Maps of Music

Hourglass (1997)

Where the lyrics of Hourglass take you, and where it was really made.

Taylor made this album after six years without a studio record, and it was recorded on early digital gear that few top artists used at the time.

Key places

Chalker's Creek recording credit (1997)

Recording site Chalker's Creek — Credits list Chalker's Creek as a place where the album was recorded. The point uses city-centre coordinates for Martha's Vineyard, not the studio building. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Westlake Studios recording credit (1997)

Recording site Westlake Recording Studios — Credits list Westlake Studios as a place where parts of the album were recorded. Its point uses the studio's building coordinates in West Hollywood. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Right Track Recording credit (1997)

Recording site MSR Studios — Credits list Right Track Recording as a place where the album was recorded and mixed. Its point uses the building coordinates on West 48th Street in Manhattan. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Hourglass: fourteenth studio album by singer-songwriter James Taylor
• Released in May 1997
• First studio album in six years, following New Moon Shine (1991)
• Huge commercial success, reaching No. 9 on the Billboard 200
• Dedicated to Don Grolnick, a frequent collaborator of Taylor

Background

• Introspective album; lyrics focused largely on Taylor's troubled past and family
• 'Jump Up Behind Me' pays tribute to his father's rescue of him after the Flying Machine days
• The same song recalls the long drive from New York City back to his home in Chapel Hill
• 'Enough to Be on Your Way' was inspired by the alcoholism-related death of brother Alex earlier in the decade
• Themes were also inspired by Taylor's divorce from actress Kathryn Walker, which took place in 1996
• Grolnick died during the Hourglass sessions in 1996 due to Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma

Recording

• Majority of the album recorded using a Yamaha O2R mixer and three Tascam DA-88 multitrack recorders
• These early digital devices were not typically used by top-level artists at that time
• Most major label records were still being recorded to analog tape then
• Credits list Chalker's Creek, Westlake Studios and Right Track Recording as recording locations
• Mixed at Right Track Recording; mastered by Ted Jensen at Sterling Sound, New York

Cover

• Photography by Herb Ritts; art direction by Stephanie Mauer; design by Chris Quinn

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · www.discogs.com

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Early years

• Born March 12, 1948 in Boston, Massachusetts; raised in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
• Learned guitar in 1960, influenced by hymns, carols and Woody Guthrie.
• Spent time in a psychiatric hospital and struggled with heroin addiction in his youth.

Career

• Formed the Flying Machine in New York in 1966; the group broke up after a single.
• Signed to Apple Records in 1968 as the first non-British act on the label.
• Breakthrough with Sweet Baby James (1970) and the hit "Fire and Rain", both reaching No. 3.
• First No. 1 hit with "You've Got a Friend" (1971), written by Carole King.
• Greatest Hits (1976) is one of the best-selling albums in US history, certified Diamond.
• Won six Grammy Awards; inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000.
• Reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with Before This World (2015) after a 45-year wait.
• Continues to tour actively as of 2026.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• The album also gave Taylor his first Grammy since JT, when he was honored with Best Pop Album in 1998
• Producer and engineer Frank Filipetti won a Grammy the same year for Best Engineered Album
• Taylor's first Top 10 album in sixteen years, after a long gap in the charts
• The adult contemporary hit 'Little More Time with You' drew strong radio attention

Records

• Reached No. 9 on the Billboard 200
• Commercial success that made it his highest-charting album in years
• Sixteen years had passed since his last Top 10 album, so this return was notable
• Adult contemporary hit 'Little More Time with You' came from the album
• Awards in 1998: Best Pop Album for Taylor and Best Engineered Album for Filipetti
• Album marked a return to the top of the charts after six years without a studio album

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Taylor described the album's spirit with the phrase 'spirituals for agnostics'
• Yamaha provided the O2R digital recording console used on the album
• The album is dedicated to Don Grolnick, who died during the sessions in 1996
• 'Hangnail' (also known as 'Money O Money') is a hidden track after the twelfth song
• Stevie Wonder played harmonica on 'Little More Time with You'

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · www.discogs.com

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