James Taylor – ushering in the age of quiet introspection.

Taking a very mellow turn for lunch for Hump-Day – James Taylor in concert at Fillmore East on January 25, 1971.

Sometimes changes arrive in seemingly abstract times, but in the long run prove to be exactly what was needed.

Bear in mind, America was approaching critical mass as far as the Vietnam War was concerned. The aura of Love and innocence was wearing thin and we needed something to remind us that life gets complicated but it works out, and it works out best done quietly.

So the arrival of James Taylor just as the 70s were getting started was the right thing at the right time and the audience took him to their hearts in a very big and celebrated way.

Much of Youth Culture during this time was getting written off in mainstream Media as the epitome of the “Me Generation” – the hedonism, self-absorption, ego-centricity, directionless stumbling through life; scraggly, drug-soaked and with no morals.

A lot of that was probably true for a lot of people, but I don’t think for the issues the media depicted. We weren’t living our parents lives – we were sampling what was out there, trying to figure out if what we were looking for in 1971 was better than what our parents were when World War 2 ended.

And it got out of hand in some areas – we paid the price by the time the 80s rolled around, but in 1971 we were exploring and reporting back.

Many of us never found it – many of us found “something just like it” but ultimately the wrong thing, and some of us were taking the long look back trying to get an idea what went wrong.

And so here was James Taylor, and with him came one of the most introspective songs that helped define an era. Fire and Rain hit responsive chords with everyone – we saw it as the vision of a hopeful survivor – it never occurred to most of us in a million years that it was actually a song about addiction and getting off Heroin. In Retrospect it made perfect sense – coming up for air in a sea of wretched excess – but we took it differently. Same sentiment you could say, just different avenues.

At any rate – James Taylor was that gift we were looking for and he ushered in a new era of Rock. Music for the Times; it was.

And for a reminder, here he was at The Fillmore in January of 1971 – just laying it all out.

Enjoy.