James Taylor stopped pushing himself into new musical and lyrical territories in the late '70s, so it doesn't come as a great surprise that Hourglass, his first studio album in six years, doesn't offer anything new -- it's a collection of pleasant, melodic, simple songs about love, family, and social activism.
That's not necessarily a bad thing, since Taylor has a gift for such material, and on Hourglass, he sounds as good as ever.
The music, in many ways, has greater depth than previous records, since it features cameos from such heavy hitters as Stevie Wonder, Yo-Yo Ma, Shawn Colvin, Michael Brecker, Mark O'Connor, and Branford Marsalis.
There are a few songs that fall a little flat, failing to make much of an impression one way or the other, but on the whole, Hourglass is a nice addition to his catalog.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Line 'Em UpJames Taylor | James Taylor | Play | 04:42 | 10 MB | 0 MB |
| 2 | Enough to Be on Your WayJames Taylor | James Taylor | Play | 05:26 | 12 MB | 0 MB |
| 3 | GaiaJames Taylor | James Taylor | Play | 05:28 | 12 MB | 0 MB |
| 4 | AnanasJack Taylor, James Taylor | James Taylor | Play | 05:42 | 13 MB | 0 MB |
| 5 | Jump up Behind MeJack Taylor, James Taylor | James Taylor | Play | 03:28 | 7 MB | 0 MB |
| 6 | Up Er MeiJack Taylor, James Taylor | James Taylor | Play | 03:46 | 8 MB | 0 MB |
| 7 | Up from Your LifeJack Taylor, James Taylor | James Taylor | Play | 05:14 | 12 MB | 0 MB |
| 8 | Yellow and RoseJack Taylor, James Taylor | James Taylor | Play | 04:53 | 11 MB | 0 MB |
| 9 | BoatmanLivingston Taylor, Margaret Taylor | James Taylor | Play | 03:56 | 9 MB | 0 MB |
| 10 | Walking My Baby Back HomeFred E. Ahlert, Roy Turk | James Taylor | Play | 02:27 | 5 MB | 0 MB |
| 11 | Hangnail | James Taylor | Play | 02:21 | 5 MB | 0 MB |
| 47 mins | 108 MB | |||||
| 0 mins | 0 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fred E. Ahlert | Composer |
| 2 | Michael Brecker | EWI, Guest Artist, Sax (Tenor) |
| 3 | Ted Cammann | Assistant Producer, Production Assistant |
| 4 | Clifford Carter | Keyboards |
| 5 | Valerie Carter | Guest Artist, Vocals |
| 6 | Shawn Colvin | Guest Artist, Vocals |
| 7 | Jill Dell'Abate | Associate Producer, Vocals |
| 8 | Dan Dugmore | Guitar (Steel), Pedal Steel |
| 9 | Andrew Felluss | Mixing Assistant |
| 10 | Frank Filipetti | Engineer, Mixing, Producer |
| 11 | Tim Gerron | Assistant Engineer |
| 12 | Ted Jensen | Mastering |
| 13 | Jimmy Johnson | Bass |
| 14 | Pete Karam | Assistant Engineer, Mixing Assistant |
| 15 | David Lasley | Guest Artist, Vocals |
| 16 | Yo-Yo Ma | Cello, Guest Artist |
| 17 | Bob Mann | Guitar |
| 18 | Kate Markowitz | Vocals |
| 19 | Branford Marsalis | Guest Artist, Sax (Soprano) |
| 20 | Stephanie Mauer | Art Direction |
| 21 | Arnold McCuller | Vocals |
| 22 | Edgar Meyer | Bass (Acoustic), Cello Arrangement |
| 23 | Rob Mounsey | Horn Arrangements |
| 24 | Mark O'Connor | Fiddle |
| 25 | Chris Quinn | Design |
| 26 | Herb Ritts | Photography |
| 27 | Stanley Silverman | Cello Arrangement |
| 28 | Sting | Guest Artist, Vocals |
| 29 | Jack Taylor | Composer |
| 30 | James Taylor | Composer, Guitar, Guitar (Acoustic), Harmonica, Penny Whistle, Primary Artist, Producer, Vocals |
| 31 | Livingston Taylor | Composer |
| 32 | Margaret Taylor | Composer |
| 33 | Ross Traut | Guest Artist, Guitar, Hi String Guitar |
| 34 | Roy Turk | Composer |
| 35 | Carlos Vega | Drums, Percussion |
| 36 | Stevie Wonder | Guest Artist, Harmonica |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |