MUSIC REVIEW: Taylor and King at Tanglewood

TANGLEWOOD
Carole King and James Taylor
July 3, 2010

 

Reviewed by Clarence Fanto

LENOX, Mass. (July 4, 2010) — "Welcome, neighbors!" That was James Taylor's hearty greeting to some 18,000 fans who filled the Shed at Tanglewood and occupied virtually every inch of the expansive lawn on a Currier & Ives picture-postcard Saturday evening.

The July 3 "Troubadour Reunion" featuring Taylor and his long-time friend and onetime stage and recording-studio partner Carole King was not only a nostalgic tour de force but also a deeply resonant, emotional catharsis for the crowd of Baby Boomers, their children and even some grandchildren.

The stage was bathed in colorful spot-lit special effects and the obligatory smoking machine and sprinkler system as if to emphasize that this was a genuine rock show, not just a folk-pop deep immersion into two-dozen greatest-hits by a pair of iconic artists who've penned so many that they had to winnow down the set lists from a potential six hours of prime cuts. Taylor explained how he and King had culled the best of the best during an intensive one-week working session at his studio-barn "on the other side of Lenox."

Despite annual appearances at Tanglewood since 2003 and many more going back to the 1980s, Taylor's perennial appeal — apart from his down-home authentic persona and genuine warmth toward the audience — rests on his uncanny knack of refreshing and refashioning the concept of his shows. Through a few dollops of improvisation, he manages to make even the oldest chestnuts like "Fire and Rain," "Sweet Baby James," "Carolina" and "Shower the People" sound as fresh as if they were composed this year.

After many years of gigs with his band of faithful companions — some of the best in the business who serve as colleagues rather than backups — Taylor has offered in successive seasons a "One Man Band" acoustic traversal of his extensive songbook, a birthday-year celebration that featured a cameo appearance by Carole King, and a joint performance with Sheryl Crow.

King joined him two summers ago for four songs after the pair reunited on stage for the first time since the early '70s for a 15-song set at the Troubadour Club's 50th anniversary bash in Los Angeles in 2007. (A DVD-CD-MP3 package assembled from those performances is now a top seller on the charts).

The success of the 2008 Tanglewood show coupled with the Troubadour gig led to the Taylor-King tour that began March 27 in Melbourne, Australia, and winds up July 20 in Anaheim, Cal. The tour has grossed more than $53 million at the box office to date, a rare success in this summer of the music industry's discontent, and has raised more than $1.5 million for charity through the sale of VIP packages with up-close seating and various perks.

Here are some random impressions of the July 3 performance, an effort to explain why audiences have responded with such fervor to this tour:

---Taylor and King managed to share the stage equally without a trace of one-upsmanship or egocentric competitiveness. They harmonized oh so sweetly on the hit King composed for the Everly Brothers, "Crying in the Rain" and on her first No. 1 hit in the top-40 era of AM radio and jukeboxes, "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow," which she performed with Taylor as a pensive, wistful ballad rather than the Shirelle's mid-tempo, heavily produced single.

---The band of musicians and singers remains the class of the field — vocalist Arnold McCuller once again soared into the stratosphere in his soulful solo during "Shower the People" and earned a well-deserved "standing O" for his effort. Kate Markowitz and Andrea Zonn, longtime Taylor collaborators, offered pitch-perfect vocal backups (and some keen fiddling by Zonn), and they were joined by Kim Taylor on several numbers.

The original King and Taylor band members from the early '70s — guitarist Danny "Kooch" Kortchmar (who first introduced the two singer-songwriters), percussionist Russ Kunkel, and bass player Leland Sklar (he of the white Rip Van Winkle beard) remain as tight and focused as ever. Each had a turn in the spotlight, especially Kortchmar in a snazzy riff during King's "Jazzman." Ably assisting on piano organ and synthesizer was Robbie Kondor, the composer, arranger and film producer who happens to be King's son-in-law.

---The two-part set list, about 75 minutes each, was crafted with a keen sense of pacing and an element of unpredictability. Rather than handing off to one another song by song, Taylor and King each did double or triple plays (always with the other backing up on guitar or piano, respectively, as well as vocally); ballads were grouped together, separated by hard-rock, up-tempo classics such as "Smackwater Jack," "Sweet Season," "Mexico," "I Feel the Earth Move" and "Your Smiling Face." The sound mix seemed overly reverberant at the outset, with an echo-chamber effect; either it was soon adjusted or we simply became accustomed to it.

---Video screens not only on the lawn but also at strategically-placed locations in the Shed afforded listeners close-ups of the performers and, at key moments, archival stills and films of the two in their early-'70s days.

---At 68, King remains a remarkably energetic force of nature, a vibrant no-holds-barred performer who exudes an aura of celebratory joy. Even if her voice is strained at times in the upper registers, she puts over each song with intense fervor and invites the audience to join in at strategic points, such as the climax of "(You Make Me Feel) Like a Natural Woman." In fact, this show featured more sing-a-longing than I can recall at similar events.

---Abiding by the 10 p.m. curfew for Popular Artists shows required by the Stockbridge and Lenox Select Boards, Taylor and King's pre-scheduled encores of "Up on the Roof" and "How Sweet It Is" left the audience in a frenzy of adulation, if not idolatry. As his his wont, Taylor's ultimate finale, "Close Your Eyes," in another standout harmonization with King, sent the crowd home with a feeling of joyous repose.

Putting it all together, this longtime observer of Taylor's craftsmanship and admirer of King's half-century at the top of the pop music business can only conclude that this was, and remains in its final weeks, a tour for the ages that will linger long in the memory as a near-perfect combination of talent, artistry, showmanship and good old hard work. It would be no hyperbole to label it a "tour-de-force."

Clarence Fanto is a music reviewer for Berkshireliving.com and a contributing editor of Berkshire Living magazine.