The 1981 Listening Post - James taylor - Dad Loves His Work

 James Taylor - Dad Loves His Work

#117

By MacArthur Antigua

James Taylor

Dad Loves His Work

Allen’s Rating: 3 out of 5

MacArthur’s Rating: 2 out of 5

Genre:  Singer-Songwriter; Slightly Yacht Folk

Highlights:

Stand and Fight

Summer's Here

Sugar Trade

Growing up top 40 pop/metal in the south suburban Chicago 'burbs, and then rebelling against that in my later teen years by going full Britpop (Smiths / New Order / The Cure / Erasure), meant that there massive swaths of music that I just missed.  When I stepped on campus at Northwestern University in 1992, it seemed like I was handed three CDs to catch up with my more cultured peers: Indigo Girls (self-titled debut), Legend: The Best of Bob Marley, and Greatest Hits (James Taylor compilation album).

That's pretty much my "pocket" with JT.  Sure, I may catch an occasional cover here and there, but I didn't have much reason to root around his back catalog.  That is until Allen asked me if I'd pick up "Dad Loves His Work", Taylor's 10th studio album released in 1981.  

The quick and dirty - it's probably not fair to Taylor to compare this album to his Greatest Hits compilation, but that's how I'm coming into it.  And it's eminently forgettable.  Taylor's got a butterscotch smooth voice, and the session musicians hit their marks.  The backup vocals are clean and crisp.   It's kinda like watching a team that's been eliminated from the playoffs finish up the last couple of weeks of the season.  Sure, there may be moments of individual brilliance here and there, but the whole enterprise lacks any urgency or importance.

Anyway, below are my reactions to each track:

Hard Times.  Clean production.  Doobie bounce piano.  Call and response w/back up singers.  Kinda inspirational, I guess.  It's kinda like blues without the blues.

Her Town Too (w/JD Souther).  Apparently this "Divorce-core" track hit #11 in the Billboard charts, and it checks all the boxes for that Adult Contemporary chart.

Hour That the Morning Comes.  Acoustic riff opens.  JT doing that bluesy talk-drawl.  There are no rough edges on this track.  Even the grungy guitar solo has a satin sheen.

I Will Follow.  Another swaying snoozer, with lilting backup vocals.  Some nice touches with accented guitars, but it's mainly a piano rambler.

Believe It or Not.  Quiet, yet hopeful ballad that celebrates the narrator being reunited with the love of his life.  Unfortunately this only highlights how pedestrian JT's lyrics are: "Today the world seems brighter. Light and bright and right somehow."  

Stand and Fight - "the woke song."  Starts with a bull-horn esque declaration, which affirms that nothing is gonna change until someone, uhh, stands and fight.  It continues with assertive guitars, and a phalanx of backup vocals.  What it has in earnestness, it lacks in any sort of memorable hook.  I could imagine some also-ran Democratic candidate using this as entrance music at a wintry New Hampshire fundraiser.  Odds are, this same candidate sports Birkenstocks and utility vests.

Only for Me.  It's a five minute track, and I'm still not really sure what it's about as I got bored halfway through the first verse.

Summer's Here.  Bossa nova beat, a cowbell here and there.  We get harmonica during the bridge interlude.  Nasally cheeky vocal delivery of lyrics that *checks notes* celebrate how great the season of summer is.  I didn't realize that summer's Q-rating was so low that it required this brand jingle, but here we are.  It's almost like a boring cousin of "Mexico."  I liked it mainly because it reminded me of that song, and it only lasts 2:43.

Sugar Trade.  Sweet Baby James waltz that actually uses the Transatlantic Slave Trade as source material.  And somehow, he centers the white fishermen in this particular narrative.  WTF, JT?!?  Thank God he stashed this song toward the back of the album or else I woulda bailed earlier.   

London Town.  Some nice JT harmonies, but dripped with melancholy.

That Lonesome Road.  To close out the LP, goes nearly full a capella.  Actually, of all the tracks, this one works the most.  Haunting and melancholic chorus.

https://open.spotify.com/album/2MDPMawWYx0T4FjdZWCU6f?si=W8eF7977QBumBnjcap4Bmg