Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon

Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon is the third studio album by American singer-songwriter James Taylor. Released on March 16, 1971 as the follow-up to his commercial breakthrough and critical triumph, Sweet Baby James, it almost equaled the acclaim and surpassed the success of its predecessor at the time of its release. It contains Taylor's biggest hit single in the US, a version of the Carole King standard "You've Got a Friend", which became his only #1 on the Billboard charts on July 31, 1971. The week before, the album itself reached its peak position of #2 in the Billboard album charts. It was held off the top spot by King, then ruling the charts with the blockbuster Tapestry album, which contained her version of "You've Got a Friend". (Taylor also worked with King on her album and appears on several tracks performing acoustic guitar and backing vocals.)

Months later, the album managed to generate another Top 40 hit, "Long Ago and Far Away", which reached #31 on the Billboard Hot 100. Other songs became standards in concert, particularly "You Can Close Your Eyes".

In 1972, "You've Got a Friend" received Grammy Awards both for Taylor (Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male) and King (Song of the Year).

Track listing
All songs by James Taylor unless otherwise noted.

Side One
 * 1) "Love Has Brought Me Around" – 2:41
 * 2) "You've Got a Friend" (Carole King) – 4:28
 * 3) "Places in My Past" – 2:01
 * 4) "Riding on a Railroad" – 2:41
 * 5) "Soldiers" – 1:13
 * 6) "Mud Slide Slim" – 5:20

Side Two
 * 1) "Hey Mister, That's Me up on the Jukebox" – 3:46
 * 2) "You Can Close Your Eyes" – 2:31
 * 3) "Machine Gun Kelly" (Danny Kortchmar) – 2:37
 * 4) "Long Ago and Far Away" – 2:20
 * 5) "Let Me Ride" – 2:42
 * 6) "Highway Song" – 3:51
 * 7) "Isn't It Nice to Be Home Again" – 0:55

Personnel

 * James Taylor - acoustic guitar, piano, vocals
 * Peter Asher - tambourine, backing vocals
 * Richard Greene - fiddle
 * Gail Haness - backing vocals
 * John Hartford - banjo
 * Wayne Jackson - trumpet
 * Kevin Kelly - piano, accordion
 * Carole King - piano, backing vocals
 * Danny Kortchmar - electric guitar, acoustic guitar, congas
 * Russ Kunkel - drums, congas, tambourine, cabasa, cowbell, small cymbals
 * Andrew Love - tenor saxophone
 * Leland Sklar - bass
 * Steven Edney - backing vocals
 * Joni Mitchell - backing vocals
 * Terry Manning - audio engineer
 * Kate Taylor - backing vocals
 * The Memphis Horns - horns