CD Review: (LIVE)

Disc One

1) Sweet Baby James

2) Traffic Jam

3) Handy Man

4) Your Smiling Face

5) Secret O'Life

6) Shed A Little Light

7) Everybody Has The Blues

8) Steamroller Blues

9) Mexico

10) Millworker

11) Country Road

12) Fire And Rain

13) Shower The People

14) How Sweet It Is

15) New Hymn

Disc Two

1) Walking Man

2) Riding On A Railroad

3) Something In The Way She Moves

4) Sun On The Moon

5) Up On The Roof

6) Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight

7) She Thinks I Still Care

8) Copperline

9) Slap Leather

10) Only One

11) You Make It Easy

12) Carolina In My Mind

13) I Will Follow

14) You've Got A Friend

15) That Lonesome Road

When James Taylor puts on a show, he delivers.  His set list is a diverse mix, a display of his versatility.  He will play both classic hits and more recent work, originals and covers, hard blues and tender ballads.

On these discs, he is backed by a tight five-piece band and four skilled back-up singers who beef up songs like "Traffic Jam", "Handy Man", and many others.  His entire live act is just superb, but the most outstanding track is still the very first, the gorgeous "Sweet Baby James", rendered only with Taylor's unmistakable vocal and acoustic guitar stylings.  Not that the band doesn't compliment him well - in fact, he couldn't perform some of the songs without them.

Such songs include the soulful "Traffic Jam", a piece made for a gospel choir.  Then there's one made for jamming - "Steamroller Blues".  Songs like these show that Taylor can do so much more than soft rock.

But Taylor still gives the people what they want - the smooth stuff that made him a legend in the first place.  The band brings out the gospel in "Shower the People", the grandiosity of "Fire And Rain", the soul of "How Sweet It Is."  All throughout, the ensemble is led by Taylor's famously smooth, surprisingly dynamic voice.

James Taylor is many things.  He's a versatile songwriter, a skilled guitarist, a passionate singer.  And if this collection of performances indicates anything, he's damn good on tour as well.

***** out of five