Carole, Thanks to Louise, Lights Up the Season

A Holiday Carole Shines

By Bob DiCorcia

" In December I will be,
a baubled bangled Christmas Tree"

So sang Carole King, whimsically, on " Chicken Soup With Rice,"the highlight of her 1975 Maurice Sendak " Really Rosie"collaboration. That landmark children's album marked a spirited departure in material, style, and performance from her earlier more somber Ode albums. It's with that same joie de vivre that Carole King approaches the 12 songs on her just released " A Holiday Carole."[Hear/Concord Music].

Too busy writing her memoir, " A Natural Woman,"Our Miss King turned the creative " reins"over to her daughter Louise Goffin to not only write the original songs on the album, but, also oversee production. Louise, a long celebrated singer/songwriter,rises to the occasion and delivers us a Carole King album, that, even though there are no Carole King compositions and only a few tracks on which she plays piano is as true to the artist's vision as anything Carole herself might have produced.

I guess the fact that Louise was born shortly after Carole left a recording studio back in 1960, might account for the fact that she is totally at home in the recording studio. Louise proves to be as talented as her mother and father (Gerry Goffin) in crafting and producing songs which perfectly complement her clients. Louise takes out a whole new pallet of musical colors and makes this album sparkle and shine, as much as, well, a baubled bangled Christmas tree.

The more one listens to each track, the more you'll hear hidden dubs, instruments, and flourishes, which breathe new life into seasonal songs we've all heard a million times.

The first electric guitar rift of the opener, the classic, " My Favorite Thing"lets you in on the fact that you're about to hear a seasonal album unlike any you've heard before. The jazz-tinged arrangement, as well as Carole's sly vocals, brings back the groove of " It's Too Late"and " Only Love is Real."The arrangement of " Carol of the Bells"is as original as any I have ever heard. Carole knows her vocal limitations and wisely allows a choir handle the frenetic vocals on this one.

While Carole does a fine job singing the traditional fare included (" Sleigh Ride,"" Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,"and " Do You Hear What I Hear?,"it's the original and offbeat choices which makes this one holiday album you should check out. " Everyday Will Be Like A Holiday"wisely capitalizes on the type of mournful, yet, celebratory ballad for which Carole first rose to stardom as a recording artist. The Joni Mitchell like jazz arrangement of "Chanukah Prayer" finds three generations of talent coming together: grandmother, mother, and son. The latin-tinged " Chirstmas Paradise,"upbeat " Christmas in the Air"and haunting closing ballad, " New Year's Day"are as catchy and memorable as anything you'd find on radio today were you to listen to it. Does radio even still exist?

" New Year's Day"stands a good chance of becoming a holiday classic in its own right. Though she didn't write it, this Louise Goffin/Guy Chambers collaboration would fit in on any of Carole's many past collections.

Oddly enough, my favorite track on the album is Carole's version of Wham's " Last Christmas"which is only available on the Target exclusive version of the album. Carole's take on this one is pure Brill Building/girl group gold.

Though she may be approaching 70, her talents are still as timeless and winning as when she, as a teenager from Brooklyn, stormed the world of American pop music and forever changed it.

Film Review

Inspired Documentary Proves Why Millions Still Love Them Tomorrow

Rating: A

In "Troubadours: The Rise of the Singer-Songwriter," Carole King mentions that she sees her life as a series of "windows of opportunities." Luckily for the world of music lovers, those "windows" occurred at a point in time when the MUSIC mattered and not how closely you could be pigeon-holed into a cookie-cutter video-ready auto-tuned cartoon figure.

Though Morgan Neville, the director of this new documentary does not attempt to spend too much screen time contrasting today's music industry stars and the Southern California soft rock pioneers who dominated the airwaves in the early 70s, it would be impossible for anyone, even one not familiar with Taylor, King and the others featured throughout the film, to not be conscious of the differences. The primary focus of Morgan Neville's beautiful documentary may be the intertwined paths which led Carole King and James Taylor to elevate an art form which dated back centuries (the travelling minstrel/troubadour) from an acquired taste for the bourgeoisie to the preferred choice of music of the masses in the early 70s, but, the film also pays tribute to their many Southern California peers who, by, the nature of the near proximity of where they lived, wrote their songs, and congregated at the Troubadour club in West Hollywood ("the hang" as both Carole, James and others refer to it) made this chapter in popular music so relevant for not only the baby-boomers who remembered it from their youth, but, also those who discovered it by rummaging through their parent's vinyl collections.

