Search - Carole King :: Tapestry

Carole King proves she can sing her own songs (you think?),

Lawrance M. Bernabo | The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota | 03/12/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In terms of becoming an overnight sensation after having worked with some notable success in the music business, you are hard pressed to find a better example than Carole King. Having written some early hits as "Will You Love Me Tomorrow," in the late 1960's King got the chance to record and sing her own songs. The result was "Tapestry," an album that basically everybody had to have (Think "Rumors" or "Thriller" if you are not old enough to remember). "Tapestry" was on the charts for over six years and when we talk about singer-songwriters this album is the fountainhead for the genre.



"Tapestry" is an album that announces it's presence with authority with the opening pounding piano chords of "I Feel The Earth Move" and ends with a truly soulful "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman." In between there was the beautiful simplicity of "So Far Away," "Way Over Yonder," and "You've Got A Friend." Fans of "The Gilmore Girls" will recognize "Where You Lead," and will probably miss hearing King sing it with her daughter. This was really the first album after the Beatles broke up where you there were a whole bunch of hit singles to be found: in addition to all of the above you can throw in "It's Too Late" as well. "Tapestry" remains a simple, classic album of pop music that made pretty much every album that followed it suffer in comparison.



It is a bit funny to think that to help sell the CD version of one of the best selling albums of all time someone thought there was a need to have bonus tracks. Now, as a general rule, I like bonus tracks on albums from the Sixties. However, this particular album ends with "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman," and today's generation should be able to enjoy the sense of completion that provided to listening to "Tapestry" the same way we all did way back when. There is such a thing as preserving our musical heritage, not that there is anything wrong with either the unreleased "Out in the Cold" and an unreleased live solo piano version of "Smackwater Jack" from 1973. But niether can improve on the original ending."

One of the Greatest Albums of All Time! Remastered For a Gr

Frederick Baptist | Singapore | 12/21/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This disc is made in Austria but comes in a fabulous digipak packaging that opens up into 3 squares with liner notes written by no other than the great James Taylor himself. The remastering job done here is also very good as the sound quality overall is excellent too. After listening to music coming on close to 4 decades already, I'll have to say that there are very few albums that come under the "great" category and guys, this is definitely one of them. The heartfelt emotion that's delivered here can only be done by the great songwriter herself who clearly feels and identifies with what she has written. Every single track here is a masterpiece of composition and performance which makes me wonder why Carole King didn't just start out singing her own material. I guess the answer is that it's much easier to get passive income getting royalties while somebody else does all the hard work of practicing and touring but boy does Carole have a great voice though. Tracks that are so hearfelt that it's as if Carole is singing directly to your soul when you listen to this disc. Why this album is not regularly listed as among the top-5 albums of all-time truly escapes me. This is a definite must-have in any music hobbyist's library. Extremely highly recommended."