Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon

Mud Slide Slim And The Blue Horizon
Studio album by James Taylor
Released	April 1971
Recorded	January 3 - February 28, 1971
Genre	Rock
Length	37:07
Label	Warner Bros.
Producer	Peter Asher
James Taylor chronology
James Taylor and the Original Flying Machine (1971) Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon (1971) One Man Dog (1972)

Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon is James Taylor's third album. Released in April 1971 as the follow-up of his commercial breakthrough and critical triumph, Sweet Baby James, it almost equaled the acclaim and surpassed the success of its predecessor at the time of its release. It contained Taylor's biggest hit single in the US, a version of the Carole King standard "You've Got a Friend", which became his only #1 on the Billboard charts on July 31, 1971. The week before, the album itself reached its peak position of #2 in the Billboard album charts (the highest position achieved by Taylor in this list during his career). It was held off the top spot by King, then ruling the charts with the blockbuster Tapestry album, which contained her version of "You've Got a Friend".

Months later, the album managed to generate another Top 40 hit, "Long Ago and Far Away", which reached #31 on the Billboard Hot 100. Other songs became standards in concert, particularly "You Can Close Your Eyes".

In 1972, "You've Got a Friend" received Grammy Awards both for Taylor (Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male) and King (Song of the Year).

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Robert Christgau	(C+) [2]
Rolling Stone	(positive) [3]
Rolling Stone Album Guide	[4]
This table needs to be expanded using prose. See the guideline for more information.

Track listing

All songs by James Taylor unless otherwise noted.

1. "Love Has Brought Me Around" – 2:41
2. "You've Got a Friend" (Carole King) – 4:28
3. "Places in My Past" – 2:01
4. "Riding on a Railroad" – 2:41
5. "Soldiers" – 1:13
6. "Mud Slide Slim" – 5:20
7. "Hey Mister, That's Me up on the Jukebox" – 3:46
8. "You Can Close Your Eyes" – 2:31
9. "Machine Gun Kelly" (Danny Kortchmar) – 2:37
10. "Long Ago and Far Away" – 2:20
11. "Let Me Ride" – 2:42
12. "Highway Song" – 3:51
13. "Isn't It Nice to Be Home Again" – 0:55

Personnel

• James Taylor - guitar, piano, vocals
• Peter Asher - tambourine, backing vocals
• Richard Greene - fiddle
• Gail Haness - backing vocals
• John Hartford - banjo
• Wayne Jackson - trumpet
• Kevin Kelly - piano, accordion
• Carole King - piano, backing vocals
• Danny Kortchmar - guitar, conga
• Russ Kunkel - drums, percussion
• Andrew Love - tenor saxophone
• Leland Sklar - bass
• Joni Mitchell - backing vocals
• Kate Taylor - backing vocals

References

1. ^ Ruhlmann, William. Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon at Allmusic. Retrieved 2 October 2004.
2. ^ Christgau, Robert. "James Taylor > Consumer Guide Reviews". Robert Christgau. http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=james+taylor. Retrieved 13 April 2006. 
3. ^ Gerson, Ben (June 24, 1971). "James Taylor Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon > Album Review". Rolling Stone (85). Archived from the original on 2 October 2007. http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/mud-slide-slim-the-blue-horizon-19710624. Retrieved 15 June 2006. 
4. ^ Coleman, Mark with Edmonds, Ben (2004). "James Taylor". In Brackett, Nathan with Hoard, Christian. The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. London: Fireside. pp. 804-805. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.  Portions posted at "James Taylor > Album Guide". rollingstone.com. http://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/james-taylor/albumguide. Retrieved 7 November 2011.