{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2025}} {{Infobox album| | name = Dad Loves His Work | type = studio | artist = [[James Taylor]] | cover = James Taylor - Dad Loves His Work.jpg | alt = | released = {{Start date|1981|03}} | recorded = {{Start and end date|1980|09|05|1981|01|18}} | venue = | studio = [[Record One]], Los Angeles | genre = [[Soft rock]] | length = {{Duration|m=38|s=49}} | label = [[Columbia Records|Columbia]] | producer = [[Peter Asher]] | prev_title = [[Flag (James Taylor album)|Flag]] | prev_year = 1979 | next_title = [[That's Why I'm Here]] | next_year = 1985 | misc = {{Singles | name = Dad Loves His Work | type = studio | single1 = [[Her Town Too]] | single1date = February 1981 | single2 = [[Hard Times (James Taylor song)|Hard Times]] | single2date = May 1981 }} }} '''''Dad Loves His Work''''' is the tenth studio album by [[James Taylor]], released in 1981. The album includes the duet with [[JD Souther]] titled "[[Her Town Too]]", which peaked at number 11 on the [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Hot 100]] and number 5 on the ''Billboard'' Adult Contemporary chart. The album was [[Platinum certification|certified platinum]] in the United States. It was his first album without any cover versions.
==Background== The album's title was a response by Taylor to then-wife [[Carly Simon]], who had issued an ultimatum to Taylor regarding his constant touring, leaving her home with their two children, Benjamin and Sally. Simon informed Taylor in 1980 that unless he curtailed his schedule to be home more with his family, that she would divorce him. Shortly before the album's release, the pair separated, officially dissolving their 11-year marriage in 1983. Taylor, who was still struggling with a lengthy history of drug abuse, later admitted that he was ill-equipped to be a family man at that time in his life and put his career before his family.
==Critical reception== {{Music ratings |rev1 = [[AllMusic]] |rev1score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref>[{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r19685|pure_url=yes}} link]</ref> |rev2 = ''[[The Encyclopedia of Popular Music]]'' |rev2Score = {{Rating|2|5}}<ref>{{cite book|last=Larkin|first=Colin|author-link=Colin Larkin|title=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music|year=2007|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|edition=4th|isbn=978-0195313734|title-link=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music}}</ref> |rev3 = ''[[MusicHound]]'' |rev3score = {{rating|2.5|5}}<ref name="MusicHound">{{cite book|editor-last1=Graff|editor-first1=Gary|editor-last2=Durchholz|editor-first2=Daniel|title=MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide|publisher=Visible Ink Press|location=Farmington Hills, MI|year=1999|isbn=1-57859-061-2|page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781578590612/page/1125 1125]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781578590612/page/1125}}</ref> |rev5 = ''[[The Rolling Stone Album Guide]]'' |rev5score = {{Rating|3|5}}<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/james-taylor/albumguide |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130105161220/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/james-taylor/albumguide |title=James Taylor: Album Guide |publisher=[[Rolling Stone|rollingstone.com]] |archive-date=January 5, 2013 |access-date=October 27, 2015 }}</ref> }} ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' wrote that "the tunes are simple and memorable—you can sing along with most of them after two listens."<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Shewey |first1=Don |title=Dad Loves His Work |magazine=Rolling Stone |date=May 28, 1981}}</ref>
==Track listing== All songs by [[James Taylor]] unless otherwise noted.
;Side one #"[[Hard Times (James Taylor song)|Hard Times]]" – 3:13 #"[[Her Town Too]]" (Duet with JD Souther) (Taylor, [[JD Souther]], [[Waddy Wachtel]]) – 4:34 #"Hour That the Morning Comes" – 2:56 #"I Will Follow" – 4:19 #"Believe It or Not" – 3:53
;Side two #<li value=6>"Stand and Fight" (Taylor, [[Jacob Brackman]]) – 3:10 #"Only for Me" – 4:55 #"Summer's Here" – 2:43 #"Sugar Trade" (Taylor, [[Jimmy Buffett]], Timothy Mayer) – 2:48 #"London Town" – 3:56 #"That Lonesome Road" (Taylor, [[Don Grolnick]]) – 2:22
== Personnel == * [[James Taylor]] – lead vocals, acoustic guitar (3–10), [[bass harmonica]] (9) * Bill Cuomo – synthesizers (1, 4) * [[Don Grolnick]] – acoustic piano (1, 3, 5, 10, 11), [[Electric organ|organ]] (1–3, 7–9), [[Fender Rhodes]] (2, 5, 8, 10), keyboards (4) * [[Dan Dugmore]] – electric guitar (1–3, 6–8, 10), [[pedal steel guitar]] (4, 5) * [[Waddy Wachtel]] – electric guitar (1, 4–8, 10), guitar solo (1), acoustic guitar (2), [[slide guitar]] (3) * [[Leland Sklar]] – bass (1–10) * [[Rick Marotta]] – drums (1–8, 10), [[conga]]s (1), percussion (5, 6), [[timbales]] (8) * [[Peter Asher]] – percussion (6, 7), [[Shaker (musical instrument)|shaker]] (8) * [[Greg "Fingers" Taylor]] – [[harmonica]] (6, 8, 10) * [[Gene Page]] – string arrangements and conductor (2) * [[David Lasley]] – backing vocals (1, 4, 6, 7, 10) * [[Arnold McCuller]] – backing vocals (1, 4, 6, 7, 10) * [[JD Souther]] – harmony vocals (2)
'''Choir on "That Lonesome Road"''' * Peter Asher * [[Jim Gilstrap]] * [[Bernard Ighner]] * David Lasley * Arnold McCuller * James Taylor * [[Jennifer Warnes]]
== Production == * Producer – Peter Asher * Engineer – [[Val Garay]] * Assistant Engineer – [[Niko Bolas]] * Recorded at [[Record One]] (Los Angeles, CA). * Piano and Keyboard Technician – Edd Kolakowski * Mastered by [[Doug Sax]] and Mike Reese at The Mastering Lab (Hollywood, CA). * Photography – [[Aaron Rapoport]] * Art Direction and Design – [[John Kosh]]
==Charts== {| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center" |- !Chart (1981) !Peak<br/>position |- |Australia ([[Kent Music Report]])<ref name=aus>{{cite book|last=Kent|first=David|author-link=David Kent (historian)|title=Australian Chart Book 1970–1992|edition=illustrated|publisher=Australian Chart Book|location=St Ives, N.S.W.|year=1993|isbn=0-646-11917-6|page=305}}</ref> | style="text-align:center;"|23 |}
==References== {{reflist}}
{{James Taylor}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:1981 albums]] [[Category:James Taylor albums]] [[Category:Albums produced by Peter Asher]] [[Category:Columbia Records albums]] [[Category:Legacy Recordings albums]]