Not surprisingly, Peel played no James Taylor tracks in his later shows, but the singer became a lasting favourite of Bob Harris. The critic Lester Bangs, an early champion of punk, and of Peel favourites such as Captain Beefheart, even wrote a notorious article (in praise of The Troggs) in which he stated he would like to kill James Taylor. When the singer returned to America his career took off, and he returned to Britain for TV appearances and a couple of Radio 1 concerts.Īfter James Taylor's initial success, however, Peel became more critical of the singer's output, at one point claiming that the work of Joni Mitchell (who had shared the billing with Taylor on a 1970 Radio 1 In Concert programme introduced by Peel) had ' disintegrated into a James Taylor-like welter of self-pity and self-indulgence.' Peel was not alone in his criticism of Taylor's work in the rock press there was a reaction against the singer, who some saw as epitomising everything that had gone wrong with pop music in the early 1970s. Although Taylor lived in London in the late 1960s, he was unwell and did not perform live, so he was not among the many singer-songwriters who did sessions for Peel's Night Ride programme. Peel played tracks from his early albums, particularly the eponymous debut album recorded in 1968 in London for the Beatles' Apple label, and the critically acclaimed and commercially successful follow-up, Sweet Baby James.

James Taylor was the most commercially successful of the American singer-songwriters who emerged in the late 1960s.

Qwiki james taylor