Technically Writer is Carole King’s debut album, but that’s misleading description. There’s no sense in which King is starting out or developing here: by 1970 she was already a seasoned industry professional. With or without a soon-to-be-breakout solo career she would have already amassed an impressive collection of hits for other artists: The Shirelles’ “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow,” Little Eva’s “The Loco-Motion,” (nowadays better known under Grand Funk Railroad), The Crystals’ “He Hit Me (It Felt Like A Kiss)” and Aretha Franklin’s “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” most notable among them. King-Goffin is one of the classic 60s songwriting teams alongside Holland-Dozier-Holland and Greenwich-Berry-Spector.
Even the title Writer foregrounds King’s experience as a craftswoman first and foremost. It’s a canny play to commercial concerns: you’ll like this because you already know Carole King, even if you don’t know her! And the music largely backs that up, because these twelve songs all share rock-solid construction and melodic sense. Pretty piano figures and (especially) driving bass figures by Charles Larkey round out the songs and ensure that there’s always something going on within the standard pop structures. King has a supple voice that catches the emotional content of these songs without allowing that to drag them down. Interestingly for a pop-oriented songwriter, she does particularly well with the more country-leaning songs such as “To Love” and “Sweet Sweetheart.” Now that’s a career turn that could have been rewarding and interesting.
But for all that Writer’s bet-hedging is a reasonable commercial decision, it doesn’t do the album any favors as a listening experience. These songs are all credited to Carole King and Gerry Goffin, who had divorced a year earlier. I haven’t done the research and tracked down the origins of every single one of these tunes, but at least three of them were big singles for other artists, so I think it’s safe to assume that this album consists of King excavating her back catalogue for songs to cover. Goffin-King penned a lot of different songs for a range of different artists in many genres, and that variety is on display here – you’ve got rockier numbers like “Spaceship Races” alongside adult-contemporary piano ballads such as “Child of Mine” and the aforementioned country tunes. While King’s songwriting sense does a great job of holding these songs together, the piecemeal nature of Writer can’t help but be felt sometimes. It feels less genre-spanning than genre-inchoate.
Whether that’s an issue of label pressure or just a mixed call on King’s part I can’t say, but it just brings this down from a very-good album to a very-good collection of songs. But that more than clears the bar for a singer-songwriter finally stepping out and making her own statement. Listen to Writer to find some hidden gems or just hear what King brings to her own songs that other artists don’t or couldn’t.
The Peak:
I’ve got no clue what word-of-mouth forces existed in 1971 to make Tapestry one of the best-selling albums in history, especially because Writer kind of sunk on release. But I’m going to suggest at least one cause: it was a clear step up in quality. I’m not saying Tapestry soars leaps and bounds over her debut, but with more original songs and more forceful production, the latter album establishes Carole King’s distinctive voice with authority and grace.
I mean, this is one of those absurdly stacked albums that could double as a greatest hits: King still brings back some of her old hits to cover, but this time she gives us her own versions of “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” and “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” two of her all-time classics. This is also the album with “It’s Too Late” / “I Feel the Earth Move,” a double A-side that stuck around on the charts ridiculously high for a ridiculously long time. Oh, and King’s version of “You’ve Got a Friend,” which became a major hit for James Taylor. That’s already five songs out of a twelve-song album that conquered the world. That the rest hold together better than any two given songs from Writer (most of these songs were, after all, written for the album) means a sophomore record with higher highs and higher lows. I still don’t think it’s personally as good as some of the other peaks of 70s singer-songwriterdom like Blue or Rumours, but it has a broad appeal and emotional levelheadedness that those records don’t.
The Comedown:
Carole King had been richly rewarded by going in a more rocking direction with Tapestry (I mean, that album’s not going to blow anyone’s ears out, but it was at least louder and with more active, noticeable drumming) so it’s a surprise that Music is mostly a smoothening and softening of her sound. The warmth and brightness of the album cover really bleeds through to the music here, and King sounds more assured than ever.
Musically the album relies more on the band than ever before – most of what makes Music different is the percussion work of conga-and-bongo-player extraordinaire Bobbye Hall, plus James Taylor’s acoustic guitar accompaniments. Taylor had played guitar on all of King’s albums up to this point, but his contributions here are the most pronounced and complex, intertwining with King’s stately piano figures in ways that always surprise and delight.
The songs themselves lean more toward low-key, sometimes even jazzy. There aren’t any lyrical stunners like “Child of Mine” nor are there any world-beating singles – even “Sweet Seasons,” the big hit from the album, coasts by with genial good feeling and no pressing need to make a statement. Sure, Music isn’t trying too hard, but after delivering a huge smash album and locking down a great studio band who are audibly having joy working together, King sounds happy to be working in her element and letting the music flow.
And that’s a significant change from where she had been before - Writer was a bit scattershot in approach if not in quality, whereas Tapestry, monumental as it is, feels weighed down by its big hits. Music is the most tight and consistent of these three albums. It feels like she’d made it over a hill – from songwriter who dealt in three-minute statements and pop hits to a singer-songwriter who could allow herself to stretch out and enjoy herself over forty minutes. King was right to title this one Music, because nothing else in her career has so clearly communicated the joy of making music and being surrounded by it. What a joy to hear!
The Verdict:
To be honest, I’d heard neither of these albums before I started writing this post; Sonic Youth and OutKast, I was familiar with, but not Carole King. Music, though, surprised me, and is an album I can see throwing on as a standard feel-good low-intensity listen. This week the advantage goes to the comedown album.
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