Record basics
- Album name: Gorilla
- Artist name: James Taylor
- Year: 1975
- Number of discs: one
- Label: Warner Bros.
- Collection: Selman
- Distinguishing characteristics:
- Sticker on front: PROMOTIONAL COPY / NOT FOR SALE
- Written on sticker: Selman
- Printed on both sides of LP: PROMOTION NOT FOR SALE
- Written on side 1 of LP: Selman
- Buy it on Amazon: $26.01
My review
Level of familiarity before listening
I listened to Sweet Baby James by James Taylor last month and was not that impressed, but I’ve never heard of this record before, and the only song I know by name is Marvin Gaye’s How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You).
What I expected
More 1970s singer-songwriter easy listening.
What it was actually like
This was an extremely bland record, with hardly any personality. It mostly wasn’t bad, but there was one offensively bad song: You Make It Easy, which was made far worse by its saxophone.
How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You) was pretty faithful to Marvin Gaye’s version, but why not just listen to that one, which has a remarkably fun sound for a love song?
Angry Blues was part funk and part country, which might have been interesting if it had been explored some more.
I started to write that Mexico sounded like a Jimmy Buffett song, but then checked, and it actually was covered by Jimmy Buffett!
Grade
2/5: weak, but I was able to listen to the whole thing
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