Indulge me.

I’m downloading live shows.  And what’s incredible is I got this Billy Joel show from ’72 wherein his voice is still pure and high and when he sings "teller" in "The Ballad Of Billy Kid" I hear something I never did before, I get insight that has previously eluded me, even though I know and love this song even though I came to Billy Joel late, with "Songs In The Attic".  Makes me wonder if everybody is best early, when they’re still hungry and have something to prove.

But I didn’t miss a beat with James Taylor.  I was there before just about everybody else, even at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester when there were maybe a hundred people in a venue that held far in excess of four figures.

And I found the recording from when I saw him at Harvard the month before, in April of ’70, just a couple of nights after my birthday, which I spent watching "Woodstock" stoned for the very first time when you had to go to a major metropolis to see a flick, when they used to platform the release.

And I’ve got this Pat Benatar show, that I won’t write about because you’ll accuse me of having lowbrow tastes, even though the debut made by Mike Chapman and Peter Coleman is revelatory and I’ve got a special place in my heart for "Shadows Of The Night" despite the hokey video.

And for my cred I’ll tell you I listened to this Jeff Beck Group show from ’68 where Rod still sounds like the man we fell in love with and Beck blisters but it was recorded on a cassette from the audience and just wasn’t worth keeping.

And I’m downloading this Steely Dan show from ’74, but the reason I’m writing is this James Taylor show from Oakland.  I’ll attach the essay by the distributor at the end, be prepared.

I imported this concert into my iTunes library, recorded back in ’71, and immediately played my absolute favorite, "You Can Close Your Eyes", which delivered and ended the show and then I clicked on "Chili Dog", which dedicated fans will know from "One Man Dog" which has been forgotten except for the hit, "Don’t Let Me Be Lonely Tonight", but I love so much.

And "Chili Dog" is one of the best cuts on that album.  Along with "One Morning In May", featuring a duet with Linda Ronstadt, and "Mescalito", but this take is totally different from the studio version.

Well, it’s the same song, but delivered differently.  Slower, in a style that anybody who saw JT in the early days will understand, when he had more time than material and he would feature comedic interludes, spin songs as to be funny as opposed to serious.  You may hate him for the maudlin "Fire and Rain", but if you went to see him back then, you’d love him, not only because he had long hair, but like all great musicians he didn’t take life that seriously, he could laugh at it, and we laughed along with him.

Actually, in this evolving version, James is a chili dog then he wants one!

And unlike in the album version, he sets up the line about "Orange Julius", he tells us to HOLD ON before he delivers the line.

Actually, it’s all about delivery.  That’s what a great live performer does.  Anybody can get up and sing their hits.  Then again, maybe this is untrue, especially today, when talent is a moving target, when without audio effects talent is elusive.

Make my bed out of Wonder Bread
Spread some mustard upon my head
Don’t need no onions and sauerkraut, mama
Hold my bun, oh, work it on out

And JT’s talking about a hot dog, but he’s using the vocabulary of the dance floor, he’s winking at us as he’s singing.

I want a chili dog
Please give me a chili dog, mama
Got to have a chili dog
DELICIOUS!

He pauses just before the "delicious", like he’s just finished licking his lips and is finally able to speak.

Don’t read me no Ann Landers
Don’t feed me no Colonel Sanders

And then everybody in the audience cracks up…  This was at the peak of KFC.

I just need a chili dog, baby
Gotta gotta have a chili dog
Whoa, yeah yeah yeah
No, please bring home a chili dog, babe
Stone delicious
AND GOOD FOR YOU TOO!

I actually pulled into the parking lot of Tomy’s today.  The chili almost got me.  If I just didn’t have my tooth replaced I would have stayed.  Sometimes nothing satiates, nothing makes you feel good like food.

Now the studio take is fantastic, but it’s slick and there are other players and the music triumphs over the lyrics whereas this live, in progress take, is closer to "Steam Roller", a slow blues, and if you’ve ever seen JT do it live you know what I mean.

The recording may be forty years old, but it sounds like it just happened last night, it’s full of life.

Hi, I’m Bob, I’m an archaeologist and I’M LOVIN’ IT!

This Great James Taylor Show…Comes With A Little History!…I First Received  This Bootleg A Few Years Ago…….With The Given Show Date July 5th 1972 And Show Location Oakland, California…And That It Was Also A Live Album Recorded By Warner Brothers But Never Released…And Then Released By The Polar Bear Records As A "Silver CD" Release…That Was It!

Just Recently I Discovered That The Original Bootleg Was Not The Complete Show…When I Saw This On A "James Taylor Blog"… "Previously available on the CDR trading circuit, this excellent recording of a 1972 Oakland, CA show was originally planned as an official live release by Warner Brothers. Collectors will note that this CD omits 25% of the planned double-album, as it was mastered from only three available reels of the original four-reel set."

Which Led Me On A Search For The Complete Show….And In Doing So I Discovered The Following……

The Original Recording Date Was Wrong…..This Was Confirmed By Checking The Events Held At The Oakland Coliseum On That Date.

