Tapestry (album)

Tapestry
Studio album by Carole King
Released	February 10, 1971 (1971-02-10)
Recorded	January 1971
Studio	Studio B, A&M Recording Studios
Genre	Folk rock pop[1] soft rock
Length	44:31
Label	Ode
Producer	Lou Adler
Carole King chronology
Writer (1970) Tapestry (1971) Music (1971)
Singles from Tapestry
"It's Too Late"/"I Feel the Earth Move" Released: April 1971 "So Far Away"/"Smackwater Jack" Released: March 1971

	"It's Too Late" Carole King's "It's Too Late" from Tapestry
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Tapestry is the second album by American singer-songwriter Carole King, released in 1971 on Ode Records and produced by Lou Adler. It is one of the best-selling albums of all time, with over 25 million copies sold worldwide. In the United States, it has been certified diamond by the RIAA with more than 10 million copies sold.^[2] It received four Grammy Awards in 1972, including Album of the Year. The lead single from the album — "It's Too Late"/"I Feel the Earth Move" — spent five weeks at number one on both the Billboard Hot 100^[3] and Easy Listening^[4] charts. In 2003, Tapestry was ranked number 36 on Rolling Stone list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.^[5]

Production

King wrote or co-wrote all of the songs on the album, several of which had already been hits for other artists such as Aretha Franklin's "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" and The Shirelles' "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" (in 1960). Three songs were co-written with King's ex-husband Gerry Goffin. James Taylor, who encouraged King to sing her own songs and who also played on Tapestry, would later have a number one hit with "You've Got a Friend". Two songs were co-written with Toni Stern: "It's Too Late" and "Where You Lead".

The cover photograph was taken by A&M staff photographer Jim McCrary at King's Laurel Canyon home.^[6] It shows her sitting in a window frame, holding a tapestry she hand-stitched herself, with her cat Telemachus at her feet.^[7]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[8]
Robert Christgau	A−[9]
Okayplayer	(96/100; 2008 Legacy Edition)[10]
Q Magazine
Rolling Stone	(positive)[11]
Uncut	[12]

The album was well received by critics; Robert Christgau felt that her voice, raw and imperfect, free of "technical decorum", would liberate female singers^[9] while Jon Landau in Rolling Stone felt that King was one of the most creative pop music figures and had created an album of "surpassing personal-intimacy and musical accomplishment".^[11]

Awards

Along with being selected Album of the Year, it also received Grammys for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, Record of the Year ("It's Too Late"), and Song of the Year ("You've Got a Friend"), making King the first solo female artist to win the Grammy Award for Record of the Year, and the first woman to win the Grammy Award for Song of the Year.

The album remained on the Billboard charts for 313 weeks (second only to Pink Floyd's 724 weeks with The Dark Side of the Moon).^[13]

Commercial performance

Tapestry was number one on the Billboard 200 for 15 consecutive weeks,^[14] and held the record for most weeks at number one by a female solo artist for over 20 years until surpassed by Whitney Houston's The Bodyguard: Original Soundtrack Album in 1993, which spent 20 weeks at number one.^[15] It still holds the record for most consecutive weeks at number one by a female solo artist.^[16] The album has been listed on the Billboard 200 for over 300 weeks between 1971 and 2011, the longest by a female solo artist.^[17][18] In terms of time on the charts, it ranks fifth overall,^[19] and in terms of length on the charts for solo musical acts it ranks second.^[19] Of all the albums by female artists to be certified diamond, it was the first released, although it was not the first being certified.^[20] In Canada, the album was number one for 9 weeks beginning July 3, 1971^[21]

Legacy

Several of the songs on Tapestry were recorded by other artists and became hit singles while the album was still on the charts: James Taylor's 1971 recording of "You've Got a Friend" hit number one in the US^[22] and number four in the UK,^[23] and Barbra Streisand's 1971 studio recording of "Where You Lead" reached number 40^[24] while a live recording of a medley in which Streisand paired the song with the Sweet Inspirations hit "Sweet Inspiration" reached number 37 the following year.^[24]

Various artists combined to re-record all the original tracks for more than one tribute album; the first, released in 1995, entitled Tapestry Revisited: A Tribute to Carole King, which was certified gold, and the second, released in 2003, entitled A New Tapestry — Carole King Tribute. In 2010, Australian recording artist Marcia Hines recorded a tribute album, Marcia Sings Tapestry.

