Tapestry

Sometimes it's tough liking soft rock. No one is intimidated by me, none of my friends want to listen to The Bridge, and there's the general assumption that I'm kind of a wiener. It is unlikely that you will pull up beside me at a red light and find me blasting The Fray or Five for Fighting or some other interchangeable adult contemporary schlock, but it is entirely possible that my windows will be rolled up and I will be listening to Gilbert O'Sullivan or Nick Drake at a respectable volume.

Or, of course, Carole King.

Carole King should be known for co-writing some of the 60s' greatest hits, including Some Kind of Wonderful, I'm Into Something Good, The Loco-Motion and a plethora of others (and there are plenty of folks who I'm sure give appropriate credit to King). However, the reason why most celebrate her abilities as a songwriter is her 1971 album, Tapestry, which stands out as one of the greatest overall musical achievements of the 70s. Tapestry earned King four Grammy awards for Album of the Year, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, Song of the Year (You've Got a Friend) and Record of the Year (It's Too Late). It also features both Joni Mitchell and James Taylor in various capacities, though you wouldn't know it without reading the liner notes.

The album begins with I Feel the Earth Move, which sets a soulful tone for later tracks like Beautiful, Where You Lead and (You Make Me Feel) Like a Natural Woman. King evokes the vocal styling of groups like The Chiffons and Shirelles -- groups that made her songs hits on the Pop charts in the prior decade -- but provides a more stripped-down facsimile, focusing more closely on a soft acoustic guitar and piano. Nearly 40 years later, it still feels like you're in a smoky lounge listening to a three-piece band, fronted by King, who is seated behind a modest electric keyboard.

So Far Away is a lovely ballad, and the version here is far superior to Rod Stewart's (which for some reason always played on the local soft rock station when I was growing up), but the crowning acheivment of Tapestry is its lead single, It's Too Late. Oddly enough, the song is one of two on Tapestry with lyrics by Toni Stern, but the music itself was composed by King. It wouldn't be right to call it jazz, because the notes are too methodical, but the song really just evokes the smoothest of jam sessions. So smooth, in fact, that the Isley Brothers slowed it down for their 1972 album, Brother Brother Brother. Stern's lyrics are excellent as well, if you can tear yourself away from playing air bongos long enough to pay attention to them.

Other tracks like Home Again, You've Got a Friend and Will You Love Me Tomorrow are easy examples of why King's songwriting style continues to infiltrate its way into today's music through artists like Diana Birch (watch this and tell me you don't see it). Kind of a new turn of the phrase to "If ain't broke, it's because Carole King already fixed it." Putting Tapestry on is all the proof anyone could need. If you don't know where to get it, trust me, it's in your mom's record collection.