Customer Reviews
This album made me a fan - By: C. Welsh, 04 Jan 2007 
This guy has a very special voice & the songs are quite catchy too. Some of the songs have a "country" feel to it but overalll I loved it.
5 stars for a great singer.
Beautiful Songs Sung By A Fantastic Singer - By: Scully Bloke, 07 Sep 2006 Take a man with an absolutely fantastic voice. Add some of the greatest songs of the last 25 years. Mix in an acoustic guitar, & apply absolute emotions of happiness, sadness, love & hurt to each song & you have james Taylors Greatest Hits.
How anyone can describe Taylors voice as bland is completely beyond me. It is Pure Class. Thats why his songs are love now as much as they were in the 70's 80's & 90's.
Its a must have album for people who appreciate beautiful songs, sung by a fantastic singer.
Cosiness all around - By: fields21, 31 Oct 2004 I have not a lot to add to previous reviewers. I am no James Taylor disciple, but I like the cd. In my view, this is a cd full of warm, acoustic songs. Excellent gift for ladies, play it with red wine, sparkling fire in the fire place, with rain lashing the windows etc.
Great songs, well executed, well produced. If you're not in the right mood though, you may well find it a bit bland, dull or boring. Still, if you're looking for classic 70 singer-songwriter stuff, with lost of calm, gently acoustic songs, sprayed with a little melancholy, sadness (sometimes) this is the cd to buy.
Overated blandness - By: P. Sharpe, 19 Jul 2004 
I normallly go with the critics choice's, Dylan, Young, Mitchell, Hardin etc, alll fine singer songwriters.
I went with their hype on this one too, however, & no matter how many times i try to reconcile myself with it i just cannot. Sure he has a few great songs, Carolina In My Mind & You've Got a Friend, but i just cannot get past any more than 10 minutes of listening to this collection as his voice is just SO bland & without character. It fails to inspire & even annoys, especiallly the fact that these songs could definitely be made great if he just put a bit more life into his voice.
Sorry James.
its not hyperbole..... - By: marty mcfly, 20 Feb 2004 people often proclaim various works 'excellent' or 'the finest thing i have ever heard' and, more often than not, this is mere hyperbole, or just the fact music can capture a moment and, in that moment, appear peerless. I have waited some 5 years since first hearing this to decide whether it reallly is as good as i first believed. it is. i wonder if it is an exaggeration to try & tell you that this is the finest collection of music from a single artist that i have ever had the pleasure of listening to? i certainly cannot think of another. The Doors' eponymous debut, REM's Automatic, Eurythmics Greatest Hits, U2's Achtung Baby, Primal Scream's Screamadelica, The Rolling Stones' Hot Rocks compilation, the best of Bowie, The Stone Roses debut, anything by Spiritualized or Radiohead. this is alll fantastic music, alll loved by me.
The truth is, that in my considered opinion & just from my perspective, James Taylor's Greatest Hits may well actuallly be the finest collection i own, finer than alll of these other records.
Why? where to start. Taylor's voice is versatile, at once melancholy (Something in the Way She Moves) & mournful (Fire & Rain), yet somehow adapting to the grooves of the bluesy numbers (Shower the People & Steamroller). It is this shift & versatility that gives this collection of songs that quality that greatest hits records often lack. It is the ability of virtuallly every song to induce emotion, whether it be tears, or laughter, happiness or sadness, that raises this to the level of enduring masterpiece.
It annoys me when people say to me that i MUST, ABSOLUTELY MUST, listen to or read something & i subsequently find myself disappointed. I do not take my advice lightly - this is an absolute, definite must. you must listen to this if you have not already.
