Bob's Page of Carole King
fFirst on the web -- since 4-15-'96
Reunion Tour
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The CAPITOL YEARS(1977-80)Simple Things (7/1977)Simple Things was harshly reviewed by music critics when it was released in July, 1977. The first of her four albums on Capitol Records, this album found Carole striking out on her own (without producer Lou Adler) and exploring songs of a more spiritual nature. Perhaps, Carole and the songs contained on this collection were a bit ahead of their time. Disco fever was sweeping the nation; who wanted to hear songs about nature and the environment? Nonetheless, one could not question the sincerity of the beliefs expressed in these songs. While Simple Things is long out-of-print, the best cutsin the USA, "In the Name of Love," "Time Alone," and "Simple Things" appear on Time Gone By (King's X/Priority). My rating: C+ Welcome Home (5/1978) Welcome Home covered much the same themes as songs on Simple Things, but, a few of these songs sounded more heartfelt, namely "Morning Sun", "Welcome Home," and "Sunbird." Unfortunately, the majority of these track were experiments that failed ( a Beatles tribute, "Venusian Diamond" and a lame "Disco Tech.") While I would have trouble naming my favorite Carole King tracks, the above two songs would definitely rank as being among my least favorites. Touch the Sky (5/1979) Touch the Sky was strongest of Carole's first three Capitol albums. Unfortunately, after Simple Things and Welcome Home, Carole's mass audience had stopped buying her albums. Had they bothered to check out Touch the Sky, they would have discovered two excellent songs that expressed Carole's disillusionment with society circa 1979. "Time Gone By" is an elegy which contains Carole's best lyrics since 1976's Thoroughbred and paints a bleak view of LA life. "You Still Want Her" is a hard hitting look at a losing relationship: a much more cynical take on a relationship than is usually associated with a Carole King lyric. "Dreamlike I Wander," is a bittersweet ballad set to a country arrangement. Unfortunately, the strength of these tracks is diluted by some less than memorable "doodles" such as "Walk With Me I'll Be Your Companion" and "Move Lightly." Nontheless, the whole album has an intimate feel to it: as if you were sitting out in the wilderness, listening to Carole play/sing these songs in front of a camp fire.
Pearls: Songs of Goffin & King (5/1980)Had the same amount of TLC gone into the recording of this album as evidently went into the later productions of City Streets or Love Makes the World, Carole might have regained her commercial footing in the 1980s. As the album stands, "Pearls" sounded rushed and sloppy in its arrangements. How could the woman who single-handedly defined so many great early rock and roll sounds produce versions of some of those same songs, like "The Locomotion," sounding like a second-rate covers band? Most of the blame goes to her co-producer Mark Hallman and the leftover members of their Navarro back-up musicians who just lacked the skills of her prior studio partners. Luckily, the less produced tracks, such as "Hey Girl," "Goin' Back," and "Wasn't Born to Follow," showcased Carole's vocals and managed to rise above the overall mediocrity of this album which sounded like Carole arrived in Austin Texas by cab and told the cab driver to keep the meter running while she ran into Pecan Street Studios to lay down the tracks.
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