{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2013}} {{Infobox album | name = Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon | type = album | artist = James Taylor | cover = James Taylor - Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon.jpg | alt = | released = {{Start date|1971|04}} | recorded = {{Start and end dates|1971|01|03|1971|02|28}} | venue = | studio = Crystal Sound Studios, Los Angeles | genre = Folk rock<ref>{{cite book|title=Two-lane Blacktop|first1=Rudolph|last1=Wurlitzer|first2=Will|last2=Corry|date=1971|page=36|publisher=Award Books|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zYs-AAAAIAAJ|accessdate=11 October 2022}}</ref> | length = {{Duration|m=37|s=07}} | label = Warner Bros. | producer = Peter Asher | prev_title = 1967 | prev_year = 1971 | next_title = One Man Dog | next_year = 1972 | misc = {{Singles | name = Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon | type = studio | single1 = You've Got a Friend | single1date = May 1971 | single2 = Long Ago and Far Away | single2date = September 1971 }} }} '''''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, it was recorded between early January and late February of the same year.
== Release and promotion == The album contains Taylor's biggest hit single in the US, a cover version of Carole King's "You've Got a Friend". On July 31, 1971, his recording of the song hit number 1 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart, his only single to do so. A week earlier, the album had reached its peak position of number 2 on ''Billboard''{{'s}} Top LPs chart. It was kept from the top spot by King, who was ruling the charts with her blockbuster album ''Tapestry'', which contained her own version of "You've Got a Friend". The song earned Grammy Awards both for Taylor (Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male) and King (Song of the Year). ''Mud Slide Slim'' generated another Top 40 hit in "Long Ago and Far Away", which reached number 31 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Other songs on the album became standards of Taylor's concert repertoire, particularly "You Can Close Your Eyes".
== Critical reception == {{Music ratings | title = Retrospective professional reviews | rev1 = AllMusic | rev1score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref name=Allmusic>{{AllMusic |class=album |tab=review |id=r19698 |first=William |last=Ruhlmann |accessdate=2 October 2004 }}</ref> | rev2 = ''Christgau's Record Guide'' | rev2Score = C+<ref name="CG">{{cite book|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|year=1981|title=Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies|publisher=Ticknor & Fields|isbn=089919026X|chapter=Consumer Guide '70s: T|chapter-url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/get_chap.php?k=T&bk=70|accessdate=March 15, 2019|via=robertchristgau.com}}</ref> | rev3 = ''MusicHound Rock'' | rev3score = 3/5<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=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781578590612/page/1125}}</ref> | rev4 = ''Rolling Stone Album Guide'' | rev4Score = {{Rating|3.5|5}}<ref name=RSguide>{{Cite book |chapter=James Taylor |pages=[https://archive.org/details/newrollingstonea00brac/page/804 804–805] |editor1-last=Brackett |editor1-first=Nathan |editor2-last=Hoard |editor1-link=Nathan Brackett |editor2-first=Christian |first1=Mark |last1=Coleman |first2=Ben |last2=Edmonds |title=The New Rolling Stone Album Guide |year=2004 |publisher=Fireside |location=London |isbn=0-7432-0169-8 }} Portions posted at {{Cite web |work=rollingstone.com |title=James Taylor > Album Guide |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/james-taylor/albumguide |accessdate=7 November 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130105161220/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/james-taylor/albumguide |archive-date=January 5, 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref> | rev5 = ''Encyclopedia of Popular Music'' | rev5Score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref>{{cite book|last=Larkin|first=Colin|author-link=Colin Larkin|title=Encyclopedia of Popular Music|year=2007|publisher=Oxford University Press|edition=4th|isbn=978-0195313734|title-link=Encyclopedia of Popular Music}}</ref> }} Reviewing for ''Rolling Stone'' in 1971, Ben Gerson found the album to be "dull listening" the first few times, but wrote that, "Once the melodies begin to sink in, and the LP's ''raison d'etre'' is discovered, the album's subtle tensions begin to appear. And while the album at this point makes for pleasant, absorbing listening, there is a terrible weariness to it which is part of its artistic statement."<ref name=RS1971>{{Cite news|newspaper=Rolling Stone |issue=85 |date=June 24, 1971 |first=Ben |last=Gerson |title=James Taylor ''Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon'' > Album Review |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/mud-slide-slim-the-blue-horizon-19710624 |accessdate=15 June 2006 |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071002015609/http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/jamestaylor/albums/album/125086/review/5943983/mud_slide_slim__the_blue_horizon |archivedate=October 2, 2007 |df=mdy }}</ref>
''Village Voice'' critic Robert Christgau was more critical of Taylor's songwriting, writing in 1981: "Having squandered most of the songs on his big success, he's concentrating on the intricate music--the lyrics are more onanistic than ever, escapist as a matter of conscious thematic decision. From what? you well may wonder. From success, poor fella. Blues singers lived on the road out of economic necessity, although they often got into it; Taylor is an addict, pure and simple. A born-rich nouveau star who veers between a 'homestead on the farm' (what does he raise there, hopes?) and the Holiday Inn his mean old existential dilemma compels him to call home deserves the conniving, self-pitying voice that is his curse. Interesting, intricate, unlistenable."<ref name="CG"/>
In 2000 ''Mud Slide Slim'' was voted number 858 in Colin Larkin's ''All Time Top 1000 Albums''.<ref name="Larkin">{{cite book|title=All Time Top 1000 Albums|author=Colin Larkin|author-link=Colin Larkin|publisher=Virgin Books|date=2000|edition=3rd|isbn=0-7535-0493-6|page=265}}</ref>
==Track listing== {{listen |filename=You've Got A Friend sample.ogg |title="You've Got A Friend" |description=James Taylor's "You've Got A Friend" from ''Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon'' |filetype=Ogg}}
All songs by James Taylor unless otherwise noted.