Above: Taylor and King: Then, Now, and Forever.

It's no coincidence that this film is being released in 2011, the 40 th anniversary of Carole King's "Tapestry,"the first blockbuster of its kind which made a mockery of demographics and commercialized the singer/songwriter. (Without "Tapestry" breaking down barriers, it's hard to visualize that so many other guitar-strumming/piano playing self-contained singer songwriters would have achieved so much success in the decades which followed.) The album and the artist's names are both used by laze writers to this day to describe the pinnacle of this type of music and performer.

While both King and Taylor have been the subjects of many written and filmed profiles throughout their four decade-long careers, what distinguishes the interviews Neville includes in this documentary is the exhaustive research and access both artists granted him. Neville has compiled rare footage such as home movies of Gerry Goffin and Carole King's back-yard wedding reception, the two newlyweds collaborating on one of their many Brill Building hits of the 60s, and their two children (Louise and Sherry) frolicking. James Taylor is shown taking the viewer through a storage room of his many, many guitars including the one he pulls out to perform "Something in the Way She Moves," and candidly talking about, and taking pride in his recovery of more than 27 years from the heroin addiction which plagued him at the height of his success.

Taylor and King fans will both be satisfied, but, perhaps due to the fact that her career evolved more dramatically, it's the director's portrait of Carole King from bee-hive early 60s rock and roller to the "natural woman" and earth mother of the 60s/70s who wouldn't allow her young children to eat junk food, to the most sought after recording artist of the early 70s, a success she proudly proclaims, and her daughter Sherry Goffin Kondor seconds, was achieved on her own terms, which seems more fleshed out. (We'll have to wait for Carole's own memoirs to find out more about her post-Tapestry career as one of the first singer-songwriters to whole-heartedly embrace the environmental movement, her triumph on Broadway and in other acting arenas, and her political activism.)

Musicians who have closely collaborated with both Taylor and King, and were part of their hugely successfully 2010 reunion tour, are prominently featured. Danny Kortchmar makes two of the most powerful statements in the film. At one point, defending JT from a juvenile attack on his music by east-coast based Lester Bangs remarks the no one remembers Bangs, but everyone remembers JT.

Towards the end of the documentary, James Taylor reflects back on why he and King stopped do shows together back in 1972 – "Things don't last forever. None of these things are meant to." Danny Kortchmar comments on the role the musicians played in the lives of their audiences: "To get them to feel, to remind them of their humanity. Nothing less." Reminds me of lyric penned by another troubadour, "Songs are like tattoos…" Indeed, the music of James Taylor and Carole King is indelibly inked on the souls of a generation.

Heading to a Big Screen Near You... Hollywood Spotlights Carole King

(1/22/11) -Announced in the Hollywood Reporter on the weekend Morgan Neville's "Troubadours: Carole King & James Taylor-The Rise of the Singer-Songwriter" documentary debuts at the Sundance Film Festival, John Sayles will adapt Sheila Weller's "Girls Like Us" for Sony. The book follows the lives and careers of the 3 most successfull female singer-songwriters of the 70s: Carole, Joni Mitchell, and Carly Simon. Ms. Simon was the only one of the three who seemed to have cooperated with the author, so it's interesting how a film will be made since neither Carole nor Joni cooperated. Perhaps, neither owns the rights to their song copyrights and their permission is not needed by the producers to include others to perform their songs? Fans of Ms. King found several factual inaccuracies in the book and overall did not respond to positively to the book upon it's release. For more about Sayles signing on, check out this link.

A better look at Ms. King will no doubt be gotten when Neville's documentary hits theaters in select cities in early January and the PBS American Masters series in March. Given access to Ms. King and Mr. Taylor, the documentary is executive produced by Taylor's two managers and Lorna Guess (Carole's long-time manager). Concord Music's film division will be releasing the documentary on DVD along with a special CD of music from the Troubadour-era on March 1.

Sympathy To Our Miss King on the Loss of 3 Special People in Her Life...

(1/22/11) -In a one month period, Carole King suffered the loss of her mother, Eugenia Gingold (12/22), her musical director and freind, Rudy Guess (12/31), and her first publisher Don Kirschner (1/17/11). Sincerest sympathies to Carole, Lorna and the folks at CKP, and the Kirschner family on their losses.

