Here is a recording that is of special interest to those who would like to hear James Taylor in his very early days, way back in 1966.
The recordings on this tape were made at Select Sound Studios in NY, 1966 and only one single "Night Owl" was flicked to the market as a single but it didn't do well commercially. It was decided to release these recordings (Euphoria Records) to the "world" in 1971 and as James Taylor was by then achieving some recognition elsewhere, these recordings had moderate success, in fact it was also reissued in 1996.
These recordings were also known by the title 1967 - same songs.
Musicians performing on this recording were:
- The Flying Machine
- James Taylor — guitar, vocals
- Danny Kortchmar — guitar, vocals
- Zachary Wiesner — bass
- Joel O'Brien — drums
- Additional recording musician
- Al Gorgoni — harpsichord
This recording was not considered "polished enough" to be released commercially at the time and this is the release which includes many studio "talkback" segments, retakes, count in's etc - it is unpolished for sure but its all about the music and this recording gives an insight of James Taylor's musical development - at this time he played very bluesy and sometimes quite psychedelic styles - a really interesting listen.
This is the stuff real music aficionados love to listen to, nice "raw" recordings that have not been "steam cleaned" ready for commercial consumption.
James Taylor And The Original Flying Machine - Rainy Day Man
TRIP (Subsidiary of Springboard International Records, Inc.)
Cat# BCT-5298
Australian release (Manufactured & Distributed by Astor Records)
1971
Cassette packaging is in very good condition, clean front cover/insert. Cassette labels clean.
Before playing any cassette I always repack the tape, and visually inspected carefully the clamshell, rollers and head pressure pad - no issues with the shell or tape/pressure pad at all
This is a screw type clamshell so if ever it was required to "get inside" to relube, no issues with this tape
I have then played this tape entirely, crisp clean sound and no problems at all with no "drop outs" or high frequency loss heard.
I cannot find any information about this specific release so I carefully listened/timed each track and made additional notes about the content. Note in particular that the track order is NOT the same as other releases but I have confirmed the printed track order is exactly as recorded on this tape cassette - it is not a misprint.
Intertrack pauses can be quite long, around 3 - 4 seconds per song
Bold text below indicates talkback vocals etc
Tracks:
Programme 1:
(Hi Mum Hi Dad This is our first record...) Night Owl, (Whats sa take? (I think, a bit indistinct)) Kootch's Song, Music, studio tape running up to speed then lyrics Yeah .. studio tape stops Ok Rollin On Danny then some very low level talkback followed by drums lead into ... Knocking Round The Zoo (very funky sound indeed), studio talkback (very low level) then count in 1 2 3 4 Something's Wrong (very nice instrumental, no James at the mic)
Programme 2:
(studio talkback, musicians begin playing then studio tape fast winding audio. harpischord begins playing followed by tons of audio feedback then more harpischord, talkback vocal "hope you told them the records not goin to be easy ... laughing" commentary about the "foolish laughter" then after a little more talkback, they count in the song 1 2 3 ... playing and singing Sunset brighten your night ... studio tape abruptly comes to a halt. More talkback banter and away they go again 1 2 3 and this time finally after 01:30 of stops and starts), James gets to sing the song Brighten Your Night With My Day, (short low level studio talkback) then Rainy Day Man, (we're rolling James says "Oh Roll away" Studio says "Rolling, recording on James" "No rhythm for the solo, leave it out for now" song begins, drums and bass only then stops. Begins again but with lead guitar, then stops once again "Exactly the same way, that was perfect" "If you could throw a couple of yeah yaah while he's playing the drum" then piles of reverb, yahoo'ing "Hey Mum Hi there" then the funky music starts, with a touch of reverb Knocking 'Round The Zoo (Take 2)
So there you have it, a pretty forensic listen to this tape (but no running sheet!) - it's no good just telling you its a studio demo without knowing what is recorded on the tape. One day, people who love music, particularly from "Sweet Baby James" will treasure this sort of recording from his earliest beginnings back in the 1960's
One of the big things I noticed about this recording is that it sounds SO GOOD, very low level tape hiss and the highs/lows are full-on. If anything the highs when James is singing can be a little "peaky" but remember this recording has not been mastered at all.
