Still, this is a nice collection and the updated mastering is excellent, at 70 minutes with twenty songs including the new cut there is a little room left for an additional track or two, we'll have to wait for the import version for a fuller disc.


Great mastering of great songs   April 12, 2003
12 out of 12 found this review helpful

As a sampler of the anticipated upcoming remastering of James Taylor's Warner Bros. catalog, this is a fantastic teaser. All these tracks have been available for a long time on CD, except for the rare Apple recording of "Something in the Way She Moves," yet the WB tracks (everything up to "Handy Man") have never sounded so warm and clear. The Joni Mitchell harmonies on "You've Got A Friend" and "Long Ago and Far Away" are a revelation, as are the lovely multi-tracked JT harmonies "Golden Moments" and the strings on "Walking Man." The few tracks on the end of the disc from his early/mid Columbia years have been remastered recently, both on their original albums, and the "Greatest Hits Vol. II," which is also a nice overview of Taylor's post WB years up until his great 2002 studio album "October Road." (The exception is, the new song "Bittersweet" which is amiable, but not resonant like Taylor's other recent work.) It might have been better to draw upon some more choice album cuts from the WB years, but this is merely subjective. What's here is poignant, passionate, sublime and sounding better than it ever has.