Tapestry

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!

This nth reissue of Carole King's second solo LP titled "Tapestry" (originally released In May 1971 in the USA) includes solely the tracks featured on the original LP (there are no "bonus" tracks.)

Epic/Legacy (King's former label) presents this release as a way to celebrate Carole King's fifty year career as a recording artist (her first single, "The Right Girl", was released in May 1958 by ABC.) However, this sounds like good, old, plain corporate hype designed to sell - again - an album that has already been re-released to death. My view is vindicated by the official Carole King website where the accent is put on another live 2-disc set titled "The Living-Room Tour" released on CD in 2005 and now available as a 2-DVD set.

It is nevertheless true that "Tapestry" - along with a few other seminal LP offerings by the likes of James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, Jackson Browne, the CSN&Y foursome, etc. (you name them!) - truly defined the singer-songwriter genre.
It is for its formidable musical achievements that this album sold upwards of 20 million copies worldwide while also winning Carole King four major Grammy awards. Nowadays, it remains everyy bit as fresh as it did in 1971. I recall being stunned by the quality of the work (compositions, singing, arrangements) when I bought my copy on the A&M/Ode UK label. The album was also a fairly big hit in the UK (topping at #24 in the UK LP charts.)

The "Tapestry" album boasts another "new" remastering by Vic Anesini and Jim Irwin. By the way, those two already remastered the 1999 Epic/Legacy re-release (which included two bonus tracks). In my opinion, you will need truly golden ears and a hi-fi to boot to hear any sonic improvement. The dedicated "audiophiles" will probably have opted for the 2006 SACD version, which was also remastered by - you guessed it - Anesini and Irwin. By the way, I reckon that this team has done wonders when reissuing dozens of albums of essential music from the past, either for Columbia/Epic or for Irwin's own "Sundazed" label. Their sonic achievements are always of the highest order. Their only rivals, regarding reissues, are the guys from Rhino (who are working for Warner!) Anyway, there are only so much new remasterings that you can use.

To entice you to buy this 2-CD set, the second CD includes previously unreleased live, solo performances of the original studio "Tapestry" tracks. The producers have chosen to sequence the live tracks like the original studio album.

It is fair to consider the second album like some kind of "unplugged" CD. This material was recorded live 1973 and 1976 in various US venues. This type of release "from the vaults" has gathered some success of late (think of Neil Young's "Massey hall 1971" or Stephen Stills' "Just Roll Tape.") And, of course, it is enjoyable to hear Carole King's recorded in this context during her heyday.

Personally, I would have much more appreciated to see the new live tracks released separately from "Tapestry" on their own CD.

For the prospective buyer, there is also another fact to consider. In 1996, Epic/Legacy already released "The Carnegie Hall Concert" (from June 18, 1971.). This solo concert features James Taylor as "special guest" on... "You've got a Friend."
Besides, this CD boasts a more generous track selection (19 songs, although three of them are performed as a 7'46" medley.) The latter album includes 10 interpretations of tunes from "Tapestry" ("Where You Lead" and "Tapestry" are the only two missing.) The inclusion of lesser-known (but very good) songs from "Writer" (King's first solo album, 1970) and from "Now That Everything's Been Said" (the 1969 LP she recorded as a member of the City) makes for a more interesting, varied aural experience. By now you must probably be convinced that Anesini and Irwin mastered this one too. Well, you are right!

However good the music on this 2-CD set, I cannot help to find that it will be mostly of interest to collectors. This explains the missing star in my rating.

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.