Tapestry by Carole King (Vinyl record album review)

Record basics

Album name: Tapestry

Artist name: Carole King

Year: 1971

Number of discs: one

Label: Ode Records

Collection: Brenner / Gessner

Distinguishing characteristics: “G” written on inside of album sleeve, indicating that my father owned it (but my mother also had a copy)

Buy it on Amazon: $22.98

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I don’t think I’ve ever listened to this record before, but I’ve heard of it because I’ve always known people who cited it as a favorite. My parents also said that this was a record that everyone owned.

What I expected

Folk rock. My mother said that I might like it.

What it was actually like

Carole King had a fine voice and I guess she was a pretty good piano player, too, but I mostly didn’t care for this record.

Most of the songs on it were pretty boring and slow: So Far Away, which was ruined by the flute at the end; Way Over Yonder, which was not helped by the saxophone; Home Again; You’ve Got a Friend; and Tapestry, the title track.

It turned out, though, that I actually did recognize a bunch of the songs from various sources.

For example, I knew I Feel the Earth Move, a blues song with lots of piano and some electric guitar, and by the end of it, I was confident that King was an excellent blues vocalist.

I also had heard It’s Too Late before, but it was kind of easy listening, and I hated the saxophone.

Beautiful was one that I might have heard in the past, but parts of it were slightly Oompa Loompa.

I recognized Where You Lead because it was the theme song of a television program called Gilmore Girls, and I had watched around 5-10 episodes of that (after learning that I may have met one of the actresses in it, since we had evidently lived in the same freshman dorm at NYU).

Will You Love Me Tomorrow was a great take on the classic Shirelles song – but very slow, much sadder and more wistful, with just piano and a little backing guitar behind the vocals. The Aretha Franklin song (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman was another in a similar style.

Smackwater Jack was the most lively song, on the record and the best by far, and most different from all the others, with a faster tempo, and closer to the electric blues.

Grade

3/5: interesting, but not for me