Consumer Guide Album

Carole King: Music [Ode, 1971]
Initially this record sounds like a mechanical follow-up to Tapestry. Then you begin to notice the subtle musical advances and the ever more assured backup, especially from guitarists Danny Kootch and James Taylor and saxophonist Curtis Amy, and start humming "Sweet Seasons" or "Song of Long Ago." Then you realize it's really just a mechanical follow-up to Tapestry. I love Carole King, but her value is as limited as it is intense, and her lyrics are banal even when she doesn't write them. C+