Carole King & James Taylor: Just Call Out My Name (2022) User Reviews

1970 lives

[tomjc-13095 · 9/10 · 3 January 2022]

I might be biased but these people are my age and still sound like they did 50 years ago. This is what music should sound like. In the 70s these were at the top of the charts. There is no aging of the music or the songs. May they live forever. Bravo.

Blast from, the past

[drjgardner · 9/10 · 12 January 2022]

If you enjoyed them then, you'll enjoy them now. It's amazing how well they continue to sing, though maybe not 100% of who they were, but whom of us is. Enjoy watching the other musicians and singers too.

Reliving great music

[mhottrax · 9/10 · 20 February 2022]

Missed the original Troubedour shows, but had seen them solo many times each. When I heard they were planning a tour 40 years later I jumped right on it. Was lucky enough to see them at the Hollywood Bowl. So of course when I heard this Doc was coming out I couldn't wait to see it. I was not disappointed. A great representation of two of the greatest. Loved how they edited some of the original performances into the new ones. Outstanding doucumentary.

(And if they tour again, I'll be there)

They still have it- and know how to use it

[robert-50216 · 10/10 · 13 January 2022]

The blend of James and Carole is as inspiring as it was when I got to see them together in 1971 in college. Their talents mesh perfectly and they are having as much fun at what they do now as ever. They remind me why I fell in love with their style of music decades ago- and never got tired of it!

Interesting comments about the autotune

[rbronews2 · 10/10 · 19 August 2022]

When I was watching this, I suspected that the sound had been doctored a bit, which is the case with most concert films nowadays. I wasn't familiar with autotune technology until now.

Having said that, the music in this film sounds really good. Not just the singing of Carole and James, but the guitar and bass playing and drumming and the additional vocalists.

It's interesting that Carole King has a history of being reluctant to do live performances, but this film offers no evidence to support this; she seemed really into it.

Ruined by Autotune

[jsmith-33585 · 4/10 · 12 February 2022]

The actual documentary parts were enjoyable, but all of the 2010 live performances were ruined by amateurish pitch correction on both of the vocals. Carole's voice was perfectly fine during that tour, but it's been edited so much that all of the humanity has been removed. It's one thing to clean up a live vocal for a movie like this, but this is just sloppy.

Painful autotune

[jpgr1 · 27 June 2022]

I love both their music. I've seen James Taylor live (Carole is still bucket list) but my god the autotune was way too heavy. Part of why I love 70s music so much is that raw, intimate, natural and imperfect sound of the singer-songwriter's voice. There is something so close and intimate about it. It touches my soul.

I know autotune has become the norm for post-2000 musical artists, but hearing that sound applied to James' and Carole's music was disappointing. No one wants to hear the "Glee" tv show version of their music.