All photos courtesy of Betsy Kent, Orlando, Florida. All rights reserved by Ms. Kent. [Click to Enlarge!]

A Return to Carolina; A Night in the Garden:
Carole & James Prove Why Millions Will Love Them Tomorrow

A Review

Time Warner Arena, Charlotte, NC 6/2/10
Madison Square Garden, NY, NY 6/16/10

Both shows drew from primarily the same set list, contained the same scripted stage patter--sometimes too much from JT, and too little from Carole, but, at both performances these two legend's demonstrated repeatedly, song after song, why they each became the voice of a generation and are still worshiped by millions.

Carole didn't need to engage in too much scripted stage patter; her connection with the audience on both nights was palpable from the moment the spotlight revealed her standing on stage next to her tall friend.

Continue-- Click Here

Behind the Scenes: Carole and James Get Up Early for Today

Their fans, including this one, was respectful of the fact that it was 6:00am and Carole King and James Taylor had much work to do to prepare for their "mini outdoor Toyota Today Show summer concert." Two days after the second of their SRO shows at Madison Square Garden, Carole and James appeared on the Plaza focused intently on the tasks at hand. Waving to fans, Carole, James, band and two background singers quickly went through the paces of testing sound and musical instruments, over and over again. "Give Carole more reverb," JT politely directed the sound crew. What is reverb, I wanted to know. I watched Carole's every move. From my vantage point directly on an angle directly behind her piano, my eyes fixated on her fingers hitting the keys to "Up on the Roof"-- a song they rehearsed a few times. I was witnessing such simple finger movements, yet, the results were melodies--elastic melodie-- a phrase my friend Mary R. had recently used in FB post, that had been a part of my life and had touched my soul for over 40 years now.

Carole and JT are interviewed by Matt Lauer (photo by Gina Terzino); JT and Carole beem on Today 6/18/10; your website host Bob (r) with Joe -my technical support with Bob's Page for over 16 years now (photo by Elissa Kline). [CLICK TO ENLARGE.]

Carole's long-time management staff led by Lorna Guess and including Lorna's assistant Gina Terzino and Carole's PA and ace tour photographer Elissa Kline were also doing their work as Carole and JT rehearsed. (Robin Fort-Lincke was back on the West Coast tending to Carole's official website which has been capturing
the excitement of the tour on a daily basis with timely updates and postings of the great Elissa Kline photos.)
Click the following links: to view Elissa and Gina's photos or to read the rave reviews.

Finished with their sound checks and rehearsal of 3 songs, Carole was whisked indoors. James, on the other hand, opted to spend an hour walking around the fenced in fans to sign autographs. At times disappearing around the bend, one stage crew member started worrying fearing that one of her guests would be late for a pre-performance interview segment.

Hoda Kotb, the host of the 10:00am segment of Today, showed up at 8:00am--2 hours early- to watch the concert live. A stage crew was overheard saying to her "Boy you really are a fan." When Carole came back out to take the stage around 8:30, Hoda hugged and gushed.

This was the third concert series I had been lucky enough to attend. This time, instead of venturing across the Hudson, I had to travel 800 miles or so, but, it was well worth it.

The actual concert started with "Up on the Roof." Click to watch full video. Carole started it off and James later took over lead. Staring up at the famed skyscrapers which make up Rockefeller Plaza--see the sun reflecting off the structures, served as a beautiful backdrop for this classic about urban escape.

They also performed a rocking version of "Your Smiling Face" -- during which Carole at one point jumped up from piano bench to lead a clap/sing along and "Where You Lead," both numbers had the early morning crowd fully engaged.

After the 3 songs, Carole and James both exited Rock Plaza-- jumped in vans and were heading back on the road again-- off to Boston. One more song about moving along the highway (Bob DiCorcia)

Troubadour Reunion Storms the USA; Billboard Names it #1 Tour (Again!);
CD Remains in Top 15 for 2nd Month

Following a sell-out tour of Austrailia and Japan, the North America leg of the Carole King/James Taylor Troubadour Reunion Tour opened in the USA in early May has been selling out arenas across the country and Canada. Hit hard by the lingering economic recession, the King/Taylor double-bill has been unaffected by the overall downturn in the economy.Even though promoters of the Lillith Tour had to cancel 10 dates (July/August) due to poor sales, July 10th issue of Billboard named TRT #1 most successful tours and the TRT cd remains at #15 -- 8 weeks after its debut.

