A few years back I started to notice how many great songs from the 60's and 70's were composed by Carole King. I owned Tapestry years ago, and this box set gives you this complete album that had the longest run in Billboard's listings prior to Dark Side of the Moon. I love her solo versions of "Up on the Roof", "Hi-De-Ho", "Only Love is Real", and "Back to Canaan", "You've Got a Friend" (with James Taylor) etc...A very affordable two CD box set. This is the way box sets were meant to be...give us the very best album that the artist ever produced complete and enough of the other good stuff with liner notes, album dates, pictures, etc. Carole King is one of America's treasures from this era.

Carole King already had a long track record of writing hits in the 1960s, but when she began to make albums in her own right in the early 1970s she came to be acknowledged as one of the most influential figures among the singer-songwriters of the time. Between 1969 and 1976, when she was with the Ode Records label, she recorded a series of memorable albums with regular collaborators such as James Taylor, Charles Larkey and producer Lou Adler. This collection covers that period, with selections from eight albums, as well as a number of interesting previously unreleased tracks.

Given its significance in pop music history, as one of the biggest selling singer-songwriter albums and a classic of the genre, it is probably only right that all of 'Tapestry' is included. However, it's unfortunate that as a result some excellent later albums of Carole's, notably 'Music' and 'Fantasy' are rather passed over. Perhaps 'Tapestry' was a little too successful, in that whilst it continued selling by the truck load the subsequent releases were in danger of being overlooked.

The songs and production are straightforward and down-to-earth, without pretensions. Perhaps these is why the original albums, particularly 'Tapestry', were so successful - the songs were from the heart and about real emotions, and reflected a time when in some respects life seemed simpler and one could be more optimistic about the future. Certainly for my part, Carole's music of the early 70s evokes many precious memories and I still very much enjoy listening to it.

With only a little over an hour's worth of music on each CD in this set, it would have been technically possible for several additional songs to have been included, thus giving a better representation from all of the original albums. When so much effort has obviously been put into the presentation of this package, it's a pity that the opportunity of providing an even more comprehensive collection has been missed.

This small gripe apart, however, this is a very good retrospective, accompanied by a detailed illustrated book, and would be an asset to any collection.

This is a great collection. I like it specially for the unreleased tracks: Those from her"Rhymes and reasons" period. "At this time in my life" is one of her best songs. I can't understand why she or her producer left this song out of the album.Another good reason to buy this CD is her song "Pocket Money" from a 1972 film. There's no other place to find this song.

When you get tired of listening to "Tapestry" you can switch to this album for a while. Great nostalgic experience, and I can't get "Up on the Roof" out of my head.

Jane Chihal

After reading several negative reviews I was left with no choice but to write my own. I just purchased this set and I already knew it would be "GREAT"! Back in the early 70s when Carol King was pening & singing these songs Modern Rock music was not something that I listened to as I was and still am a true Country and Bluegrass music fan. Western Swing with the likes of the Great Bob Wills and Hank Thompson was the stuff I was into.Many of my friends at that time (30+ years ago)were dope smoking Hippies listening to that Hard Hard Rock Music of the day!During this timeI was wearing Motorcycle Boots with Ducktail short hair as I still am today at 50. The music of that time turned my stomach. I can still remember many folks going to them dope smoking rock concerts and my friends and me were buying tickets to go to the EastWind in Baltimore County to see Earnest Tubb and his Honky Tonk Band from TEXAS. To say the least I was a real hard sell for Hard Rock. A friend of a friend of mine was playing a record one day that I heard while I was back here in the States on leave from the Merchant Marines, it was Carol King's Tapastry. When I heard this music I thought to myself - Boy, this is some really good music ! After that first encounter I was sold and today over 30 years later I still know that Carol King is the Best Female Artist of our time. I have a huge Country Music collection of LPs,cassets and CDs with not much of any 1970s music except for Ms King .I have collected about eight of the Tapastry Album (I want to be able to pass down an original edition of this LP to each of my children and grandchildren as I have already given my oldest daughter who is 26 her copy) All my copys are in mint condition. I have more of Carol King then any other artist, even Johnny Cash ! So don't tell me nothing negative about this 2 CDset as I KNOW this is a real monument in music history ! "ENJOY"