Wednesday 3 August 2022

Rhymes & Reasons - CAROLE KING***

Come Down Easy/My My She Cries/Peace In The Valley/Feeling Sad Tonight/The First Day In August/Bitter With The Sweet/Goodbye Don't Mean I'm Gone/Stand Behind Me/Gotta Get Through Another Day/I Think I Can Hear You/Ferguson Road/Been To Canaan

During the early 1970s the reputation of singer songwriter Carole King reached a peak following the acclaimed Tapestry album. Unfortunately the introspective Rhymes & Reasons contains few standout tracks. (US:2 UK:40)

“A good, solid album from Carole doing what she does best, singing simple, melodic songs in a winsome manner on a bed of that luscious piano. None of the songs stand out, but there are no real clunkers either.” “She wrote or co-wrote all of the tracks. The lyrics are introspective in many places as she used her personal experiences to create a number of the stories. The album also has an underlying spiritual (but not an overtly religious) quality, which was confessional, gentle, and ultimately uplifting.”

Rhymes & Reasons is one of the more emotional and philosophical albums of her career. In the final analysis it can be considered a soundtrack to life, both hers and anyone who listens to the music. It remains an essential listen on the musical journey of Carole King.”

“While her strengths are as obvious as ever, soulful singing, heartfelt songs with a warm intimate feeling, by now the style that King had found on Writer and Tapestry is beginning to harden into a formula. There's nothing particularly bad here and a couple of obvious standouts, but there's also the feeling that one's heard it all before, just a bit better.”

“Nice background music. Carole's voice probably never sounded better than it does here. The songwriting is good but not her best, with a couple of exceptions. Come Down Easy and Been To Canaan bookend the tracks, and they're the standouts. There's some nice mellow stuff, but I can't get really excited about it. It's hard to pay attention to since it's just not rich enough.”

“The songs here are highly personal, introspective, spiritual at times. Musically, one song weaves into the next so effortlessly. Each song is so thoughtfully arranged with the same soft, acoustical, textural sound. It is such a carefully crafted album.”

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