;Side one #"Love Has Brought Me Around" – 2:41 #"You've Got a Friend" (Carole King) – 4:28 #"Places in My Past" – 2:01 #"Riding on a Railroad" – 2:41 #"Soldiers" – 1:13 #"Mud Slide Slim" – 5:20
;Side two #"Hey Mister, That's Me up on the Jukebox" – 3:46 #"You Can Close Your Eyes" – 2:31 #"Machine Gun Kelly" (Danny Kortchmar) – 2:37 #"Long Ago and Far Away" – 2:20 #"Let Me Ride" – 2:42 #"Highway Song" – 3:51 #"Isn't It Nice to Be Home Again" – 0:55
==Personnel== * James Taylor – lead vocals, backing vocals (1, 2, 6, 9–12), acoustic guitar (1, 2, 4–11, 13), piano (3, 12) * Russ Kunkel – drums (1–7, 9–12), congas (1, 2, 6, 11), cowbell and small cymbals (1), cabasa (2), tambourine (9) * Leland Sklar – bass guitar (1–7, 10–12) * Carole King – piano (1, 4–7, 10, 12), backing vocals (6) * Danny Kortchmar – electric guitar (1, 6, 11), congas (1, 2, 9–11), acoustic guitar (2, 9), guitar (3) * Peter Asher – tambourine (1), backing vocals (9, 12) * Wayne Jackson (trumpet), Andrew Love (tenor saxophone), and The Memphis Horns – horn arrangements and horns (1, 11) * Joni Mitchell – backing vocals (1, 2, 10) * Kevin Kelly – accordion (3), piano (11) * John Hartford – banjo (4) * Richard Greene – fiddle (4) * Kate Taylor – backing vocals (6, 11, 12) * Gale Haness – backing vocals (6)
===Production=== * Producer – Peter Asher * Engineer – Richard Sanford Orshoff * Art Direction – Ed Thrasher * Liner Artwork – Laurie Miller * Cover Photography – Ethan Russell
==Charts== ===Weekly charts=== {| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center" |- !Chart (1971) !Peak<br/>position |- |align="left"|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;"|12 |- |align="left"|Canadian ''RPM'' Albums Chart<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?&file_num=nlc008388.5396&type=1&interval=50&PHPSESSID=svcn9l0k61q3vjfucibefndnc0|title=Top Albums/CDs — Volume 15, No. 18|magazine=RPM|format=PHP|date=1971-06-19|accessdate=2014-04-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140429075917/http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?&file_num=nlc008388.5396&type=1&interval=50&PHPSESSID=svcn9l0k61q3vjfucibefndnc0|archive-date=April 29, 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref> |4 |- |align="left"|Norwegian Albums Chart<ref name="nochart">{{cite web|title=norwegiancharts.com James Taylor — ''Mud Slide Slim'' |url=http://norwegiancharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=James+Taylor&titel=Mud+Slide+Slim&cat=a |format=ASP |accessdate=2014-03-09 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140507053916/http://norwegiancharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=James+Taylor&titel=Mud+Slide+Slim&cat=a |archivedate=May 7, 2014 |df=mdy }}</ref> |17 |- |align="left"|UK Albums Chart<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.officialcharts.com/artist/_/James%20Taylor| title= James Taylor > Artists > Official Charts| publisher=UK Albums Chart|accessdate=2014-04-02}}</ref> |4 |- |align="left"|U.S. ''Billboard'' Top LPs<ref>{{cite web|title=AllMusic: ''Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon'': Charts & Awards: Billboard Albums|publisher=allmusic.com|url={{AllMusic|class=album|id=r19698/charts-awards|pure_url=yes}}|accessdate=2014-04-02}}</ref> |2 |}
===Year-end charts=== {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" !Chart (1971) !Position |- |align="left"|U.S. Billboard Pop Albums<ref>{{cite web |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20121231073210/http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/charts/archivesearch/article_display/855873?imw=Y |url=http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/charts/archivesearch/article_display/855873?imw=Y |title=Billboard.BIZ Top Pop Albums of 1971 |publisher=billboard.biz |archivedate=December 31, 2012 |accessdate=2014-04-17 |url-status=dead |df=mdy }}</ref> |27 |}
==Certifications== {{Certification Table Top}} {{Certification Table Entry|region=United States|title=Mud Slide Slim|artist=James Taylor|type=album|award=Platinum|number=2}} {{Certification Table Bottom|nosales=yes}}
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == * {{Discogs master|type=album|68209}}
{{James Taylor}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon}} Category:1971 albums Category:James Taylor albums Category:Albums produced by Peter Asher Category:Warner Records albums