Carole King - Tapestry: Legacy Edition

Reweaving a classic

Tapestry firmly established Carole King as a singer-songwriter. Granted, she’d recorded a few songs previously, but until Tapestry’s release she was better known as one half of the (Gerry) Goffin-King songwriting team. With such pedigree it shouldn’t have surprised anyone that Tapestry featured a cache of instantly catchy material, but it’s safe to say that no one, not even King herself, anticipated just how successful the album would be, notching worldwide sales of 24 million so far.

This edition, celebrating King’s 50th year in the business, is embellished with the bonus track Out In The Cold, recorded during the Tapestry sessions. There’s also a second disc of previously unreleased live performances of the album’s songs, culled from concerts in 1973 and ’76, mirroring Tapestry’s running order, though minus Where You Lead, which King wasn’t performing at the time.

The live performances are strong, though they don’t have the warmth of the studio versions (one wishes there was some inbetween song chat, though maybe King didn’t indulge in it). The album itself is as good as you remember: mellow, exultant, heartfelt and even surprisingly dark, especially with the sad verses of the otherwise upbeat Beautiful, and the sinister tale of a mass killer in Smackwater Jack.

5 stars 5 stars 5 stars 5 stars 5 stars

Epic/Ode/Legacy | 88697 11455 2 (2-CD)

Reviewed by Gillian G Gaar
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