Original Album Classics: Writer; Music; Rhymes & Reasons; Fantasy; Wrap Around Joy

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Coming off of the heels of A Night at the Opera (and their biggest hit of all time, “Bohemian Rhapsody”) Queen decided it best to not let the success linger and released A Day at the Races just little over a year later. Like so many of Queen’s albums, this one was an assorted blend of current metal and classical music and meant to be played in the largest arenas in the world. The album weaves through blaring guitars, cathedral pianos, fast and furious vocals and deep ballads, but it’s Freddie Mercury’s gospel-baroque hits of “Somebody to Love” and “Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy” that sent millions of fans over the edge. Once you flip the record and hear the multi-layered vocals and complex melodies, you know the boys in Queen weren’t suffering any slump in the hits department. “Lover Boy” is a short and sweet ragtime moment that doesn’t seem like much, but then turns into another show-stopping sing-along. — Adam Vitcavage

Venusian Diamond” (King, Evers, Mark Hallman, Robert McEntee, Robb Galloway, Miguel Rivera, Richard Hardy, Michael Wooten) Tapestry was around our house when I was growing up, but I connected with it more when I moved to California because it’s the blueprint for anybody who’s starting off in songwriting in LA. Carole King made this incredible transformation from Brill Building songwriter to performer, but she didn’t go crazy or self-destruct. She was able to remain a good parent and – especially now I’m a father – she has always been a role model for me. Carole King releases new version of One Small Voice in protest against Trump". The Guardian. 2017-01-27 . Retrieved 2021-03-21.What else can be said about The Dark Side of the Moon that hasn’t been said already? It’s one of those records that seems to exist in its own little world. There hasn’t been another quite like it before or since its release, and its impact on nearly every aspect of music—songwriting, production, engineering—is still felt even decades later. In regards to Pink Floyd as a band, the album marked a distinct change of direction in the group’s sound, due in large part to the departure of Syd Barrett, who had been the band’s principal songwriter until his deteriorating mental state forced him to leave the group. Barrett’s mental problems also served as inspiration for much of Dark Side’s concept and themes, which focused on issues like madness, the passage of time, conflict and death. — Wyndham Wyeth These days Szymcyzk is probably best known for his production work with the Eagles, including their epic Hotel California. He also worked with Joe Walsh, the J Geils Band, Johnny Winter and many many more. In the late 60s, however, he was a fresh pair of ears with some very good ideas. It was Szymcyzk who convinced BB to record with young musicians and not his touring band. To paraphrase one of his greatest songs, BB King had paid the cost to be the boss. He famously toured relentlessly – more than 350 dates some years – but by the mid 60s he was essentially cutting the same studio record over and over. A new approach was needed, and salvation came in the form of young record producer Bill Szymcyzk. All songs written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King; lyrics for "Raspberry Jam" and "What Have You Got to Lose" by Toni Stern. I also have to mention the cat on the cover. It may sound trivial, but that was the most “me” I’d ever seen on a record cover, and maybe opened up the possibility that a person could be humble and modest and human rather than superhuman, and be a triumphant musician. Bethany Cosentino, Best Coast

Tapestry is one of the 100 best-selling albums of all time, with over 14 million sales worldwide, achieving Diamond status in mid 1990s. After it’s initial release, it remained on the Billboard charts for 313 weeks, the second most weeks to chart behind the 724 weeks of Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon. Barely 30 years old, Carole King would continue to have success for decades to come, but this album was her career masterpiece. I’ll be honest that the song of hers I’ve heard the most is Where You Lead as the Gilmore Girls theme – the version she sings with her daughter. How many hours have I spent sitting on the couch with my mom harmonising to that song? It’s a tradition we’ve carried on a few times during quarantine over the phone. Szymcyzk is not a musician himself. A whistle-stop tour through his early life and career finds him working as a sonar operator for the US Navy. Things get really interesting when he quits NYC’s Hit Factory studio and lands a job at ABC Records, taking a pay cut for the opportunity to switch from engineering to production, to ultimately work with his idol BB King. Tapestry was one of the first records my mother and I bonded over. It was so meaningful to sing in unison with my mom to a guttural, honest account performed by a stranger to whom I felt so inexplicably connected: a friend, a sister, a mother, and somebody’s daughter, a low voice and an attitude. From that point onward, I carried her music and spirit with me. You can hear that in King’s guitar playing, not least in his wonderfully soulful solo on Chains And Things. The song could be considered the Seeds take on The Thrill Is Gone. Chains And Things broods its way through its almost five-minute running time. According to Szymcyzk, similarities to BB’s signature tune were unintentional.In fact, it’s a decade so musically diverse, we had quite a time whittling it down to our top albums. When we polled our staff, interns and writers, over 250 albums received votes, but ultimately these 70 emerged as clear favorites. These days, Indianola is like any other small Mississippi town. There’s a main thoroughfare where you’ll see clumps of fast-food joints set apart by Mexican cantinas, gas stations and supermarkets.

Touch the Sky: "Top Albums/CDs - Volume 31, No. 23". RPM. 1979-09-01. Archived from the original (PHP) on 2014-01-06 . Retrieved 2014-01-01. When my sisters and I were growing up, Tapestry was a key record in the house. Our mum also loved James Taylor and Joni Mitchell, who played and sang on it, so it was on in the car a lot. Our mum was from Philly on the east coast, so it was always in my mind that Carole was also a Jewish east-coast girl. She’d write these amazing, emotive songs and sing them in an almost optimistic or carefree voice. The radical thing about Tapestry is its refusal to be iconic. The original Shirelles version of Will You Love Me Tomorrow, arguably the best song of the 60s, is so clearly a masterpiece that King’s own version could never compete with it. Instead, she sings it slowly and plaintively, with no flattering reverb, making the answer to the title, heartbreakingly, “Probably not”. Ouch! Lucy Dacus I first heard of Carole King when I was about 16. James Taylor brought her to the attention of the wider world when he asked her to open for him in 1971. But the truth is I had been listening to her most of my life, through the voices of the many women and men who recorded her music.When you write a song it’s almost mystical. It feels as if the words just come out and it can be months or even years later you realise: “ That’s what was happening.” I’d love to know who those songs are about. I think female artists are great at just letting it all show. As artists, my sisters and I feel like having Carole always in our lives definitely inspired us. Margo Price Carole King and James Taylor Troubadour Reunion Comes To An End::James Taylor News::antiMusic.com". www.antimusic.com . Retrieved 2021-12-21. King sadly passed away on May 14, 2015 at the age of 89. He’s buried at his museum in his adopted home town of Indianola, 20 miles from where he was born 89 years earlier. Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?” / “Some Kind of Wonderful” / “Up on the Roof” [medley; performed with James Taylor] (Goffin, King) – 7:46