One Man Dog

One Man Dog
Studio album by
James Taylor
ReleasedNovember 1, 1972 (1972-11-01)
RecordedSummer 1972
Studio
  • Taylor's house
  • A&R Recording (New York)
  • Clover Recorders (Los Angeles)
GenreSoft rock
Length36:48
LabelWarner Bros.
ProducerPeter Asher
James Taylor chronology
Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon
(1971) 		One Man Dog
(1972) 		Walking Man
(1974)
Singles from One Man Dog
  1. "Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight"
    Released: November 1972
  2. "One Man Parade"
    Released: February 1973
  3. "Hymn"
    Released: April 1973

One Man Dog is the fourth studio album by singer-songwriter James Taylor. Released on November 1, 1972, it features the hit "Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight", which peaked at number 14 on the Billboard charts on January 13, 1973. The follow-up single, "One Man Parade", also charted but less successfully, peaking at number 67 in the US and reaching number 55 on the Canadian Adult Contemporary chart.[1] The basic tracks were primarily recorded in Taylor's home studio.

The album is made up of 18 short pieces strung together. It climbed to number 4 on the US Billboard Pop Albums chart. There was also a Quadraphonic mix of the album that included alternate vocal takes and elongated versions of some songs.[2]

Upon the album's release, Berwyn Life critic Steve Sparacio said that it "is certainly James Taylor's best album."[3] Sparacio noted that "Upon first listening, no song on One Man Dog stands out. But as an entity the album holds together extremely well. It may be paradoxical but only after you're able to view One Man Dog as a whole entity do you realize that some of the songs individually are very good."[3] Sparacio identified the theme of the album to be an "affirmation" of Taylor's life at the time, being newly married to Carly Simon and off drugs, and a realization that if he was going to cope with his life he needed to turn inward.[3]

On the other hand, Allmusic critic William Ruhlmann considered the album to be a "letdown", saying that "a lot of it was sketchy and seemingly unfinished, and none of it had the impact of the best songs on the last two albums."[4] Forest Park Review critic John Griffin praised the short songs for avoiding the monotony of similar slow melodies that he felt marred Taylor's previous album Mud Slide Slim.[5] Record World said it "contains some interesting departures from his earlier work."[6]

Calgary Herald critic Jim Rennie felt that the best song on the album was the traditional folk song "One Morning in May," saying that "Taylor joins forces vocally with luscious Linda Ronstadt, and the result is so good I think the combination is worth an album of its own."[7]

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[8]
Christgau's Record GuideC+[9]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[10]
MusicHound Rock2/5[11]
Rolling Stone(favorable)[12]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[13]
  1. ^ "RPM Adult Contemporary". Library and Archives Canada. April 28, 1973. Archived from the original on November 1, 2014. Retrieved June 24, 2014.
  2. ^ "James Taylor Rarities". Retrieved April 11, 2016.
  3. ^ a b c Sparacio, Steve (January 17, 1973). "Newlyweds record hits". Berwyn Life. p. 12. Retrieved March 24, 2023 – via newspapers.com.
  4. ^ Ruhlmann, William. "One Man Dog". Allmusic. Retrieved March 24, 2023.
  5. ^ Griffin, John (January 3, 1973). "New Morning". Forest Park Review. p. 8. Retrieved March 24, 2023 – via newspapers.com.
  6. ^ "Hits of the Week" (PDF). Record World. November 25, 1972. p. 1. Retrieved March 28, 2023.
  7. ^ Rennie, Jim (January 12, 1973). "Records". Calgary Herald. p. 5. Retrieved March 24, 2023 – via newspapers.com.
  8. ^ Ruhlmann, William. One Man Dog at AllMusic. Retrieved 2 October 2004.
  9. ^ Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: T". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved March 15, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
  10. ^ Larkin, Colin (2007). Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195313734.
  11. ^ Graff, Gary; Durchholz, Daniel, eds. (1999). MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Farmington Hills, MI: Visible Ink Press. p. 1125. ISBN 1-57859-061-2.
  12. ^ Landau, Jon (January 18, 1973). "James Taylor One Man Dog > Album Review". Rolling Stone. No. 126. Archived from the original on October 2, 2007. Retrieved June 15, 2006.
  13. ^ Coleman, Mark; Edmonds, Ben (2004). "James Taylor". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. London: Fireside. pp. 804–805. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8. Portions posted at "James Taylor > Album Guide". rollingstone.com. Archived from the original on January 5, 2013. Retrieved November 6, 2011.