''James Taylor and the Original Flying Machine'' is an

archival An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials – in any medium – or the physical facility in which they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or ...

release of 1966 recordings of American singer-songwriter

James Taylor James Vernon Taylor (born March 12, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A six-time Grammy Award winner, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. He is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, havi ...

's band The Flying Machine (not to be confused with The Flying Machine of "

Smile a Little Smile for Me "Smile a Little Smile for Me" is the debut single by the Flying Machine. The song was written by Geoff Stephens and Tony Macaulay Tony Macaulay (born Anthony Gordon Instone; 21 April 1944) is an English author, composer for musical theatre, ...

" fame from 1969), first released in February 1971.

History

The songs on the album were recorded with Taylor's band The Flying Machine in a late 1966 three-hour session in New York City's Select Sound Studios. White, Timothy. ''James Taylor: Long Ago and Far Away'',

Omnibus Press Omnibus Press is a publisher of music-related books. It publishes around 30 new titles a year to add to a backlist of over 250 titles currently in print. History Omnibus Press was launched in 1972 as a general non-fiction publisher to complem ...

, 2002, . p. 118. They were produced by

Chip Taylor Chip Taylor (born James Wesley Voight; March 21, 1940) is an American songwriter and singer noted for writing "Angel of the Morning" and " Wild Thing". Early life Taylor was born on March 21, 1940, in Yonkers, New York. He is the brother of a ...

, who had been involved in some recent pop hits, and

Al Gorgoni Al Gorgoni (born 1939) is an American guitarist, composer, arranger, and producer, known for his work as a studio musician during the 1960s and 1970s. Biography Growing up in Philadelphia, his family moved to The Bronx where he took up the guit ...

, who also added harpsichord to the band's sound. The group felt the resulting tracks were of only demo quality. After " Night Owl" (b/w "Brighten Your Night with My Day") was released as an unsuccessful single by Jay Gee Records, a subsidiary of

Jubilee Records Jubilee Records was an American independent record label, specializing in rhythm and blues and novelty records. It was founded in New York City in 1946 by Herb Abramson. His partner was Jerry Blaine. Blaine bought Abramson's half of the company ...

, no work towards an album release went forward. Taylor subsequently signed with

Apple Records Apple Records is a record label founded by the Beatles in 1968 as a division of Apple Corps Ltd. It was initially intended as a creative outlet for the Beatles, both as a group and individually, plus a selection of other artists including Mar ...

, failed commercially again, but then became a huge success with

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

on ''

Sweet Baby James ''Sweet Baby James'' is the second studio album by American singer-songwriter James Taylor, released on February 1, 1970, by Warner Bros. Records. The album includes two of Taylor's earliest successful singles: " Fire and Rain", and " Country R ...

'' in 1970 and ''

Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon ''Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon'' is the third studio album by American singer-songwriter James Taylor, released in April 1971 by Warner Bros. Records. The album was recorded between early January and late February of the same year. Relea ...

'' in 1971. Euphoria Records then released the sessions using the name "The Original Flying Machine", to distinguish the group from the UK outfit The Flying Machine who had emerged in 1969 with the hit song "

". The released album had modest success capitalizing on Taylor's fame, reaching #74 on the U.S. pop albums chart. Flying Machine member

Danny Kortchmar Daniel "Danny Kootch" Kortchmar (born April 6, 1946) is an American guitarist, session musician, producer and songwriter. Kortchmar's work with singer-songwriters such as Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor, David Crosby, Carole King, David Cassidy, ...

was not pleased, saying "The people involved wouldn't spring for the money for a whole album of James' songs

n 1967 N, or n, is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''. History ...

So it seemed terrible years later when the same people put out the ''Flying Machine'' album of those few sessions." The sessions were re-released by Gadfly Records, with additional short intros and two remixes, in 1996.

Track listing

All songs by James Taylor except where noted. #" Night Owl" 2:29 #"Brighten Your Night With My Day" 2:45 #"Kootch's Song" (

) 3:13 #"Knocking 'Round the Zoo" (Danny Kortchmar Lead Vocal) 2:59 #"Rainy Day Man" (James Taylor, Zach Wiesner) 3:16 #"

Knocking 'Round the Zoo "Knocking 'Round the Zoo" is a song written by James Taylor that was originally released on his 1968 debut album on Apple Records. He had previously recorded the song in 1966 with his band the Flying Machine, but that recording was not released ...

" (James Taylor Lead Vocal) 3:10 #"Something's Wrong" (Instrumental Version) 3:07 *1996 Re-issue #"Rainy Day Man" (James Taylor, Zach Wiesner) 3:16 #"Knocking 'Round the Zoo" (Intro) 0:53 #"Knocking 'Round the Zoo" (James Taylor Lead Vocal) 3:10 #"Something's Wrong" (Backing Track) 3:07 #"Night Owl" 2:29 #"Brighten Your Night With My Day" (Intro) 1:01 #"Brighten Your Night With My Day" 2:45 #"Kootch's Song" (Danny Kortchmar) 3:13 #"Knocking 'Round the Zoo" (Danny Kortchmar Lead Vocal) 2:59 #"Night Owl" (Remixed version) #"Knocking 'Round the Zoo" (Remixed version)

Personnel

;The Flying Machine *

— guitar,

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

—

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

*Zachary Wiesner — bass *Joel O'Brien —

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

;Additional recording musician *

—

harpsichord A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...

;Production *Engineers: Wally Sheffey, Eddie Youngblood

Charts

Album

References

{{Authority control 1971 albums James Taylor albums Albums produced by Chip Taylor