gerson of Rolling Stone found it "dull listening" at first, then heard a weariness in it that was part of its artistic statement. Robert Christgau, writing in 1981, called it "Interesting, intricate, unlistenable." In 2000 it ranked 858 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums. Danny Kortchmar wrote Machine Gun Kelly, and the Memphis Horns, Wayne Jackson and Andrew Love, play on the album.
Track listing
- Love Has Brought Me Around2:41
- You've Got a Friend4:28
- Places in My Past2:01
- Riding on a Railroad2:41
- Soldiers1:13
- Mud Slide Slim5:20
- Hey Mister, That's Me up on the Jukebox3:46
- You Can Close Your Eyes2:31
- Machine Gun Kelly2:37
- Long Ago and Far Away2:20
- Let Me Ride2:42
- Highway Song3:51
- Isn't It Nice to Be Home Again0:55
Personnel
- James Taylor vocals, acoustic guitar, piano
- Russ Kunkel drums, congas
- Leland Sklar bass
- Carole King piano, backing vocals
- Danny Kortchmar electric guitar, congas
- Peter Asher tambourine, backing vocals
- Joni Mitchell backing vocals
- John Hartford banjo (Riding on a Railroad)
- Richard Greene fiddle (Riding on a Railroad)
- Kate Taylor backing vocals
- Wayne Jackson trumpet, horn arrangements
- Andrew Love tenor saxophone
- Richard Sanford Orshoff engineer
More from James Taylor
James Taylor (1968), Sweet Baby James (1970), One Man Dog (1972), Walking Man (1974), Gorilla (1975), Greatest Hits (1976), JT (1977), Dad Loves His Work (1981), Hourglass (1997), Before This World (2015)
Sources
- Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon, Wikipedia
- James Taylor: In search of the Beatles years, The Guardian (2020-02-17)