Tapestry [Original recording remastered, Extra tracks]

I bought the original LP (still have it!) of this in 1971 with money I had for my 21st birthday (from what must have been one of the very early Virgin Record Shops in Birmingham). It was the first album I also bought on cassette (for the car!), the first cd version I bought of an album I already had (at something like 10 times the price of the original LP - how's that for holding your value!). Now I've had to buy another for my 17yr old daughter who loves it (almost) as much as I do.
There's something for every mood, every track has a different appeal. The gentle melancholy of "so far away", don't we all need a place "Way over yonder"? My heart has always twinged with sympathy for the girl who has always wanted "a real home with flowers on the window sill" but who is prepared to follow her man in "Where you lead". Tell me, I want to know, did it work out, did you ever get that real home?
I don't think anyone has ever bettered Carole's version of "Will you still love me tomorrow?", possibly my favourite track, or maybe that should be Tapestry - or maybe "You've got a friend". Impossible to choose - a whole Desert Island's worth!
My kids, poor things, were forced to listen to this on car journeys from a tender age and they even loved "Smackwater Jack" - bellowed out with gusto from a tender age by both of them. Can you listen to that without finding your feet tapping and wanting to jig about?
The mix of tracks, songs, words, instruments, piano - all are just so right - it's hard to imagine how this could be improved. And it has stood the test of time, along with those other favourites "Judith" by Judy Collins and "Bridge over troubled Water by Simon and Garfunkel".
So yes, the best album of all time, at least for me and not one bit less powerful in appeal thirty years on from when I first heard it.
Add something to your life - if you haven't heard it, buy it, sit back and enjoy. And,with luck, you may get as much pleasure out of it as me for a very long time.
And if you're in this part of the world and you notice a mum and daughter singing along to this in a car, note and wordperfect, it's probably us! Enjoy!

Of all the introspective styled singer-songwriters of the early seventies Carole King would perhaps seem a most unlikely candidate to adopt that genre - after all her success was at its peak a decade earlier when she was predominantly a songwriter alongside her husband Gerry Goffin penning a great many fondly remembered classics aimed at the teen market. Fortunately, her forte had always been strong melodies and 'Tapestry', her second album is no exception although its style is more intimate than the style of her early career.
Actually, it's not unrealistic to regard 'Tapestry' as one of only a handful of truly great albums because there are very few albums that are so consistently great from start to finish without the odd filler. 'Tapestry' certainly isn't amongst those groundbreaking albums often touted for in the best album polls but it really doesn't need to be because it's the album's simplicity that is its biggest asset.
Carole mixes a couple of her old songs with her newer efforts - 'Will You Love Me Tomorrow' and 'Natural Woman' and although these versions are never going to eclipse the well known originals in terms of profile they are nevertheless both highly effective at interpreting the songs differently but also successfully. A number of the newer songs have also acquired classic status - especially 'It's Too Late' and 'You've Got A Friend' - best known through James Taylor's cover but it's really hard to imagine these original versions ever being bettered whoever decided to record them.
'Intimate', 'Sincere', 'Direct' are all words that have been used to describe 'Tapestry' over the years and they are all accurate. 'Classic' has also been used on occasions, too, and this term (despite being overused generally in popular music) is equally applicable in this case.
'Tapestry' is definitely a strong contender for the best album ever made.

This is a classic album that sounds as honest and sincere now as it did way back in 1971. Imagine an album staying in the number one spot for fifteen weeks and on the charts for over SIX YEARS.

With four Grammy awards under its belt, and songs like “I Feel The Earth Move”; “It's Too Late”; “You've Got A Friend”; “Will You Love Me Tomorrow?”; “Tapestry” and “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman”, this album belongs in any serious collection of ‘70s music.

See also the tribute album “Tapestry Revisited” where folk like Rod Stewart, Aretha Franklin, Amy Grant, Richard Marx, Celine Dion, the Bee Gees and Bebe and Cece Winans, among others, pay homage to this singer/songwriter extraordinaire.

A must-have album for your collection.

Amanda Richards