Original Album Classics: Writer; Music; Rhymes & Reasons; Fantasy; Wrap Around Joy

Product Information

All songs written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King; lyrics for "Raspberry Jam" and "What Have You Got to Lose" by Toni Stern.

It’s in the old town, away from the neon and noise, where you can see the streets and buildings that have barely changed since BB busked on the corner of Church Street and Second Street. There’s a mural on the sidewalk, depicting his guitar ‘Lucille’, to mark the spot. On his second attempt, in 1948 (he’d followed his cousin Bukka White there two years previously, but returned home after 10 months), BB headed to Memphis, Tennessee, where ultimately he hook up with record label owners the Bihari brothers and began his gradual ascent to stardom. Carole King’s first solo album, Writer, failed to chart in 1970, but her next effort would change everything. Tapestry, released in 1971, included re-interpretations of some of her previous hits for other artists, including “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” and “You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman,” as well as the new songs “I Feel the Earth Move Under My Feet,”“It’s Too Late” and “You’ve Got a Friend.” March 1971: American singer-songwriter Carole King in record producer Lou Adler’s office, holding the four Grammy Awards she received for her album Tapestry, in Los Angeles, California. The album won the awards for Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and Song of the Year. (Jim McCrary) You’ve Got a Friend (live, Carnegie Hall, New York, NY) (feat. James Taylor) The Essential Carole KingTapestry was the kind of album in which listeners could hear their own lives reflected. “It might have been the Vietnam War, the violence, the cultural divide,” says King. “People around the world have told me Tapestry helped them reconnect with basic human ­feelings when they really needed that.” The LP spent 15 ­consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 (the longest ever by a female solo artist at the time), 46 weeks in the top 10 and the better part of the ’70s on the chart, yielding four Grammys and 10 ­million copies sold in the United States, according to the RIAA. It also became the cornerstone of King’s career as a performer — and, more recently, of her jukebox musical Beautiful. (She’ll be feted at the Kennedy Center Honors in December.) “I had no idea how big Tapestry would be,” says King. “One word sums up how I feel about that: gratitude.” I would have just turned 18 when Tapestry came out, when I was really being influenced by singers and songwriters. Carole King was an inspiration. She was a woman, and she wrote amazing songs – so you’d learn by listening to It’s Too Late or whatever, over and over. She set the stage for other singer-songwriters who came along after her, because there wasn’t a market yet and the industry didn’t know what to do with us. Simple Things: "Top Albums/CDs - Volume 28, No. 1". RPM. 1977-10-01. Archived from the original (PHP) on 2014-01-06 . Retrieved 2014-01-01.

Songwriter Carole King and honoree Taylor Swift attend the 64th Annual BMI Pop Awards, honoring Taylor Swift and songwriting duo Mann & Weil, at the Beverly Wilshire Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, California. Tapestry was a little confusing to me when I first heard it as a full album, maybe in my early 20s. I’d heard plenty of those songs on oldies radio growing up. But why this down-to-earth, subtle take on Natural Woman, on that song by James Taylor? And then that awakening: holy shit, Carole King wrote all those songs? A songwriter I’d known all my life, without knowing her. Music: "Top Albums/CDs - Volume 16, No. 21_22". RPM. 1972-01-15. Archived from the original (PHP) on 2014-01-06 . Retrieved 2014-01-01. Recording engineer Hank Cicalo, Carole Kingand record producer Lou Adlerin the control room of A&M Records Recording Studio during the recording of King's album 'Tapestry' in January 1971 in Los Angeles, Calif. JimMcCrary/RedfernsGiven the tremendous success of Completely Well and The Thrill Is Gone, it’s hardly surprising that Szymcyzk would repeat the winning formula for Indianola Mississippi Seeds. When King joined Szymcyzk at The Record Plant studios in Los Angeles in May 1970, he was once again faced with a studio full of young hotshots. These days, Indianola is like any other small Mississippi town. There’s a main thoroughfare where you’ll see clumps of fast-food joints set apart by Mexican cantinas, gas stations and supermarkets. New York’s favorite daughter is simply one of the most successful songwriters in modern music history. Born in Manhattan, her father was a New York City Firefighter and her mother was a teacher. Carole King’s songwriting career began in 1958 with the release of the single “The Right Girl.” From that point on through the 1960s, Carole King enjoyed great success writing multiple hit songs for various artists. Of course, the smart money says it’s okay to love both of those records; why choose just one when both are so good? Along with BB’s 1956 album Singing The Blues, 65’s Live At The Regal and, of course, Completely Well, Indianola Mississippi Seeds is an album that everyone should experience.