Before James Taylor found widespread success with 1970’s Sweet Baby James (one of my favorite singer-songwriter albums ever), he was in a struggling band called The Flying Machine. The Flying Machine recorded seven songs in 1967, which they felt was only demo quality. Night Owl and Brighten Your Night with My Day were released as a double-sided single, which failed to gain traction, and they decided not to pursue a full length album. However, when Taylor’s breakthrough created the demand for it, Euphoria Records released the sessions as a quick cash in on his sudden popularity (to the chagrin of the other band members, who saw it for the cashgrab it was).

But musicwise, there’s some worthwhile moments here–despite being unable to decide if they wanted to be a harmony-heavy folk rock act or a funk group (Knocking ‘Round the Zoo appears twice, performed one by each lead singer). Brighten Your Night with my Day is the obvious standout, with echo-laden voices filling every gap in the music, ripping off Crosby Stills and Nash two years before their debut. The unfinished quality is proudly shown, with studio chatter left unedited, songs cut off in the middle of the tape and restarted, and one vocal-less track, but at its core, it shows a young James Taylor at the very earliest stages of honing his craft, showing some promise, but ultimately not ready for the big time. That would come later.