Carole King - Tapestry

 

As one of the biggest selling records of all time, this album needs no introduction to anyone who cares about such sounds, but I bought the CD for the first time recently, after reading about various singer/ songwriters and wanting to revisit it. While I always dug wild, electric guitar rock'n'roll more than anything, I certainly had a soft spot for the singer/songwriters back in the day and King was better than most, as she had been writing hits for others for years as a contract writer before making her own records. 

Every song here was written or co-written by King and her syncopated piano starts off the up-tempo "I Feel the Earth Move", the oft-covered tune (even the Golden Gods did this one!) that was (rightfully) a big hit for her, which is followed by the melancholy ballad "So Far Away". "It's Too Late" is a Grammy-winning mid-tempo tale of love that's run its course with some fine playing all around - people like James Taylor and Joni Mitchell appear on the album to help out, along with some highly talented session musicians. "Home Again" is a lesser known tune but still fine, highlighting Carole's soaring voice, the life-affirming "Beautiful" follows, with the melancholy ballad "Way Over Yonder" closing side one of the vinyl album with some lovely gospel-tinged backing vocals added. (The amazing Merry Clayton is credited as a backing vocalist - sounds like her work here.)

Side two opened with the song that gave James Taylor a big hit, the sweet "You've Got a Friend" (hers naturally dominated by piano, as opposed to Taylor's more acoustic guitar-oriented take), "Where You Lead" is another mid-tempo with neat, girl-group-styled backing vocals and a nice arrangement with some organ giving a little variation to the acoustic piano dominance, and "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" is, of course, the song that she wrote that became a big hit for the Shirelles in 1960 - slowed down for a powerful performance with Joni Mitchell assisting on the vocals. The surprisingly sassy "Smackwater Jack" is a bouncy number of murder'n'mayhem, the title ballad is, ironically, my least favorite, as it is a bit saccharine, even considering the surroundings, but they come back for a strong performance on the 1967 Aretha Franklin hit that Carole penned, "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman".

The CD includes a couple of bonus tracks, one that I never heard before, "Out In the Cold", which could have easily fit in with the rest of the tunes here - possible even stronger than a couple of them, and a live, solo version of "Smackwater Jack". 

I know a lot of my friends will not be interested in this album, but for those who appreciate the singer/songwriter scene of the 70's, this is one of the best ones.