Sweet Baby James/Workingman’s Dead
This week ‘On The Turntable’ will air two lps celebrating 50 year Anniversaries … James Taylor’s second – Sweet Baby James and Workingman’s Dead from The Grateful Dead
Sweet Baby James
Sweet Baby James is the second album by James Taylor, and his first release on Warner Bros. Records; there are many that don’t realize that James first signed with Apple in 1968. The album was released in February 1970 and includes “Fire And Rain” – the song that moved Taylor in superstar status and began the singer-songwriter movement in popular music.
The album reached #3 on the Billboard 200, was nominated to a Grammy for Album of the Year … Rolling Stone Magazine listed Sweet Baby James at number 104 on its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time … Best Ever Albums Dot Com considers the album the 36th best of 1970 and the 284th best of the 1970’s … Digital Dream Door Dot Com ranks the lp at number 27.
Notable Tracks – ‘Sweet Baby James’ ‘Fire And Rain’ ‘Country Road’ ‘Steamroller Blues’
Workingman’s Dead
It would be difficult to host a program about vinyl and long playing records without featuring something from the Grateful Dead …This week we celebrate 50 years since the release of Workingman’s Dead .. The lp was recorded in February and released in June of 1970. Readers of Rolling Stone voted Working Man’s Dead the best album of 1970, followed by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s Déjà vu, an album that we will feature in upcoming weeks and Van Morrison’s Moondance, which aired last week On The Turntable.
This is the lp where the Dead became “The Dead” … the Psychedelic Americana style that Deadheads fell in love with began with Workingman’s Dead … a decision about making a change in their style was made with this lp and continued with American Beauty later in the year …this week we will air my original copy of this album purchased around 1973 … Digital Dream Door Dot Com considers the album the 22nd best of 1970 … Once again, proving that the critics and the Deadheads never agreed.
Notable Tracks – ‘Casey Jones’ ‘Uncle John’s Band’ ‘Cumberland Blues’