Carole King's 1971 Masterpiece Released as a
Deluxe Two-CD Version
(Epic/Ode/Legacy; April 22, 2008)
“This package has the Tapestry album, and what we’re calling Live Tapestry, selections taken from concerts at Boston, Maryland, Central Park, and San Francisco, 1973 to 1976, just piano-vocal – that’s the way I heard the songs for the first time when Carole would come to the office and play them… Those songs are alive with just piano-vocal. Within that piano, you’ll hear vocal lines, string line, bass line, maybe a guitar solo line. That’s the way she played and that’s what her demos were, and that’s the way I heard the songs for the very first time.” – Lou Adler, producer
Carole King’s 1971 Ode Records masterpiece, Tapestry, endures as an artistic benchmark, a cornerstone of ’70s pop, an industry phenomenon, and – most of all – as an album that must be listened to over and over again, not only for its hit single sides (“It’s Too Late” b/w “I Feel the Earth Move,” “So Far Away” b/w “Smackwater Jack”) and definitive standards (“Will You Love Me Tomorrow?” “(You Make Me Feel Like a) Natural Woman,” “You’ve Got A Friend”) but simply for its evocative grasp of a long-ago moment forever caught in amber.
Original album producer and Ode Records founder Lou Adler, who served as King’s de facto manager for those years, was also her West Coast music publishing rep for nearly a decade prior to Tapestry – no one was closer to Carole King’s music, except Carole King herself. He knew the power of her meticulously crafted piano & vocal demo recordings, going back to the Brill Building era. Adler always sensed that King’s solo moments in concert (before and/or after the band joined her onstage) came closest to capturing the spirit of her demos, especially the Tapestry demos.
The humble roots of Tapestry are those very demos that Carole King would share with Lou Adler at the Ode office in the A&M Records lot on LaBrea Avenue – a “college campus” of a music community, he fondly remembers, remodeled from the studio once headed by Charlie Chaplin. For those who have lived and loved the album down the years, from LP to 8-track to cassette to its half-dozen different CD configurations, this Legacy Edition finally offers a chance to experience Carole King’s vision in its original “unplugged” brilliance – winter, spring, summer or fall.
“Within her piano,” Adler sums up, “you could hear a string part, you might hear another background part. When I took those demos around, like to Snuff Garrett at Liberty Records who was cutting Bobby Vee at the time, I couldn’t get them back. They liked the demo as a record. So when I started thinking about the production of Tapestry, that demo sound – don’t go too wide, make sure Carole is in the middle, you can visualize her sitting behind the piano – made it much more personal. The demos had a lot to do with that.”
TAPESTRY: LEGACY EDITION finally realizes Adler’s decades-long dream concept, as it marries a newly remastered version of the classic 12-song album with a second CD containing previously unreleased live piano-voice concert versions of songs from the album (in the same order) recorded in 1973 (Boston; Columbia, Maryland; and New York’s Central Park), and 1976 (San Francisco Opera House). The two-CD package, the latest addition to the deluxe Legacy Edition Series, will arrive in stores April 15th on Epic/Ode/Legacy, a division of SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT.
(Special note: The 11-song live CD is explained by the fact that there was no recording of “Where You Lead” from this period – Carole King was not yet performing the song live in concerts.)
In addition to the two CDs, TAPESTRY: LEGACY EDITION will contain a full-color booklet embellished with unpublished photography that documents the original 1971 album recording sessions at A&M Studios in Los Angeles. Complementing the detailed musician credits and lyrics will be insightful track-by-track annotation written by Lou Adler.
A 1,700-word liner notes essay has been written by lifelong L.A. music journalist Harvey Kubernik, who describes the live material: “What you will hear is completely unadorned: King at the piano, spilling her soul to the faithful, utterly in the moment and at one with the wind . . . and her gift. The intimacy intoned is palpable, and these emotive efforts impart an unbridled perspective of some of the most endearing songs of the 20th Century.”
