Carole King – Writer (1970)

Carole worked in the ‘60s as a songwriter with her husband Gerry Goffin and had many big hits as the Goffin/King team.  Divorced in the late 60’s she decided to pursue a solo career singing both new songs and a few of her co-compositions.  This album sold poorly at the time, and I only picked it up after the phenomenal success of her follow-up ‘Tapestry’, which was on every turntable at every party in the early Seventies.   Carole has a warm voice, which draws you in, and lets loose the emotion of the song.   And what a bunch of songs – a few old classics of hers – ‘Going Back’ and ‘Up On The Roof’  – but quite a few I had never heard before; best are ‘Spaceship Races’, ‘Raspberry Jam’ and ‘Eventually’.  Someone once told me to always look out for the album before the big hit…it usually is pretty good too.  And this is no exception.  Carole also took a great decision to stop releasing, what seemed less and less exciting records, in 1976.  She didn’t tour much either, relying on her great classic albums to cement her legacy.