BBC’s 1971 ‘James Taylor In Concert’ Film Set For YouTube Streaming

The complete and fondly-remembered James Taylor In Concert film, made by the BBC in 1971, will be available to stream on his official YouTube channel from this Wednesday (24) at 7.30pm ET.

The TV concert, which is marking its 50th anniversary, will remain online through the Thanksgiving weekend, until November 29. A teaser clip is now available to view, highlighting not only Taylor’s preeminence in the vanguard of the singer-songwriter movement but guest appearances by Carole King, Danny Kortchmar, Leland Sklar, Russ Kunkel, and Jo Mama.

The show in question was broadcast on BBC Two on November 13, 1971, when Taylor was 23 years old. It was his second solo appearance in the In Concert series, following a show that aired some months earlier. In April of 1971, he released his breakthrough album Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon, which was en route to double platinum status in the US. The concert’s set list included that LP’s “You Can Close Your Eyes,” “Love Has Brought Me Around,” and its flagship hit, his version of King’s “You’ve Got A Friend.”

The show was originally given a 45-minute slot by the BBC, starting at 9.05pm. It took its place in an evening schedule which also included Film Night (including, noted the Radio Times, “a preview of music from the film version of Fiddler on the Roof”) and then the late movie, the 1949 film Thieves’ Highway, starring Lee J. Cobb and Richard Conte.

In the present day, Taylor’s American tour with special guest Jackson Browne will continue, after a break during the week of Thanksgiving, next Monday (November 29) with a show at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, MN. That run extends until December 13, with the pair then set to reconvene for an extensive Canadian tour from April 2022. Taylor’s rescheduled European tour will now open in September next year.