News sources reported that the 6/25/10 Prudential Center (Newark NJ) date of TRT was being filmed by HBO.

The New York Times published a prominent feature on the historical significance of not only the two artists, but, also of the tour itself.

In it's June 24th print issue, even Rolling Stone, slow to recognize the lasting artistic and commercial influence of these two artists was forced to feature the tour in a Random Note headline entitled "Sweet Baby Boomers." Taylor is quoted as saying he had always longed for the arena-size adoration afforded others like Springsteen and the Stones, and now, in 2010, forty years after their emergence on the national and world scene, Carole King and James Taylor are 'steam rolling' through city's and making the earth move.

'Essential' Carole King Out in April

It was bound to happen. Sony's signature "Essential" series of double-hits CD releases will add "The Essential Carole King" to it's line on April 27. The two disk set features one disk of Carole King hits --mostly Ode though also feature three from Rockingale including her '92 radio smash "Now & Forever." The 2nd disk is called "Covers" and finds some of her most popular hits recorded by the original artists. The only solo hits missing are her last Top 12 Billboard hit, "One Fine Day" (1980) and "Hard Rock Cafe." For complete track listing.click here.

Troubadour CD/DVD Combo Reaches Top 10 in Billboard

Concord Records release of the Troubadour Reunion CD/DVD, not only debuted in the the Top 10, but, it's been staying there for 3 out 4 of its first weeks on the market. The release coincides with the start of the US leg of the Troubadour Reunion tour -- the most highly anticipated, publicized tour of the summer season.

Disk #1 contains 16 tracks:

1.So Far Away 2. Blossom 3. Machine Gun 4. Carolina in My Mind 5. It's Too Late 6. Smack Water Jack 7. Something in the Way She Moves 8. Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? 9. Country Road 10. Natural Woman 11. Fire & Rain 12. Sweet baby James 13. Steamroller 14. I Feel the Earth Move 15. You've Got a Friend 16. Up on the Roof

For ordering details, click here.

Carole King & James Taylor Reunion Tour Scores
Big on Pollstar.com

As soon as news started to spread in late 2009, the Carole King & James Taylor Troubadour Reunion Tour 2010 started to generate major buzz. The tour landed in Pollstar's Top 50. Fans signed up to either King or Taylor's website were able to purchase advance sales tickets during the second week of January and initial ticket demand has been so great that an additional 19 tour dates -- some in the same markets--were added in late February.

Carole and James have both been doing extensive press and on 1/20/10 appeared together on both The Today Show and David Letterman Late Night.

In a recent interview with BBC News, James said he hoped to stage the concerts in the round with him and King remaining on the stage together throughout the show. "I think we'll do two sets, both of us will be on stage the whole time, either singing backup for each or playing behind the other," he said. "We'll sort of skip back and forth, do a song of hers, a song of mine, but we'll stay on the stage."

The tour will reunite not only Taylor and King, but other members of their original band, including guitarist Danny Kortchmar, drummer Russ Kunkel and bassist Lee Sklar. Additionally, they will be supported by Taylor backup singers and King's long-time musical director/guitarist Rudy Guess.

Carole King: Writer Gets 40th Anniversary Re-Issue

A specialty CD label has licensed from Sony and re-issue a new, re-mastered version of Carole's debut solo recording, "Carole King:Writer." Released to mild interest in September 1970, the album received major new interest after the release of her second album, "Tapestry," a scant six months later. The re-mastered CD will be a deluxe digi-pak (cardboard wallet designred to replicate a mini-version of the actual cardboard album sleeve) The album gained much popularity after "Tapestry" and remains highly regarded by her legions of fans. It includes such Goffin-King classics as "No Easy Way Down," "Child of Mine," "Going Back," and "Up on the Roof." Since James Taylor is prominently featured on the later two songs mentioned above, there's a good chance that both will be performed in the upcoming King/Taylor shows later this Spring/summer.

Contact:Bob/Webmaster

To view Bob's Page CK News archive

© 2010 by Bob DiCorcia

This site is neither affiliated or endorsed by Ms. King, her record/production companies, nor her management. It represents one fan's tribute to his favorite singer and songwriter.