The "Carly" and "James" thanked in the sleeve notes are Taylor's parents, Carly Simon and James Taylor, who ruled the singer-songwriter roost in the early 1970s. The wistful outpourings that comprise their son's second album confirm that the apple hasn't fallen far from the tree. Taylor has his dad's reedy voice and melancholy disposition, both of which make all 11 songs here feel instantly familiar. If he had also inherited Mom's folk-grrrl assertiveness, this could have been a noteworthy record.

But Another Run Around the Sun is quite palatable even without that extra oomph, because Taylor is good at trad-pop balladeering, whether it's loaded with easy-listening type lushness (One Man Day), emotional weariness (Digest) or toe-twitching funkiness (Lady Magic). In a burst of pluck at the end of Lady Magic, he commands: "Fondle my words!" - which captures in a meaningless phrase the niceness of James and Carly's boy.