One Man Dog is the fourth studio album by singer-songwriter James Taylor. Released on November 1, 1972, it features the hit "Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight", which peaked at number 14 on the Billboard charts on January 13, 1973. The follow-up single, "One Man Parade", also charted but less successfully, peaking at number 67 in the US and reaching number 55 on the Canadian Adult Contemporary chart.[1] The basic tracks were primarily recorded in Taylor's home studio.
| One Man Dog | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | November 1, 1972 | |||
| Recorded | Summer 1972 | |||
| Studio |
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| Genre | Soft rock | |||
| Length | 36:48 | |||
| Label | Warner Bros. | |||
| Producer | Peter Asher | |||
| James Taylor chronology | ||||
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| Singles from One Man Dog | ||||
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The album is made up of 18 short pieces strung together. It climbed to number 4 on the US Billboard Pop Albums chart. There was also a Quadraphonic mix of the album that included alternate vocal takes and elongated versions of some songs.[2]
Upon the album's release, Berwyn Life critic Steve Sparacio said that it "is certainly James Taylor's best album."[3] Sparacio noted that "Upon first listening, no song on One Man Dog stands out. But as an entity the album holds together extremely well. It may be paradoxical but only after you're able to view One Man Dog as a whole entity do you realize that some of the songs individually are very good."[3] Sparacio identified the theme of the album to be an "affirmation" of Taylor's life at the time, being newly married to Carly Simon and off drugs, and a realization that if he was going to cope with his life he needed to turn inward.[3]
On the other hand, Allmusic critic William Ruhlmann considered the album to be a "letdown", saying that "a lot of it was sketchy and seemingly unfinished, and none of it had the impact of the best songs on the last two albums."[4] Forest Park Review critic John Griffin praised the short songs for avoiding the monotony of similar slow melodies that he felt marred Taylor's previous album Mud Slide Slim.[5] Record World said it "contains some interesting departures from his earlier work."[6]
Calgary Herald critic Jim Rennie felt that the best song on the album was the traditional folk song "One Morning in May," saying that "Taylor joins forces vocally with luscious Linda Ronstadt, and the result is so good I think the combination is worth an album of its own."[7]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [8] |
| Christgau's Record Guide | C+[9] |
| Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [10] |
| MusicHound Rock | 2/5[11] |
| Rolling Stone | (favorable)[12] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [13] |
Track listing
editAll songs written by James Taylor, except where noted.
- Side one
- "One Man Parade" - 3:10
- "Nobody But You" - 2:57
- "Chili Dog" - 1:35
- "Fool for You" - 1:42
- "Instrumental I" - 0:55
- "New Tune" - 1:35
- "Back on the Street Again" (Danny Kortchmar) - 3:00
- "Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight" - 2:34
- Side two
- "Woh, Don't You Know" (Danny Kortchmar, Leland Sklar, James Taylor) - 2:10
- "One Morning in May" (traditional) - 2:54
- "Instrumental II" - 1:41
- "Someone" (John McLaughlin) - 3:36
- "Hymn" - 2:24
- "Fanfare" - 2:33
- "Little David" - 1:00
- "Mescalito" - 0:29
- "Dance" - 2:07
- "Jig" - 1:13
Personnel
edit- James Taylor – lead vocals, backing vocals (1, 9, 16), acoustic guitar (1, 3, 5–12, 16–18), harmonica (1), electric guitar (2, 4, 14, 18), autoharp (5), bells (11), chainsaw (15), hammer (15)
- Danny Kortchmar – electric guitar (1-4, 8, 9, 11, 13–18), timbales (1, 9), acoustic guitar (5, 7, 10, 12)
- John McLaughlin – acoustic guitar (12)
- John Hartford – banjo (17), fiddle (17)
- Dash Crofts – mandolin (17)
- Red Rhodes – steel guitar (17, 18)
