There is a two-fold beauty gained from listening to Tapestry today. The first is the nostalgic pleasure gained from listening again to beautiful words set perfectly to music. This pleasure is probably limited to those of us, of a certain age, who cut their musical teeth on the music of the 60s and early 70s. The second is the pleasure anyone, no matter their age, can get from listening to the combination of lyrics and music that is Tapestry.

If the definition of a classic is a piece of work that survives and propsers over time, then Tapestry is a classic.

129 of 136 found the following review helpful:


Why, oh why can't the record companies do it right?  Apr 26, 2008 By DVD buff
I'll admit -- I'm one of those people who feel that TAPESTRY is one of the greatest albums of all time. So my review of this new 2-CD edition is colored by that view.

TAPESTRY is one of only a handful of albums ever released that contains only total winners (in terms of songs). Many artists produce great albums, but there are always a couple of songs that I don't like as much as the others. Not so with TAPESTRY. Every song on the album deserves five stars.

This 2-CD set contains the complete original album, along with a second disc of previously-unreleased live recordings of (most of) the songs from the album. These live versions were chosen because they strip the songs down to their pure essence -- Carole at the keyboard and on vocals, with nothing else. This is a fantastic thing to have paired with the original album. Sound quality is excellent, performances are inspired and passionate.

The set loses a star, though, because it's just not as good as it COULD have been. TAPESTRY has already been issued in a remastered, expanded edition. (This version appears to be the same mastering as the previous one.) However, the first expanded edition included two bonus tracks (one a previously-unreleased studio track, the other a live recording), and neither of those bonus tracks were included in this new edition. So if you want to have a "complete" TAPESTRY, you have to own both versions of the album. To me, this smacks of record company greed -- let's see how many times we can get these suckers to buy the same album. Sony has done this same thing recently with Michael Jackson's THRILLER. And Elvis Costello fans know all about this sort of thing...

If you're a Carole King fan, you will definitely want this set. If you don't care about live versions of the songs, you can stick with the single-disc remastered version from a few years back. But if, like me, you're a die-hard aficionado, you'll have to have both. It's only shelf space!

107 of 115 found the following review helpful:


As superb as the day it was recorded: a masterwork  Jun 01, 2002 By Joel L. Gandelman
Why has Carol King's 1971 recording Tapestry stood the test of time?
Two words: sincerity and emotion.

The CD I bought from Amazon came with a sticker announcing: "4X Grammy Winner! Over 11 Million Sold! Every song's a classic!" But that really doesn't explain why, whether you're an "old timer" who got the original on vinyl or a young person experiencing King for the first time, Tapestry is so fresh, vital and appealing from start to finish.

It's not just King's superb white-soul sing-along melodies, or her music's wonderful rhythms, or the incredible variety of songs on this beautifully remastered CD. King wrote for a LOT of other artists who recorded her music and became very famous doing so doing the songs on this CD.

Indeed, when she recorded this in 1971 she was not as well-known to the general public as her music -- but that quickly changed when this became one of the great-selling
LPs of all time.

The secret is in her unpretentious, 100-per-cent post-liberated woman singing. She means EVERY word, every phrase and it comes across. Each jaunty song is a tasteful, at times playful, mini-drama. People often say that "so and so" (fill in the blank here) is the female equivalent of Frank Sinatra, considered the King of singing lyrics with supreme sincerity. But the REAL queen is definitely King. Her lyrics (happy and sad) don't just come alive, they're bursting with life-force as much as her music is bursting with worldclass melodies and rhythms.

Example: James Taylor grew increasingly famous (and rich) with his smash recording of You've Got a Friend. But his does not contain one-millionth the sincerity of King's rendition. Anyone who's ever "down" should listen to her sing the song -- and you'll feel like you do have a friend. And gift this to a beloved friend or relative and tell them THAT SONG is for them and when they listen they will completely get the message, a message King delivers right from the heart.

When the concert-challenged (she did not like to perform in public) King sings her songs the more famous versions of her music performed by more famous artists seem like
elevator music in comparison. Her "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" is laced with vulnerability unmatched by any other singer. `It's Too Late" takes on a near-defiant tone due to her phrasing.

She also does unparalleled work with the more upbeat songs such as "Where You Lead' and (my favorite) `I Feel the Earth Move" (our unofficial theme song here in California).

If you've heard King, get, listen to and savor this remastered CD. If you love someone, gift it. If you're a young musician or singer listen to and EMULATE a master writer and
performer. King's lyrics, music, rhythms and sincerity haunted and moved me in 1971 and they do today since this CD is every milligram good as it was when it was first recorded.

According to the liner notes, Tapestry was #1 for 15 weeks, on the charts for more than six years, and earned four Grammies including Record of the Year (for It's Too Late) and
Song of the Year (You've Got a Friend." This CD also contains two wonderful previously unreleased bonus tracks.

47 of 48 found the following review helpful:


Tapestry Live --Disk #2 Justifies Owning Yet Another Copy of Classic  Apr 26, 2008 By Robert F. Dicorcia "rfd24"
When I first read that Sony was releasing yet another version of my all-time favorite album, "Tapestry," I moaned and groaned. I knew I would HAVE TO buy it yet again. Afterall, I've purchased the album (at least 3 times), the cassette, the 8 track, the MasterSound album, the 1987 CD, the gold-bit CD, and the 1999 remaster CD-- 9 copies of the basically the same album.

With this new 2008 "Legacy Edition," a 2nd disk containing all of the songs performed live in 1973 and 1976 was the latest "hook" to rack up more sales. I snuck out of work to purchase it -- my heart racing-- as if I were headed to purchase a brand new CD, rather than something that I've listened to so many times, it's become part of my very core. Packaging was indeed befitting a "deluxe" reissue, but, the most surprising thing I would discover is just how great most of the live tracks are: Ms. King's voice is at its strongest and some of these versions, most notably, "Way Over Yonder," are not only better than any prior version, but, they take on all-new power. While the recorded version of this song was always my least favorite (if such a thing could really ever be said) of the 12 tracks on the original, it's as if you are listening to a freshly written song hearing this latest impassioned liveversion. The same can be said of the versions of "You've Got a Friend" and "Will You Love Me Tomorrow?" -- Carole's singing and piano playing is perfect.

Perhaps the secret lies in the fact that Hank Cicalo, the master engineer of the original studio version of the album, was chosen by Lou Adler to record these live versions.

I don't know why Lou Adler opted not to release these live tracks earlier --inferior live versions of some of these songs appeared on her Carnegie Hall live CD (1996), but, these versions are ther real thing.

So until the next version of this classic album is release --perhaps in 2021 -- it's 50 th anniversary -- these live tracks will keep me satisfied.

44 of 49 found the following review helpful:


The Greatest album ever made  Jul 10, 2000 By Bob Waskiewicz
Everyone had a "Tapestry" album in the early 70's.Almost all the songs were played on the radio.If it wasen't Carole singing one of them ,it was James Taylor or Aretha Franklin,who had huge hits.I love Carole's voice,its so layed back and natural.I remember hearing"Its Too Late," played over and over again on the radio when I was in school.I fell in love with it.When you think about it,there's not much production on this record.Its just piano,bass,and drums.The main thing is the words and music from one of the greatest songwriters ever."So Far Away"is another favorite.Carole goes from Ballads,to rock and roll with "I fill the Earth Move." I bought alot of Carole King records after "Tapestry." I've enjoyed all of them,but this one will be played forever in everyone's CD players.

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