One Man Dog

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. 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.

Upon the album's release, Berwyn Life critic Steve Sparacio said that it "is certainly James Taylor's best album." 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." 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.

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." 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. Record World said it "contains some interesting departures from his earlier work."

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."

Track listing
All songs written by James Taylor, except where noted.


 * Side one
 * 1) "One Man Parade" - 3:10
 * 2) "Nobody But You" - 2:57
 * 3) "Chili Dog" - 1:35
 * 4) "Fool for You" - 1:42
 * 5) "Instrumental I" - 0:55
 * 6) "New Tune" - 1:35
 * 7) "Back on the Street Again" (Danny Kortchmar) - 3:00
 * 8) "Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight" - 2:34


 * Side two
 * 1) "Woh, Don't You Know" (Danny Kortchmar, Leland Sklar, James Taylor) - 2:10
 * 2) "One Morning in May" (traditional) - 2:54
 * 3) "Instrumental II" - 1:41
 * 4) "Someone" (John McLaughlin) - 3:36
 * 5) "Hymn" - 2:24
 * 6) "Fanfare" - 2:33
 * 7) "Little David" - 1:00
 * 8) "Mescalito" - 0:29
 * 9) "Dance" - 2:07
 * 10) "Jig" - 1:13

Personnel

 * James Taylor – lead vocals, backing vocals (1, 9, 16), acoustic guitar (1, 3, 5–12, 16–18), harmonica (1), electric guitar (2, 4, 14, 18), autoharp (5), bells (11), chainsaw (15), hammer (15)
 * Danny Kortchmar – electric guitar (1-4, 8, 9, 11, 13–18), timbales (1, 9), acoustic guitar (5, 7, 10, 12)
 * John McLaughlin – acoustic guitar (12)
 * John Hartford – banjo (17), fiddle (17)
 * Dash Crofts – mandolin (17)
 * Red Rhodes – steel guitar (17, 18)
 * Craig Doerge – acoustic piano (2, 6–10, 12–14, 16, 18), electric piano (2-4, 11, 15)
 * Leland Sklar – bass guitar (3-9, 11, 13–18), guitarron mexicano (7, 12, 17)
 * Russ Kunkel – congas (1, 2, 6–8, 11), drums (2-5, 8–10, 13–18), tambourine (3, 9), cabasa (6)
 * Peter Asher – guiro (1)
 * Bobbye Hall – congas (4), tambourine (4), bongos (11), bells (11), shaker (11), percussion (18)
 * Mark Paletier – cross-cut saw (15), sound effects (15)
 * George Bohanon – trombone (4)
 * Art Baron – bass trombone (13, 14, 18)
 * Barry Rogers – trombone (13, 14, 18)
 * Michael Brecker – tenor sax solo (8), tenor saxophone (13, 14), soprano saxophone (13), flute (18)
 * Randy Brecker – trumpet (13, 14, 18), flugelhorn (13), piccolo trumpet (13)
 * Abigale Haness – backing vocals (1, 14, 16)
 * Carole King – backing vocals (1, 14, 16)
 * Carly Simon – backing vocals (1)
 * Alex Taylor – backing vocals (1, 9)
 * Hugh Taylor – backing vocals (1, 9)
 * Kate Taylor – backing vocals (1)
 * Linda Ronstadt – backing vocals (10)

Production

 * Producer – Peter Asher
 * Engineers – Peter Asher (Tracks 1, 3, 6, 8, 9, 11, 15 & 16); Robert Appère (Tracks 2, 4, 5, 10 & 12); Phil Ramone (Tracks 7, 13, 14, 17 & 18).
 * Tenor sax solo on Track 8 recorded by Phil Ramone.
 * Mixed by Robert Appère
 * Mastered by Bernie Grundman at A&M Studios (Hollywood, CA).
 * Art Direction – Ed Thrasher
 * Photography – Peter Simon