- Craig Doerge – acoustic piano (2, 6–10, 12–14, 16, 18), electric piano (2-4, 11, 15)
- Leland Sklar – bass guitar (3-9, 11, 13–18), guitarron mexicano (7, 12, 17)
- Russ Kunkel – congas (1, 2, 6–8, 11), drums (2-5, 8–10, 13–18), tambourine (3, 9), cabasa (6)
- Peter Asher – guiro (1)
- Bobbye Hall – congas (4), tambourine (4), bongos (11), bells (11), shaker (11), percussion (18)
- Mark Paletier – cross-cut saw (15), sound effects (15)
- George Bohanon – trombone (4)
- Art Baron – bass trombone (13, 14, 18)
- Barry Rogers – trombone (13, 14, 18)
- Michael Brecker – tenor sax solo (8), tenor saxophone (13, 14), soprano saxophone (13), flute (18)
- Randy Brecker – trumpet (13, 14, 18), flugelhorn (13), piccolo trumpet (13)
- Abigale Haness – backing vocals (1, 14, 16)
- Carole King – backing vocals (1, 14, 16)
- Carly Simon – backing vocals (1)
- Alex Taylor – backing vocals (1, 9)
- Hugh Taylor – backing vocals (1, 9)
- Kate Taylor – backing vocals (1)
- Linda Ronstadt – backing vocals (10)
Production
edit- Producer – Peter Asher
- Engineers – Peter Asher (Tracks 1, 3, 6, 8, 9, 11, 15 & 16); Robert Appère (Tracks 2, 4, 5, 10 & 12); Phil Ramone (Tracks 7, 13, 14, 17 & 18).
- Tenor sax solo on Track 8 recorded by Phil Ramone.
- Mixed by Robert Appère
- Mastered by Bernie Grundman at A&M Studios (Hollywood, CA).
- Art Direction – Ed Thrasher
- Photography – Peter Simon
Charts
edit
Weekly chartsedit
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Year-end chartsedit
|
Certifications
edit| Region | Certification |
|---|---|
| United States (RIAA)[19] | Gold |
References
edit- ^ "RPM Adult Contemporary". Library and Archives Canada. April 28, 1973. Archived from the original on November 1, 2014. Retrieved June 24, 2014.
- ^ "James Taylor Rarities". Retrieved April 11, 2016.
- ^ a b c Sparacio, Steve (January 17, 1973). "Newlyweds record hits". Berwyn Life. p. 12. Retrieved March 24, 2023 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ Ruhlmann, William. "One Man Dog". Allmusic. Retrieved March 24, 2023.
- ^ Griffin, John (January 3, 1973). "New Morning". Forest Park Review. p. 8. Retrieved March 24, 2023 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ "Hits of the Week" (PDF). Record World. November 25, 1972. p. 1. Retrieved March 28, 2023.
- ^ Rennie, Jim (January 12, 1973). "Records". Calgary Herald. p. 5. Retrieved March 24, 2023 – via newspapers.com.
- ^ Ruhlmann, William. One Man Dog at AllMusic. Retrieved 2 October 2004.
- ^ Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: T". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved March 15, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
- ^ Larkin, Colin (2007). Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195313734.
- ^ Graff, Gary; Durchholz, Daniel, eds. (1999). MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Farmington Hills, MI: Visible Ink Press. p. 1125. ISBN 1-57859-061-2.
- ^ Landau, Jon (January 18, 1973). "James Taylor One Man Dog > Album Review". Rolling Stone. No. 126. Archived from the original on October 2, 2007. Retrieved June 15, 2006.
- ^ Coleman, Mark; Edmonds, Ben (2004). "James Taylor". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). 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. Archived from the original on January 5, 2013. Retrieved November 6, 2011.
- ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 305. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
- ^ "Top Albums/CDs - Volume 18, No. 24". RPM. January 27, 1973. Archived from the original (PHP) on August 2, 2017. Retrieved April 27, 2014.
- ^ "James Taylor > Artists > Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved April 28, 2014.
- ^ "Allmusic: One Man Dog: Charts & Awards: Billboard Albums". allmusic.com. Retrieved April 29, 2014.
- ^ "Billboard.BIZ Top Pop Albums of 1973". billboard.biz. Archived from the original on December 4, 2012. Retrieved April 28, 2014.
- ^ "American album certifications – James Taylor – One Man Dog". Recording Industry Association of America.