Kubernik’s notes are based (in part) on several hours of in-depth interviews with Lou Adler. In one section, Adler discusses “(You Make Me Feel Like a) Natural Woman.” “I think that in the way we did it, which was very Tapestry-like, the production is really simple, it’s Carole and Charlie Larkey, and it’s as close to a demo as you can get, it’s piano, vocal and bass, and it’s all about the song. She’s certainly not trying to outdo Aretha Franklin, and I’m not trying to outdo Jerry Wexler on the production. We’re presenting a great song.”
The release of TAPESTRY: LEGACY EDITION also acknowledges Carole King’s 50th year as a recording artist. It was 1958 when she graduated from New York’s High School Of Performing Arts (PA), met songwriting partner and future husband Gerry Goffin at Queens College, and signed with Al Nevins and Don Kirshner’s Aldon Music (in the legendary Brill Building). Her debut single, “The Right Girl” was released on ABC-Paramount Records in May 1958.
The first single from Tapestry, “It’s Too Late” b/w “I Feel the Earth Move” hit the Billboard Hot 100 a month later, in April. Also in April, Carole’s close pal James Taylor – who played on five Tapestry tracks – issued “You’ve Got a Friend” [a different recording than on Tapestry] as the first single from his new album, Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon. In addition to hosting sessions for Carole King and James Taylor, A&M Studios was also being used by Joni Mitchell during this period, and Mitchell and Taylor ended up adding vocals to “Will You Love Me Tomorrow.”
In the issue dated June 19th, both “It’s Too Late” and Tapestry hit the #1 spot together – “It’s Too Late” for a 5-week stay, and Tapestry for a 15-week stay, the beginning of a fabled 302-week chart juggernaut. To put it into perspective, no contemporary rock/pop album had ever achieved such a peak. Led Zeppelin IV, released later in the same year (November) lasted 259 weeks. And of course Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of the Moon, released in 1973, holds the crown at 741 weeks. But in the Top 5 list of all-time longevity, Tapestry’s place is secured. The album is certified 10-times platinum in the U.S., and has sold in excess of 24 million copies worldwide, according to Adler.
At the 14th annual Grammy Awards ceremonies in March 1972, Carole King became the first woman to win the “grand slam” – Record Of the Year (“It’s Too Late”), Album Of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal (both for Tapestry), and Song Of the Year (James Taylor’s version of “You’ve Got a Friend,” for which he won Best Male Pop Vocal). It was a Grammy landmark untouched until Alanis Morissette (1995), plus, Quincy Jones won Best Pop Instrumental for his Smackwater Jack album (A&M).
When asked to comment about the impact of Tapestry, Carole King said, “I feel honored that Tapestry has made a difference in small ways and large ways in people's lives around the world. It’s been a major part of my life, too,” she adds. “As a songwriter, I’m so happy that the songs have held up for all of these years. As a performer, I’m still enjoying playing them live, most recently on my Living Room Tour.” The Living Room Tour was captured live on a double CD as well as a new DVD called WELCOME TO MY LIVING ROOM, both released through King’s own Rockingale Records, and available in stores everywhere and through CaroleKing.com.
TAPESTRY: LEGACY EDITION by CAROLE KING (Epic/Ode/Legacy 88697 11455 2; originally issued March 1971, as Ode/A&M 77009)
Disc One – Selections (studio album):
1. I Feel The Earth Move
2. So Far Away
3. It’s Too Late
4. Home Again
5. Beautiful
6. Way Over Yonder
7. You’ve Got A Friend
8. Where You Lead
9. Will You Love Me Tomorrow?
10. Smackwater Jack
11. Tapestry
12. (You Make Me Feel Like a) Natural Woman
(Note: James Taylor appears on tracks 2,4,6,7,9. Joni Mitchell appears on track 9)
Disc Two – Selections (live – previously unreleased):
1. I Feel The Earth Move
2. So Far Away
3. It’s Too Late
4. Home Again
5. Beautiful
6. Way Over Yonder
7. You’ve Got A Friend
8. Will You Love Me Tomorrow?
9. Smackwater Jack
10. Tapestry
11. (You Make Me Feel Like a) Natural Woman.
(Live material recorded in 1973 in Boston; Columbia, Maryland; and Central Park, New York; and in 1976 at the San Francisco Opera House.)
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