James Taylor - 1986-06-17 - Berlin, Germany (FM)

James Taylor
1986-06-17
Waldbuhne
Berlin, Germany
FM Broadcast
320 kbps
Artwork Included

01. Sweet Baby James
02. Wandering
03. Carolina In My Mind
04. Up On The Roof
05. Only A Dream In Rio
06. Handy Man
07. I Will Follow
08. Your Smiling Face
09. Millworker
10. Traffic Jam
11. Sea Cruise
12. Everyday
13. Only One
14. Fire And Rain
15. Country Road
16. Mexico
17. Johnnie Comes Back
18  How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)
19. You've Got A Friend
20. Steamroller
21. That Lonesome Road 

James Taylor - 1986-06-17 - Berlin, Germany (FM)

In the early 1980s, James Taylor found his life falling apart around him. His marriage to Carly Simon ended, he was once again hooked on drugs, close friends John Belushi and Dennis Wilson both died tragically, and his music career had stalled. He thought it might be time to retire. Then he was invited to play at the Rock in Rio Festival in Rio De Janiero in January 1985 and his life changed dramatically. In an interview years later, Taylor described the experience as follows: “We put the band together and went down and it was just an amazing response. I played to 300,000 people. They not only knew my music, they knew things about it and were interested in aspects of it that to that point had only interested me. To have that kind of validation right about then was really what I needed. It helped get me back on track.” He penned the tune Only a Dream in Rio as a tribute to that night, filling the song with hopeful lyrics such as “I was there that very day and my heart came back alive.” This soundboard recording captures the rejuvenated JT about 18 months later, in Berlin, on June 17, 1986, 28 years ago today.

James Taylor/Bruce Springsteen Connections

• At the April 12, 1995 Rain Forest Benefit at Carnegie Hall, JT joined Bruce on stage for a rendition of The River
• At a tribute concert at the Los Angeles' Convention Center in February 2006 celebrating the career of James Taylor, Springsteen played a cover of JT’s tune, Millworker.
• Both Bruce and JT participated in the September 1979 No Nukes concerts held at Madison Square Garden. 
• Taylor and Springsteen both played on day 1, October 29, 2009, of the 25th Anniversary Rock & Roll Hall of Fame concert at Madison Square Garden.