In 2003, Tapestry was named number 36 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time,^[5] was listed by VH1 as number 39 on their list of 100 Greatest Albums,^[25] and was one of 50 recordings chosen to be added to the National Recording Registry.^[26] Recordings added to the National Recording Registry are picked to be preserved in the Library of Congress, the largest library in the world, as they are "culturally, historically, or aesthetically important."^[26]

In March 2016 it was announced that Carole King will be performing the album live in its entirety for the first time at the British Summer Time Festival in Hyde Park, London on 3rd July 2016.^[27]

Track listing

All songs written by Carole King except where noted.

Side 1

1. "I Feel the Earth Move" – 3:00
2. "So Far Away" – 3:55
3. "It's Too Late" (lyrics by Toni Stern) – 3:54
4. "Home Again" – 2:29
5. "Beautiful" – 3:08
6. "Way Over Yonder" – 4:49

Side 2

7. "You've Got a Friend" – 5:09
8. "Where You Lead" (lyrics by Toni Stern) – 3:20
9. "Will You Love Me Tomorrow?" (Gerry Goffin, King) – 4:13
10. "Smackwater Jack" (Goffin, King) – 3:42
11. "Tapestry" – 3:15
12. "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" (Goffin, King, Jerry Wexler) – 3:59

1999 CD reissue

The album was reissued in 1999 on CD, with two previously unreleased bonus tracks.

13. "Out in the Cold" (bonus track) – 2:44
14. "Smackwater Jack" (Live in Boston, May 21, 1973) (bonus track) – 3:21

2008 "Legacy Edition"

In 2008, Sony/BMG, Epic, and Ode released a 2-disc "Legacy Edition". One disc is the original album remastered; the second disc is live performances of 11 of the 12 songs, recorded in 1973 at Boston, Columbia, Maryland, and Central Park, New York; and in 1976 at the San Francisco Opera House. "Where You Lead" is the song not included on the live disc.

Live disc track listing

1. "I Feel the Earth Move" – 4:17
2. "So Far Away" – 4:44
3. "It's Too Late" – 5:06
4. "Home Again" – 3:33
5. "Beautiful" – 3:39
6. "Way Over Yonder" – 5:35
7. "You've Got a Friend" – 6:00
8. "Will You Love Me Tomorrow?" – 4:31
9. "Smackwater Jack" – 4:18
10. "Tapestry" – 4:13
11. "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" – 5:11

Personnel

• Carole King – piano, keyboards, vocals, background vocals

Additional musicians

• Curtis Amy – flute; baritone, soprano, and tenor saxophone; string quartet
• Tim Powers – drums
• David Campbell – cello, viola
• Merry Clayton – background vocals
• Terry King – cello, tenor saxophone, string quartet
• Danny "Kootch" Kortchmar – acoustic guitar, conga, electric guitar, vocals
• Russ Kunkel – drums
• Charles "Charlie" Larkey – bass guitar, string bass, string quartet
• Joni Mitchell – background vocals
• Joel O'Brien – drums
• Ralph Schuckett – electric piano
• Barry Socher – violin, tenor saxophone, viola, string quartet
• Perry Steinberg – bass guitar, violin, tenor saxophone, string bass
• James Taylor – acoustic guitar, backing vocals
• Julia Tillman – background vocals

Technical personnel

• Lou Adler – production
• Vic Anesini – mastering
• Chuck Beeson – design
• Hank Cicalo – engineering
• Bob Irwin – production on 1999 re-release
• Jessica Killorin – packaging manager
• Jim McCrary – photography
• Michael Pultand – artwork
• Smay Vision – design
• Roland Young – art direction

Charts and certifications

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/Sales
Japan (RIAJ)[39] 1991 reissue	Gold	100,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[40]	2x Platinum	600,000^
United States (RIAA)[41]	10× Platinum	10,000,000^
^shipments figures based on certification alone

BPI certification awarded only for sales since 1994.

See also

• List of best-selling albums

References

External links

• Tapestry (Adobe Flash) at Radio3Net (streamed copy where licensed)