CAROLE KING

1970: Writer. 1971: Tapestry * Music. 1972: Rhymes and Reasons. 1973: Fantasy. 1974: Wrap Around Joy. 1975: Really Rosie. 1976: Thoroughbred. 1977: Simple Things. 1978: Welcome Home * Greatest Hits. 1979: Touch the Sky. 1980: Pearls. 1982: One to One. 1989: City Streets.

Carole King was already a formidable talent before the start of her solo career in 1970. With her husband Gerry Goffin she co-wrote the following songs: The Shirelles’ "Will You Love Me Tomorrow," Bobby Vee’s "Take Good Care of My Baby," Little Eva’s "The Loco-Motion," Steve Lawrence’s "Go Away Little Girl," Aretha Franklin’s "Natural Woman," The Drifters’ "Up on the Roof" and "Some Kind of Wonderful," The Everley Brothers’ "Crying in the Rain," The Animals’ "Don’t Bring Me Down," The Monkeys; "Pleasant Valley Sunday," The Byrds’ "Goin’ Back" and "Wasn’t Born to Follow," The Chiffons’ "One Fine Day," Hermen’s Hermits’ "I’m Into Something Good,"Blood, Sweat and Tears’ "Hi-De-Ho," "The Righteous Brothers’ "Just Once in My Life" and mony more 60’s hits.

The hits kept coming when King started making solo albums. Acclaimed for her honest, unpretentious, intimate song styling, she also sports a somehow surprisingly beautiful voice that is subtle, but lithe, melodically ornate, yet unaffected. Her piano/vocal/chordal/melody arrangements are among the sharpest, most expressive in the business. She has always been confident about what she does best and has never forced her art into trendy pop affectations. King’s maneuvering through a changing pop marketplace – 60’s r&b, 60’s rock, 70’s singer-songwriter material (Tapestry, Music, etc.), "cosmic’ 70’s rock (Simple Things), new-wave technology (Speeding Time) – never seems rash, and never leaves her time-proven skills far behind.

Carole King’s songs are edifices constructed very heavily upon melody, and when the melody is weak, the song usually comes crumbling down. The musical arrangements and the lyrics are seldom conceptually baroque. The descriptive panorama of "Up On the Roof," with its heavenly vista, its city-street ambiance, its evocation of working-day relief from stress, and its romantic subtext, is complexity that is an exception to King’s usual approach. Generally, her lyrics verge on the minimal and are seldom interesting as ideas. They are, on the other hand, interesting as sharply elucidated dramatic situations, as important emotional moments or romantic feelings that deal with broken, threatened, or renewed relationships. King’s song titles suggest the romantically mundane: "There’s a Space Between Us," "I’d Like To Know You Better," "We All Have to Be Alone," "Still Here Thinking of You," "It’s Gonna’ Work out Fine," "Someone You Never Met Before," "I Can’t Stop Think ing About You," "Someone Who Believes In You," "IO Can’t Hear You No More," "What Have You Got to Lose?" "It’s Too Late," " It’s Gong to Take Some Time," "Growing Away From Me," "Only Love is Real" and "So Far Away." Melody and meaning are so fused in King’s work that ordinary lyrics are often astonishingly expressive. King has carved out a low-key niche of her own with a formula that has to be considered classic, but there is a cloying quality to the redundancy of the themes and approach. The narrow focus of the interpersonal songs may be more expressive of the truth of everyday relationships than the drama of Clapton’s "Layla," The Allman’s "Whipping Post," Whitney Houston’s "I Will always Love You" and other high-pitched (overblown?) love songs. Are we actually talking about poetry of the mundane? Maybe, maybe not. But the mastery of her formula suggests a highly conscious artist at work.

To some extent post-sixties songwriting expanded the sensibilities of the classic song, changed the meaning of the classic song, and changed the idea of what a classic song could be. The thematic range of pop’s adult sophistication was expanded. Lou Reed’s "Perfect Day" and "Sweet Jane," and any number of songs by Jimi Hendrix or Led Zeppelin have become standards of a sort, in a way that many of King’s songs haven’t. If King’s songs sound, when compared to hard rock and roll, a bit old hat, they maintain a sturdy, classic form. Tapestry remains a strong record by which too much of King’s later work has been judged. Listeners captivated by what they hear on City Streets or Music should feel free to venture elsewhere. Noticeably weaker are Simple Things, One to One, Speeding Time, and Touch the Sky.

The ratings above should cast no shadow over Carole King’s talents as a songstress. City Streets is a relatively recent example of how strongly she can put something together. On her worst albums she never reaches the bankrupt nadir of so many of her contemporaries. Her back-up musician's are the usual well-know LA session players, but she’s able to get more punch out of them than, say, James Taylor. Charles Larkey’s bass playing on the early seventies' albums deserves special mention: he bolstered King’s melodies and arrangements with awe-inspiring fretwork.

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