151: SWEET BABY JAMES | JAMES TAYLOR
Sweet Baby James is the second studio album by American singer-songwriter James Taylor, and his first release on Warner Bros. Records. Released in February 1970, the album includes one of Taylor's earliest successful singles: "Fire and Rain", which reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album itself reached #3 on the Billboard Album Charts. Sweet Baby James made Taylor one of the main forces of the ascendant singer-songwriter movement. The album was nominated for a Grammy Award for Album of the Year, in 1971. The album was listed at #104 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. In 2000 it was voted number 228 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums.
The album, produced by Peter Asher, was recorded at Sunset Sound, Los Angeles, California, between December 8 and 17, 1969 at a cost of only $7,600 (US$52,986 in 2019 dollars) out of a budget of $20,000. Taylor was "essentially homeless" at the time the album was recorded, either staying in Asher's home or sleeping on a couch at the house of guitarist Danny Kortchmar or anyone else who would have him.:66
The song "Suite for 20 G" was so named because Taylor was promised $20,000 (US$139,437 in 2019 dollars) once the album was delivered. With one more song needed, he strung together three unfinished songs into a "suite", and completed the album.
The album produced two charting singles: "Fire and Rain," backed by "Anywhere Like Heaven," which peaked at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 on October 31, 1970, and "Country Road," backed by "Sunny Skies," which peaked at #37 on March 20, 1971. An additional single, "Sweet Baby James," backed by "Suite for 20 G," did not chart. Read more