New Moon Shine Norman OK

New Moon Shine

James Taylor

Columbia Records, 1991

REVIEW BY: Jason Warburg

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 04/02/1998

For blinded-by-dollars, behind-the-times, guiltily sentimentaland generally just plain dopey behavior, it's hard to match thefolks who vote on the Grammy Awards. I mean, are we all clear onthe fact that the Grammy they gave Bob Dylan this year, 35 yearsinto his amazing career, was his FIRST? I've heard of lostweekends, but that's gotta be a new record. And remember a coupleof years ago when they gave Time magazine cover boys U2 the award for "Best AlternativeAlbum"? Even Bono acted stunned. He knows his place in the musicscene, and that ain't it.

No, these Grammy voters seem to have developed a sense ofabsurdity that would give even Monty Python pause. For furtherevidence, I give you this year's winner for Best Pop Album, JamesTaylor's very enjoyable Hourglass. An absurd choice not just because Taylor thoughtso little of his chances that he didn't even bother attending, orbecause it hit the charts twenty-five years after unrecognizedplatinum albums like Sweet Baby James and Gorilla, but because it isn't even his best album of the'90s.

That title belongs to1991's New Moon Shine.

A return to form of sorts after three solid but unspectacularoutings during the '80s, this album brings together unusuallystrong representatives from each of Taylor's principal musicalapproaches: melancholy introspection, grooving funk, meaning-ladenstory-songs and soulful harmonizing.