Carole King
Thoroughbred

Recently, while browsing videos on YouTube, I stumbled upon a video by a well-known YouTuber, a music communicator, who was discussing the differences in tastes and the relative success of artists between the USA and Italy. I was amazed that he didn’t know Carole King, who with her Tapestry from 1971 sold over 14 million copies in the USA. I then wondered, how does one come across Carole King? What path must one take? What trail leads to encountering her? Those who are passionate about the '60s sound encounter her with her husband Goffin, forming a formidable duo responsible for a multitude of hits, does "The Loco-Motion" (1962) ring a bell? After the partnership dissolved by the end of the decade, she was involved in a band, The City, which released just one LP, Now That Everything's Been Said (1968). Her solo career started with the good "Writer" of 1970, which stands out for its robust sound still very much '60s. Then comes Tapestry, which is a different story. I come across Carole King because her iconic photo with the cat Telemaco taken at Laurel Canyon and used for the cover of her 1971 album is so iconic that it appears everywhere in musical essays. That album, along with Blue by her friend Joni Mitchell, is like the Bible for songwriting for generations of authors. It seems almost impossible in 2024 not to know it, damn... "It's Too Late", "So Far Away"...the lethal piano intro of "I Feel the Earth Move" are pieces of popular culture from the late 20th century. In December 1975, King emerged from a series of good LPs that, however, did not replicate the stratospheric success of Tapestry, an impossible feat. When she releases Thoroughbred, she is a fully established songwriter and can afford to create an album with the bubbly flavors of the West Coast. The core group of musicians she collaborates with is the same as that of great friends James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, and Jackson Browne. A group of friends including Russ Kunkel on drums, Danny Kortchmar on guitar, and Leland Sklar on bass. Plus, occasional collaborators, simple people like Graham Nash, David Crosby, and Tom Scott. King riding along a beach at sunset takes us back to the album's atmosphere, a typical sound of the latter half of the '70s, light enough for radio but not too much to lose the importance of the lyrics. The lead single is "Only Love is Real", a song that envelops calmly like a land breeze at dusk. "So Many Ways" and "Daughter of Light" are beautiful songs, with great melodies just like "There's a Space Between Us" and "Ambrosia".

The last album for her historic record label, Ode Records, also marks the beginning of the inexorable decline of Carole King's artistic trajectory, still producing good albums but far from the freshness of the material released in the first half of the '70s. However, the artistic imprint of this talented author will help many future songwriters to express themselves, from Sara Bareilles to Alicia Keys, and obviously including Taylor Swift.