On his first album in five years, James Taylor doesn't sound contemporary — and he seems very unworried by that fact. October Road reunites him with Russ Titelman, producer of 1975's Gorilla and '76's In the Pocket. Their approach here is much the same — delivering classic singer-songwriter fare laced with easy jazz and mellow R&B. Yet the result is much more subtle than those peak-era LPs; what's more, October Road is a hit album without any obvious hit songs.

At a time when veteran stars are routinely propped up with upstart guests and gimmicky grooves, Taylor and Titelman's tasteful restraint is refreshing and suits such contemplative tracks as "Belfast to Boston." The singer's unhurried acoustic guitar picking and calm, steady croon are — as they should be — the album's central joys.

“Karma Chameleon”

Boy George has said this song was about standing by what you believe in. However, at the time, he was involved in a secret affair with Culture Club drummer Jon Moss. "Now people can understand the songs better," he said. "They were written about my relationship with Jon, and they were also written about being a gay man in a homophobic world." The lines "If I listen to your lies, would you say/I'm a man without conviction/I'm a man who doesn't know how to sell a contradiction," described his life at the time, he said. "I was selling this big lie."