Live At The Troubadour (Live At The Troubadour / 2007)

Carole King, JAMES TAYLOR

Released on 24-05-2010 by Craft Recordings
Main artists: Carole King James Taylor
Genre: Pop

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When does an artist morph from being current to nostalgia? It's an often imperceptible evolution that can happen almost overnight. Back in 2010, when this album was first released, old friends and musical contemporaries Carole King and James Taylor were fast approaching that turn. And yet this pair of indispensable American singer/songwriters were still in fine voice and even more buoyant spirits during these shows which judging by the crowd reaction, were a rousing success. Capturing highlights from three 2007 shows at the legendary (and still open) Troubadour in West Hollywood, these shows were meant to celebrate the club's 50th anniversary, and also its history with King and Taylor, who once laid the foundations of their respective careers there. In 1969 prior to her first solo release Writer, King played piano in Taylor's band during a six-night residency at the club. The next year they returned to co-headline a multi-night stand. Their appearance in 2007, using the same band as those original gigs—Danny Kortchmar (guitar), Leland Sklar (bass) and Russ Kunkel (drums)—were a love fest for the fans and performers alike, igniting the subsequent 2010 Troubadour Reunion Tour which touched down in the US, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. The big news with this reissue is that for the first time it's available in 96 kHz/24-bit high resolution. While live albums will never be noted for their pristine sound, the increased level of detail, hearing the resonances of the room for the first time and the newly crisped edges to the overall production are a welcome improvement. Needless to say, finding suitable material was not this duo's problem. The dilemma quickly became which songs not to play. Adopting the your song-my song method of a guitar pull they swing back and forth between originals. No disrespect to Taylor but King's songs, many from her 1971 breakthrough, Tapestry, are hard to top. While not the singer she was in 1970, King delivers a first-class rendition of "It's Too Late" which is spiced by a tight Danny Kortchmar solo. "Smackwater Jack," with King playing barrelhouse piano licks, becomes even more of a head-bobbing, toe-tapping stomp than the original. She reaches back, giving a slow performance of "Will You Love Me Tomorrow?" her 1960 hit for the Shirelles, in which Taylor sings a duet in the chorus. Wise performers that they are, they save the big fireworks for the finale: Taylor works his way through a slow-paced "Fire and Rain," King adds the necessary snap to "I Feel the Earth Move" before Taylor volleys back with "You've Got a Friend" where King takes a verse and sings duet in the choruses on a song that opened side two of Tapestry. In closing, they trade verses on King's "Up On The Roof," a 1962 hit for The Drifters, and sing a duet on Taylor's "You Can Close Your Eyes," which seems a bit anticlimactic and mournful for a friendly performance—akin to listening to '70s FM Radio—from aging old pros which is anything but. © Robert Baird/Qobuz

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Live At The Troubadour (Live At The Troubadour / 2007)

Carole King

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