Album Review

Carole King – A Beautiful Collection

• 2nd Mar 2015

‘Beautiful: The Carole King Musical’, the Broadway hit and winner of two Tony Awards in 2014 has just opened in London, and to accompany the show Sony have released this superb collection. King’s long career has seen her release 25 studio albums that have given us some of the best loved songs around, many of which are included on this new album.

Carole King initially made her name in her home town of New York as a writer of pop hits in the 1960s, working with her then husband Gerry Goffin. They composed a string of well known songs, including Take Good Care Of My Baby, The Loco-Motion, Up On The Roof and It Might As Well Rain Until September. After their divorce she moved to the centre of the LA singer-songwriter community, Laurel Canyon, where she met and worked with greats like James Taylor and Joni Mitchell. And then in 1971 she made her breakthrough as a solo artist when her second album, the timeless classic Tapestry, became one of the biggest selling albums of all time, topping the US charts for 15 weeks.

The hits have kept coming in a stellar career that has seen more than 400 of her compositions recorded by over 1,000 artists, resulting in 100 hit singles. King has won four Grammy Awards and a Gershwin Prize, has been inducted into both the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

A Beautiful Collection is aptly named. Its fifteen gorgeous tracks show Carole King’s prowess as a songwriter and a performer perfectly. The 70s LA style she developed of simple piano led arrangements and emotional delivery of beautiful lyrics clearly stands the test of time. There are so many songs here that are instantly recognisable: (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman, I Feel The Earth Move and You’ve Got A Friend are all King compositions that have become standards. Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow, her most heartfelt anthem, written about her first love Gerry Goffin, is another highlight, as is the beautiful Carry Your Load and the uptempo Sweet Seasons.

There is not a bad track on this album. In addition to the fourteen studio songs there is one fine live track featuring parts of Will You Love Me Tomorrow, Some Kind of Wonderful and Up On the Roof. And King is joined here by James Taylor, who adds a lovely backing vocal.

Carole King is one of the great names of 60s and 70s music and this album is a fine testimony to her long and stellar career. Many of the songs are instantly known and her songwriting prowess shines through, as do her sublime vocal skills.

Venue: A Beautiful Collection
Support Band: Sony