Search - James Taylor :: Flag

Most underrated album by a mile

Craig Levinson | 04/08/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The reviewer that mentioned his difficulty listening to JT's greatest hits gives a very apt description of FLAG, an album that truly shaped my exploration of music. There's very little in JT's catalog that I don't like, but I do take issue with a lot of his greatest hits. For the most part, they are such beautiful, catchy melodies ("ear-worms") that they almost overwhelm the lyrics. On songs like Sweet Baby James and Fire & Rain, for example, James could have written lyrics about eating puppies and people might not have even noticed.



FLAG has some great melodies, but they do not overwhelm the poignant, gut-wrenching lyrics of songs like Sleep Come Free Me, Johnnie Comes Back, and Millworker -- songs that reveal universal truths about the human experience. FLAG is not "easy listening." It's something far better -- more like a Masters' Class in songwriting for the advanced listener. I thank my dad for playing that album when I was a teenager."