Brad's Take:
Carole King is a legend. She's written and co-written so many incredible songs over the years, and she is still making it happen today. I've heard many of the songs she's written, but this was my first time actually listening to an entire Carole King album.
Tapestry is Carole King's second album, and it's sold more than 25 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling albums of all time. She also won 4 Grammy awards for this album, including Record of the Year in 1972. And rightfully so, I must say. This album is packed with great songs, such as "So Far Away", "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman", "Will You Love Me Tomorrow?", and many others that I'm sure you've heard before.
It's interesting to hear Carole's versions of the songs she wrote but were popularized by other artists. "Will You Love Me Tomorrow?" (made famous by The Shirelles) is a good example. The Shirelles version is much faster than Carole's. Carole King adds a sad and emotional twist to her performance, and you can hear how sad and desperate the lyrics are. Her version of "You've Got A Friend" (made famous by James Taylor) is also great.
Needless to say, all of these songs are well-written and very enjoyable. Even in the mellower moments of the album, there's an emotional connection that she makes with the listener where you can feel what she's feeling. Her imperfect voice helps make the songs on Tapestry feel genuine and real. You can say that she sounds like a "Natural Woman."
The more I read about Carole King, and see the lists of songs she's written, it blows my mind! I had no idea her songwriting went back as far as the early 60s. She's written so many songs that I love that were performed by other artists, like "Chains" by The Cookies, "Go Away Little Girl" by Donny Osmond (which was the first song to ever be #1 by two different artists), "The Loco-Motion", and so many more. This lady is a hit-writing machine, and Tapestry showcases that well.
Dad's Take:
Every generation has certain albums that everybody has. Just about every album collection when I was younger included Rumours, Frampton Comes Alive, The Best of Bread, Boston, Hotel California, Dark Side of the Moon, Their Greatest Hits (I don't even have to say whose; people my age will know), Saturday Night Fever, and Tapestry. (Most of these are on our list, by the way.)
Tapestry was a monster hit. 10x Platinum in the US. It's hard to even wrap my head around that. It is in the running for the best of the above list, although strong arguments can be made for at least four of the others. This may well be the iconic singer-songwriter album, or songwriter-turned-singer album. So many of these songs were either hit singles or received significant radio play that it feels like a greatest hits album. Some of the songs that weren't hits became hits by other singers while this album was still on the charts.
Whether you like Carole King or not, and whether you got sick of this album because of the constant airplay, it's impossible not to understand why this made our list. Personally, I like it. A lot. "So Far Away" and "It's Too Late" are great songs that sound good even now. The rest of the album is just as good. "You've Got A Freind" was an anthem for people around my age, although mostly due to the version by James Taylor. And Aretha Franklin's version of "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" was just as big. Personally, I really like the mellower take on "Will You Love Me Tomorrow." It just feels like the right tempo.
King's voice isn't perfect, but it's the kind of voice that invites you to sing along. And it's really hard not to. Most of the songs are familiar enough that anybody above a certain age knows them.
Song after song, it's just a brilliant album.
Dad's Take:
Every generation has certain albums that everybody has. Just about every album collection when I was younger included Rumours, Frampton Comes Alive, The Best of Bread, Boston, Hotel California, Dark Side of the Moon, Their Greatest Hits (I don't even have to say whose; people my age will know), Saturday Night Fever, and Tapestry. (Most of these are on our list, by the way.)
Tapestry was a monster hit. 10x Platinum in the US. It's hard to even wrap my head around that. It is in the running for the best of the above list, although strong arguments can be made for at least four of the others. This may well be the iconic singer-songwriter album, or songwriter-turned-singer album. So many of these songs were either hit singles or received significant radio play that it feels like a greatest hits album. Some of the songs that weren't hits became hits by other singers while this album was still on the charts.
Whether you like Carole King or not, and whether you got sick of this album because of the constant airplay, it's impossible not to understand why this made our list. Personally, I like it. A lot. "So Far Away" and "It's Too Late" are great songs that sound good even now. The rest of the album is just as good. "You've Got A Freind" was an anthem for people around my age, although mostly due to the version by James Taylor. And Aretha Franklin's version of "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" was just as big. Personally, I really like the mellower take on "Will You Love Me Tomorrow." It just feels like the right tempo.
King's voice isn't perfect, but it's the kind of voice that invites you to sing along. And it's really hard not to. Most of the songs are familiar enough that anybody above a certain age knows them.
Song after song, it's just a brilliant album.
No comments:
Post a Comment