Mark wrote:
> Carole King was a huge leap forward in the sophistication of my
> musical tastes. I really loved the song 'It's Too Late' when it was
> such a big hit on the radio. Bought the single and later 'Tapestry'.
> Up til that point my faves were the Carpenters, the 5th Dimension and
> Dionne Warwick. I actually had a note from Carole, hand written, in
> response to a fan letter I sent her but for the life of me I can't
> locate it now. I think my mother may have tossed it out with a box of
> stuff that was taking up space in her closets.
Oh, I'd be devastated! I tried to write fan letters to Carole half a dozen
times from the age of about 13 through 15 - but they all got returned
"address unknown" - which took 6 weeks or so from NZ to the US. So
disappointing! From memory, it's probably just as well, given my
over-exuberance at the time (the word "gushing" springs to mind). I didn't
have the firm grasp and awareness of the subtle nuances of the English
language that I have now ...... is anyone else laughing as hard as I am
right now?
Back to Carole though.
> I really loved 'Music' and 'Rhymes & Reasons' brings back a lot of
> memories of my first year in college. I also liked 'Fantasy' and
> appreciated her attempt to make some kind of social statement. I
> bought 'Wrap Around Joy' but the only song I really remember from it
> is 'Jazz Man'. I stopped buying her stuff after that one. By that
> time I had discovered Carly Simon and ultimately, Joni. Carole just
> didn't interest me that much anymore.
As I've said previously, her albums later were not to the same standard
(IMO) as her earlier work, but there were some great songs, worth giving a
listen if you get a chance. One of my favourite CK albums is Touch The Sky
(1979), which has a real country sound (which I don't normally like) but it
seems to work. There are some great lyrics too:
>From "Time Gone By":
Young ones conceived in a passion
Of directions we thought enlightened
Grown up they follow the mood in fashion
But beneath their bravado, you know they're frightened
And from "Crazy":
You take your action in weekends at a time
But you can make all week your own if you set your mind
You see security in the chrome American dream
But I don't believe in living in the middle with available extremes
Hell
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