I listened to this album the other day after putting it in stasis for a decade or so. It always struck me as a bad JT album. The best tracks are some of the older songs, his: "Rainy Day Man" and Carole Kings: "Up on the Roof". There are actually some nice JT tunes here, but some others that sound horrible to me today, songwriting-wise.
On the whole I personally thought it was a rush job to get an album out after the critically aclaimed release of "J.T", which was a comeback album of sorts for him after he left WB and went to Columbia. The song "Company Man" is based loosely on this move.
This album also came out at a time when his marriage to Carly Simon was dissolving. If you listen to the words of B.S.U.R. you can see he's torn between giving up "Do you think you might improve me? Trying to take control. Watching every little thing I do,
Just like a bleeding movie, Just like a leading role. Mama, this ain't me and I can't believe that's you"
and then self depreciation and sorrow, maybe thinking about staying around: "I'm bound to let you down. Then it's I who have been deceiving, purposely misleading and all along you believed in me"
In the last verse, Carly sings the lyrics as a harmony in the rears. If you listen to her alone, you can hear the emptiness in her vocals. Distant and uncaring with no spark or enthusiasm. It's sad really.
I do like the fun side of "Is that the way you look?" and also the pretty little French language tune "Chanson Française"
Here's what he's saying in English:
I've found this French song
Put in a corner
Deep down in my brain
Not yet expressed
And thus I'm lacking of English ideas
It seems, perhaps, as something I hadn't thought
If I say I love you
It's not at all
The same old thing
Because the words that I say
Don't come from the same spirit
And here I am, baby
A new foreigner
I try and I try, but I know
That I don't have enough French.
But what can I say?
It's necessary to finish
Suffice it to say
I'm never going to write
A French song again
Goodbye, my friends
I love you very much.
Yes!
Anyway, I will stick with my earlier vote. The mix is nice, the sound is great, but some of the songs, especially "Day Tripper", "I Will Not Lie for You", and "Company Man" are tough for me to take as a BIG JT fan.