I Found This Description On A "James Taylor Music Blog"………"If this show was at the Oakland Coliseum then it is probably March 25, 1971…Carole King and Jo Mama opened. They had a giant closed circuit TV screen over the stage. The review appears to match up fairly good with the set list provided, "It is definitely NOT July 5, 1972 The "Ice Follies" played at the Oakland Coliseum each night July 5 – July 9, 1972"!

So Unless James Taylor Was On Ice Skates….And Doing A "Triple Lutz"….The Date For This Show Is Certainly Not July 5th 1972

But The All But Confirmed…March 25th 1971….I Think The Mistake Was Made Because The Date On The Original Tape Box Turned Over To Warner Brothers Was July 5th 1972 (See Photo Below)…But This Was Just The Date Warner’s Received  The Tapes…Not The Actual Show Date!

This Is Where It Gets Interesting………

I Found This Info….On Another "James Taylor Blog"….."Here’s the story of this recording…This was JT’s first attempt (of several) at recording a live album, with label Warner Brothers…He was touring with Carole King and Kootch’s band, "Jo Mama"… guitarist Danny "Kootch" Kortchmar, bassist Leland Sklar, and drummer Russ Kunkel.

Planned for release as a double album, the masters were passed around on four reel-to-reel tapes for a while until it was decided to air the show on FM instead of releasing a record. (They would try again–unsuccessfully–to capture James live for an album in 1981)

About five years ago, I paid through the nose for three of the four original WB reel-to-reel tapes at ebay (reel #2–these 6 songs–was missing) and I lovingly transferred them to CDR for the free trading community. I am attaching a jpeg of one of the reel covers, which makes a nice CD cover.(See Photo Below) My Oakland 1972 CD made the rounds until some bastards at Polar Bear bootlegs decided to release my (and others’) hard work on silver CDs and make some money at it.

I didn’t get too upset, this wasn’t the first time this happened…I also mastered the "Alternate One Man Dog" set from quad reel-to-reel tapes, intended for free trading only"….. By Greg B.

Then This From The "Complete"…"James Taylor Sweet Baby James By The Bay"…Bootleg Text File I Received With The Show.

"The "Baby James By The Bay" show is a really nice sounding soundboard…It was however, missing 6 songs.

So I dug them up from an old reel to reel copy. This show was originally rebroadcast on FM radio (I believe WNEW in NYC) around 1974. At that time, the venue for the show was listed as the Oakland Coliseum. The missing songs went between "Rainy Day Man" and "Highway Song"…Unfortunately, the missing songs were recorded at a slow tape speed (3.75 ips) way back then and some tape degradation has set in. The quality is a step below the James Taylor "Baby James By The Bay" original Warner Brothers SBD recording…In spite of that, I decided to include the missing songs, so that everyone can have a complete show from a really good concert."

"I took both sets of Shn files and decompressed and converted them to Flac. I ran them through cool edit pro 2.0 to take care of any glitches…amplify the volume overall where necessary and to amplify some of James banter which you couldn’t hear.

I then recombined the whole show into one file and tried to ease the track transitions and patch in the missing songs as well as I could. Although I was tempted to use some hiss reduction, especially on the missing songs, in the end I decided not to.

To do this half right, it always takes more hours than one thinks, I’m no pro but I think it came out very good."

(If I Knew Who Did This Fine Job…I Would Give Them All The Credit!)

And Finally This Description From Another "James Taylor Music Blog"……………….

A great soundboard recording. It’s been claimed that this is a Warner Brothers official recording that was initially going to be released as a live album but was instead replaced by another studio album. The quality is fantastic and James puts on a very good  performance. There are a few fades between songs but that is all there really is to complain about. I’m not sure how much this show has been circulated but it will make a great addition to any James Taylor collection. Overall, a definite must have!!

So There You Have It….The Whole Crazy History Of This Fantastic…And Now Complete…"Sweet Baby James Bootleg"…..

So Now Enjoy!   

And

Play It Loud!

James Taylor

"Sweet Baby James By The Bay"

The Oakland Coliseum

March 25th 1971

Recorded By Warner Brothers For An Unreleased Live Album (SBD)

*Taken From WNEW-FM NYC Broadcast 1974 (FM SOURCED)

01.Sweet Baby James

02.Something In The Way She Moves

03.Greensleeves

04.Tube Rose Snuff Commercial

05.Sunny Skies

06.Chili Dog

07.Rainy Day Man

08.Riding On a Railroad*

09.Places In My Past*

10.Carolina On My Mind*

11.Long Ago & Far Away*

12.Blossom*

13.Country Road*

14.Highway Song

15.On Broadway

16.Fire And Rain

17.Love Has Brought Me Around

18.Whoa, Don’t You Know

19.Steamroller Blues

20.Help Me Find This Groove

21.Promised Land~(Pre-Encore Applause)

22.You Can Close Your Eyes