Tapestry: Rolling Stone's #25 of 500 Greatest Albums List (2020)

Tapestry
Studio album: Carole King
Released: February 10, 1971
Genre: Soft rock, pop
Writer: Carole King
Singles from Tapestry
It's Too Late/I Feel the Earth Move
So Far Away/Smackwater Jack

Tapestry, the second album by Carole King, received four Grammy Awards in 1971, including Album of the Year. The lead singles from the album—"It's Too Late" and "I Feel the Earth Move"—spent five weeks at number one on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Easy Listening charts. 

Second, only to Pink Floyd's 724 weeks with The Dark Side of the Moon, Tapestry remained on the Billboard charts for 313 weeks. James Taylor's cover of "You've Got a Friend" hit number one in the US while the album was still on the charts. Barbra Streisand's recording of "Where You Lead" reached number 40.

In 2000, Colin Larkin numbered 74 in his All Time Top 1000 Albums. It ranked number 25 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time in 2020. VH1 listed the LP 39 of the100 Greatest Albums. 


It's Too Late
Single: Carole King
Album: Tapestry
A-side: I Feel the Earth Move
Genre: Soft rock
Songwriters: Carole King, Toni Stern

Carole King and Toni Stern wrote the song "It's Too Late." It was released as the B-side to "I Feel the Earth Move."  A few weeks into playing "I Feel the Earth Move," DJs all over the United States flipped the record, giving "It's Too Late" equal airtime. It topped the charts by May of 1971. 

"It's Too Late" won the Record of the Year Grammy Award for 1971 and ranked Number 345 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest songs. The Recording Industry Association of America® (RIAA) named the double-sided disk as Number 213 of 365 Songs of the Century. 

"I won't say who 'It's Too Late' is about.
I don't kiss and tell."
Toni Stern in Sheila Weller's book, Girls Like Us

This song, like Carly Simon's hit "You're So Vain," was rumored to be about James Taylor. They were good friends, and Taylor played on Tapestry. In early 1971, King was the opening act on Taylor's concert tour. Some people thought this song was about a short romance between the two. King never confirmed these rumors. Toni Stern, however, did have a relationship with Taylor and wrote the lyrics after they broke up, and he moved on to Joni Mitchell.  



So Far Away
Single: Carole King
Album: Tapestry
A-side: Smackwater Jack
Genre: Soft rock
Songwriter: Carole King
"Carole weaves a magnificent ballad spun 
of soft, melodic phrasing and soothing piano."

Written by Carole King and her songwriting partner, Gerry Goffin, "So Far Away" was released as the B-side of "Smackwater Jack." James Taylor played acoustic guitar. He and Joni Mitchell provided backing vocals. 

Cash Box said, "Carole weaves a magnificent ballad spun of soft, melodic phrasing and soothing piano accompaniment, topped off with the superb Lou Adler production touch." Billboard ranked both sides of the single together. It peaked at Number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100.


Tapestry Revisited: A Tribute to Carole King

Tapestry Revisited: A Tribute to Carole King album cover

In 1995, various artists covered all the original tracks for a tribute album, Tapestry Revisited: A Tribute to Carole King. It featured Richard Marx, Aretha Franklin, Celine Dion, The Bee Gees, Amy Grant, and Rod Stewart. Stewart recorded "So Far Away." His version was released in the US as a single and peaked at Number 2 on the Adult Contemporary chart.


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