'call Me' Is Not An Exceptional Al

There Is A 'patrician Arrogance' To James Taylor That Accounts In Part For His Popularity While It At The Same Time Explains The Critical Resistance To His Work.

Bob Dylan Has Always Sealed His Decisions With The Unexplainable. His Motives For Withholding The Release Of The Magnificent 'basement Tapes' Will Be As Forever Obscure As Brian Wilson's Reasons For The Destruction Of The Tapes For 'smile.'

To Her Audience, Janis Joplin Has Remained A Symbol, Artifact And Reminder Of Late Sixties Youth Culture. Her Popularity Never Derived From Her Musical Ability, But From Her Capacity To Link Her Fantasies Of Freedom And Immortality With Ours.

Soul Was The Music Made By And For Black People. For Most Of The Sixties It Was Thoroughly Divorced From White Popular Music, But By The End Of The Decade Several Artists With Their Roots Firmly In Both Soul And R&b Traditions Had Crossed Over.

The Beatles Never Sounded Intimidated By Their Idols. They Never Interpreted Old Rock; They Simply Played It As Well And As Joyfully As They Knew How. On 'rock 'n' Roll,' John Lennon Does Nothing But Interpret Old Rock.