It was fifty years ago this month that "Tapestry", the groundbreaking album by Carole King, was released. This record, filled with intimate stories involving love, friendship and acceptance, became an instant success, staying on the top spot of the Billboard 200 Album chart for fifteen consecutive weeks and remaining on this chart for almost five years. "Tapestry" swept the major categories of the Grammy Awards that year winning Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, Record of The Year, Song of The Year and Album of The Year. And this enduring album has sold an incredible twenty-five million copies worldwide.
After ending her marriage to Gerry Goffin, who was also her long-time songwriting partner, a team responsible for such pop classics as "Will You Love Me Tomorrow", "The Loco-Motion", "One Fine Day" and "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman", King decided to leave New York with their two young daughters and headed West. She had arrived in 1968, settling in the Laurel Canyon area, at the time when many rock musicians had gathered in LA to live and create.
King was encouraged to begin performing her own songs and released her debut album, "Writer" in 1970. With a cover of her hit, "Up on the Roof" (originally recorded by the Drifters in 1962) featured on the collection, the record received critical acclaim but not much commercial attention. Around this time, King met James Taylor and they would inspire each other musically.
With Lou Adler, the man behind the records of The Mamas & the Papas and The Grass Roots, on board as producer, King went to work on her follow-up album. "Tapestry" features the now classic number one songs, "I Feel The Earth Move", which expresses sexual tension over the excitement of being around her lover and "It's Too Late" that looks at dealing with the end of a relationship in a civil manner. King would find chart success with "You've Got a Friend" but so did James Taylor, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart that year. They had both recorded their versions at the same time, using the same musicians including Joni Mitchell on backing vocals. "Where You Lead" would later be recorded by Barbra Streisand and reached the top-forty on the pop chart that year. King reworked a couple of her popular tunes she had written with Goffin; "Will You Love Me Tomorrow?", the number one 1960 hit by the Shirelles and "A Natural Woman" which Aretha Franklin had made famous in 1967 and would become the Queen of Soul's signature song. My favorite from the album is "So Far Away" (which features Taylor playing guitar), a melancholy ballad about longing to see a loved one that is out of reach. And "Beautiful", a powerful statement on optimism and self-esteem, would be used for the title of the 2014 Broadway musical based on her life.
"Tapestry" would help usher in the singer/songwriter movement in pop, changing the way how albums were created and how ideas were expressed musically. And even though the now-seventy-eight year old artist has recorded seventeen studio albums to date, "Tapestry" has remained her defining moment with the recording still finding it's way on numerous Best Album of All-Time charts. Here are some highlights from "Tapestry" including a live version of "So Far Away" with James Taylor on guitar:
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