THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 23, 1994 TAG: 9409230101
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E11 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Music Review
SOURCE: BY RICKEY WRIGHT, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines
JAMES TAYLOR displayed not only his singing and songwriting, but a low-key, dry wit, during a two-hour-plus concert at Hampton Coliseum Wednesday night.
``We love you!'' cried a woman from the back of the hall early in the first set.
``Um. Great,'' replied Taylor.
A star for a quarter of a century now, give or take a year, Taylor has continued as a strong live draw. The Hampton crowd ranged from young children with their parents to a handful of 50-ish couples.
They witnessed a musician fully in control of his powers, despite a stage manner at times as seemingly bemused as wry. The deadpan chat that used to crack up Johnny Carson complemented Taylor's state-of-the-art recreations of songs drawn from throughout his solo career.
More well-rounded in emotional range than he's sometimes given credit for, Taylor moved from ebullient expressions of love and faith like ``Your Smiling Face'' and ``Shower the People'' to more ambivalent fare such as ``Frozen Man.'' The latter takes off from the tale of a 19th century body found encased in ice in the Arctic and photographed for a magazine, where Taylor saw the picture. In his poignantly imagined version, the subject has been thawed and brought back to life. (``I thought it'd be nice to visit my grave,'' sings the man.)
The audience often responded as fervently to such recent, lesser-known material as ``Frozen Man'' and ``Copperline'' as to the likes of ``Country Road'' and ``Carolina in My Mind.'' Taylor and band also ingratiated themselves early in the show with the first of many covers, this one of Chuck Berry's ``Promised Land.'' A perfect choice for an outfit that's been on the road since June and will continue touring well into November, the New Orleans-style arrangement of the Berry number also drew cheers with its two references to Norfolk.
It's hard to locate the smugness and narrowness of vision that Taylor was accused of by some critics at the height of his popularity in the early '70s. Perhaps that changed when he embraced healthier concerns and lifestyle after kicking a notorious heroin habit many years ago. If a couple of his polite attempts at rocking out onstage were less than convincing, that didn't mean that the group wasn't full of life. In fact, one of the most vibrant moments came with a sweet performance of an old cowboy waltz especially suited to Taylor's warm voice.
Much of the last half of the second set was given over to one fan favorite after another: ``You've Got a Friend,'' ``Steamroller Blues,'' ``How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You),'' and encore renditions of ``Fire and Rain'' and, finally, a nearly solo ``Sweet Baby James.'' Written about a young Taylor relative and released in 1970, this night the song, encompassing the infant and the itinerant ``thinking about women and glasses of beer,'' the turnpike and home, sounded as lovely and inspired as ever. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by ANDREW BRUCKER
A star for a quarter of a century now, give or take a year, James
Taylor continues to be a strong live draw.
by CNB