"There's so many dreams I've yet to find..."

Original Released on LP Ode SP 77009 
(US, March 1971)

The most successful female songwriter in the history of the US and UK singles charts wrote and recorded the best-selling album by a woman. It seems justice, yet before "Tapestry" was released it also seemed very unlikely. Carole first registered as a singer in 1962 with "It Might As Well Rain Until September," but this had merely been a demo for Bobby Vee that publisher Don Kirshner thought good enough to release in single form. King did not attempt to become an artist herself until the late sixties. An LP with a trio named The City sold about five thousand copies and her 1970 solo debut "Writer" was undistinguished. Nothing prepared the world for "Tapestry", a recital that has long passed the thirteen million mark in sales. Among the tunes played by pianist King were "It's Too Late," an American number one, "So Far Away," a Top 20 tune, and "I Feel The Earth Move," the flip of "It's Too Late" that enjoyed much airplay in its own right. King revisited her hits for the Shirelles ("Will You Love Me Tomorrow") and Aretha Franklin ("[You Make Me Feel Like] A Natural Woman").

She wrote a classic in "You've Got A Friend," which became a US number one for James Taylor. King introduced what became a Grammy winner for Quincy Jones, "Smackwater Jack". She herself won Album of the Year for "Tapestry", Single of the Year for "It's Too Late," Female Vocal Performance of the Year and Song of the Year for "You've Got A Friend." In 1987, "Tapestry" was chosen by a panel of rock critics and music broadcasters as the #30 rock album of all time. Appropriately enough, King's unparalleled achievement was the highest-placed disc by a female soloist in the survey. (Paul Gambaccini, The Top 100 Rock 'n' Roll Albums of All Time, Harmony Books, 1987) The sleeve is unprepossessing: a be-denimed Carole King clutching some fabric, her cat in the foreground. It is also a bold statement about the place of women in rock music. The imagery, the songs themselves and the huge success of "Tapestry" marked out a territory for intelligent, sensitive women who didn't have to exploit their sexuality in an obvious manner. With "Tapestry", King married her gift for the concise pop statement (finely honed as co-author with husband Gerry Goffin of countless pop classics in the 50s and 60s) to a reflective lyricism, to create one of the defining singer-songwriter albums of the 70s. (Collins Gem Classic Albums, 1999)