THE ODE YEARS-1968-76

Now That Everyting's Been Said-The City (1968)

Carole's road from behind the scenes, Brill building songwriter, to solo singer-songwriter, included an intermediate step as front person of this trio called, The City. Along with Danny Kortchmar (guitar) and Charles Larkey (her second husband), the group produced this one and only album for Lou Adler's Ode Records. Like other albums of it's time, there is a "hippie" feel to it songs. "Wasn't Born to Follow," covered by The Byrds and featured on the soundtrack to Easy Rider, the seminal film of the late '60s, sounds like it could have been written about trippin'. All of the songs on this album are very '60s (i.e. dated) in their sound and lyrics. I paid $75. for a copy of this out-of-print collector's edition back in 1975 (a typical album cost $2.99 back then)- and for the glimpse into the '60s it provided, I found it interesting. It isn't one of Carole's better works, though. Lou Adler, the producer doesn't realize she is the group's most promising asset. Unlike say, Mamas and the Papas, another LA folk/pop band from this period, The City works too hard at sounding hip though.

My rating: B-

Carole King: Writer (9/1970)

My Rating: A

Tapestry (March 1971)

At the time of it's release, in the Spring of 1971, albums did not sell by the millions. Tapestry became one of the most important albums of the rock era because it proved the commercial viability of the singer-songwriter, not to mention the female singer-songwriter. It made a mockery of demographics. Everyone loved Tapestry. There was no escaping the spell its songs cast as they were played non-stop, around both AM and FM dials, day and night. Winning the top four Grammy awards, no one could deny that Carole King owned the year of 1971 in pop/rock. More importantly than the success it had at the time of its initial release, Tapestry is still in the upper reaches of Billboard's Pop Catalog charts.

Everyone from Carly Simon to Tracy Chapman have cited it as being a major influence on their careers. Perhaps the thing that captured my interest in Carole's career at the time of Tapestry's release, was the fact that while her album was making unprecedented waves in the history of popular music, she herself shyed away from the spotlight. She did not want to be a star with a capitol "S." I admired that modesty and humility back then; it sitll the same qualities that inform her music today.

Whether she likes it or not, Tapestry, this simply produced 1971 album, has made her a star with a capitol S, someone whose work is still influencing emerging singer/songwriters to this day.

My Rating: A+

Carole King Music (12/1971)

Coming too close on the heels of Tapestry (in the same year), Carole King Music remains one of her most underrated albums. Recorded with basically the same band, some of the songs on this album pack the same emotional wallop as the Tapestry songs. Perhaps, the thoughts expressed in the lyrics aren't as precise, or finely distilled, as those on Tapestry, stiil, songs such as "It's Going to Take Some Time," "Growing Away From Me," "Song of Long Ago," and "Surely" are still excellent examples of Carole's ability to move and comfort her listener simultaneously.

"Brother, Brother," "Music," "Brighter," and "Back to California" are colorful, jazz/rock tinged melodies that stay fresh in your mind years later.

My rating: A

Rhymes and Reasons (10/1972)

Rhymes & Reasons contains Carole's most consistently somber, quiet, and brooding songs. Instead of offering her listener comfort, this time, she seems to be the one reaching out for some answers to life's many questions. The melodies are also appropriately muted to match the tone set by the lyrics. With the exception of Tapestry, the collection of songs on this ablum stand out for their unified themes. Released in 1972 when everyone wanted to know more about the woman who wrote the songs the whole world loved, Rhymes & Reasons offered us that look at Carole, the person, in songs such as "Come Down Easy," "Feeling Sad Tonight," "Gotta Get Through Another Day," and "Stand Behind Me."

The best-known song from this set remains "Been to Caanan," a staple to this day on lite-FM stations.

My rating: A-

Fantasy (6/1973)

Fantasy remains one of my all-time favorite albums, perhaps, because it was so mis-understood by critics when it was originally released in June, 1973. Some, but certainly not all, critics used this as a chance to get on the anti-Carole King bandwagon. They seem to have been saying: We built her up, now we'll tear her down! For me, the sentiments expressed were very relevant: Carole seemed to be speaking out against sexism and, racism. Although framed in a more r&b/jazz setting than her prior efforts, those world renown Carole King melodies were still bubbling under the groove. With this "concept" album, Carole seems to have been painting a picture of society how she saw it circa 1973. It had a cinematic scope to it. From "You've Been Around Too Long," "Directions," "Weekdays," "Being at War With Each Other" (covered by Streisand), to "Haywood" and "A Quiet Place to Live" these songs all contained a sense of urgency. My Rating: A-

Note: Cover illustration show above was done by Drew Struzan, known to millions today as the artist who created the new 1999 Star War poster!

