Low-Key Taylor : Check List ****<i> Great Balls of Fire</i> ***<i> Good Vibrations</i> **<i> Maybe Baby</i> *<i> Running on Empty </i>

** “NEVER DIE YOUNG.” James Taylor. Columbia. As comfy as an old pair of shoes, Taylor travels down a familiar path on his first album in over two years, though the road is strewn with fewer broken hearts than it was during his “Fire and Rain” days. Most of these sweetly tender tunes are written from the perspective of a man satisfied with the hand life has dealt him (“Sun on the Moon,” “Sweet Potato Pie,” “Baby Boom Baby”), and some, like “Home by Another Day,” and the not-exactly-a-love-song “Valentine’s Day,” are clever enough to warrant a second listen. This album provides low-key pleasure, but it’s a bit too low-key for its own good. Would that Taylor had scoured the pop/soul catalogues for another “Handyman” or “Up on the Roof” to render wholly different and new. That’s an overly familiar tactic that unfairly suggests that his own music isn’t strong enough--but it still would’ve given the album a bit more distinctive flavor than it has now.