Wrap Around Joy (9/1974)

After some prominent mainstream critics complained that Carole had gotten on a soapbox with her prior release, Fantasy, who could fault her for returning to her more traditional, pop songwriting roots. With the lead-off single, "Jazzman," propelled into the stratosphere by Tom Scott's sax solo, Wrap Around Joy, released in September, 1974, was a throwback to Carole's Brill Building days as one of pop's most prolific songwriters. "You Gentle Me" and "My Lovin' Eyes" sound like they could have been written as follow-ups to a Chiffon hit. The more blues tinged, bawdy title song would be more appropriate as the follow-up to the earthier, "Don't Say Nothing Bad About My Baby." The album was light and fun fluff. Who says you have to be serious all the time? Certainly not record buyers: Wrap Around Joy headed straight to the top of the charts! My rating: B

Thoroughbred (1/1976)

Reprinted from Rolling Stone, February, 1976:

Written by Stephen Holden

As straightforward a singer as she is a lyricist and composer, Carole King projects one of the most integrated personalities in pop. Her musical and intellectual scope is narrow, but her seven albums, with the possible exception of Fantasy, (an overly self-conscious concept work), stand as one of the most consistently listenable collections of the rock era. King's melodies are seldom sophisticated but they're almost always catchy, and her lyrics embrace the pop clich? with economy, honesty, and good will, turning it into a metaphor for shared experience.

Since the phenomenal success of Tapestry (still on the charts after five years and moving up again), King's skeletal piano and vocal approach has been enriched in various ways, almost always at the expense of freshness. A triumphant return to the basics makes Thoroughbred King's finest album since Tapestry, and though none of the ten new songs carry quite the melodic clout of "You've Got a Friend," "Up On the Roof," or "A Natural Woman," taken together as a whole they form one of the most emotionally charged pop albums in quite some time. King's new songs are her typical slow to medium tempo ballads. They restate the dominant theme of all her work-the relationship between romantic love and friendship-though she has never before worked with it so directly.

The emotional extremes of the earlier songs are gone, replaced by a new maturity and vibrancy. Four of the new songs reunite her with Gerry Goffin, her most reliable collaborator: their "We All Have to Be Alone" evokes a universal experience in affectingly plain language. And "It's Gonna Work Out Fine" express adult sentiment remarkably untinged by anxiety and filled with hope.

For me "So Many Ways" most intensely distills the album. Recorded with just voice and piano (King's masterful pseudoclassical arrangement has a strong devotional fervor), the song celebrates a romantic partnership in broad, urgent strokes. King sings with a vere and confidence she has seldom exhibited before, and the fact that a flat note in her upper register is allowed to stand somehow makes the performance all the more gripping. It is no small gift that King can write and sing basic pop lyrics in a way that makes them feel like much more:

"We have so much in common

Although we come from places worlds apart

When you reach out and touch my hand

Without a word you say I love you

You're beautiful

You are in my heart…" 

Lou Adler's outstandingly spare production is propelled by King's excellent keyboard work and the ideal bass-drum combo of Leland Sklar and Russ Kunkel. David Crosby, Graham Nash, and James Taylor contribute beautiful background singing to Goffin and King's transcendental love song "High Out of Time" and again on King's "I'd Like to Know You Better." Taylor duets movingly with King on "There's a Space Between Us," another peak moment, which appears to use est vocabulary to express deep friendship almost as compellingly as "You've Got a Friend."

The joy of rediscovering Carole King is not unlike the joy of first discovering popular music and reveling in its guileless humanness and democratic power. When Carole King sings, "Only Love is Real/Everything else illusion" (the most cogent statement of her personal and artistic philosophy), I believe her.

My Rating: A-

Really Rosie (TV Soundtrack) 2/1975

Really Rosie was hailed by music critics and fans alike when it was released in February, 1975. This soundtrack to the animated television special of the same name (originally aired 2/19/75 on CBS) found Carole writing music to the lyrics of best-selling, award winning children's author, Maurice ("The Nutshell Library" Sendak. The melodies Carole created were bouncy and memorable to the ears of kids and adults alike. Carole also provided the voice of the title character, a little girl named Rosie, who believes in herself, even when no one else does. (Sounds sort of like Carole's own philosophy!) The magic of the music is apparently timeless: Really Rosie remains one of Carole's best-selling back catalog titles.

My rating: A

Her Greatest Hits: Songs of Long Ago (3/1978)

The 1978 release of Ode's first re-hash of King material was noticeable for its non-inclusion of  classic King album tracks such as "You've Got A Friend."  I guess Adler didn't want to "cut into" the sales of  Tapestry.  Also, missing: "Song of Long Ago," the album's sub-title track, "Up on the Roof," "Will You Love Me Tomorrow?"  and "It's Going to Take Some Time This Time."

Still, there was enough representative King tracks to keep most people happy.  Its initial CD release on Epic/Ode was a poor mastering; now you can purchase the remastered version.  Next year, you'll probably be able to purchase yet another version of it.

My Rating: B+

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© 1996-2010 by Bob DiCorcia

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