Customer Reviews

Natural Woman: Ode Collection

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

I love these 2 CDs. Not only is this a magical collection but it embodies everything wonderful about the potential of pop music to be uplifting, delightful, and meaningful.

The first CD has the full orginial Tapestry (minus the additional tracks on a recent re-relase) embeded in it around some very enjoyable extra tracks such as child of mine. Carole is a true poet. Yes the tracks are sentimental but they are also pure, honest, joyful, soulful, and sad. Unless you have gone completly over to the 'dark side' how could you not love that? And I truly feel sorry for people that confuse sentiment with shmultz. The lyrics are gorgeous without ever being over sentimental, just as the best of Rogers and Hammerstein's lyrics are. In fact, this collection shows why Carole is one of the premire songwriters of the 20th century.

Sure her voice is not perfect, but it is never annoying and I find it quite enjoyable to listen to. No way is she Bob Dylan, she has a fine, complex, enjoyable voice just not one of the best. Big deal, The Music as a whole, is still wondeful.

The second CD is every bit as enjoyable as the first CD. I was bouncing around my room with the first track, Sweet Seasons. Which I really needed to do as I was in the middle of writing a term paper. Corazin is funky. There are 2 live versions on the second CD, both with quite good audio. One is from a mid 1970s free concert in Central Park called 'Believe in Humanity'. It sums up Carole perfectly, 'maybe I am wrong but I want to believe in humanity'. Perhaps that is why the previous reviewer gave these CDs one star. If you have given up on humanity then don't buy these CDs. The joy and beauty of them will probably just annoy you. For the rest of you, buy them and prepare to enjoy some of the most honest and rewarding music recorded in the last 30 plus years. Go jazzman, go Carole!

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.

NATURAL WOMAN:The Ode Collection 1968-1976, is all you really need from this gifted songeriter and talented singer. All of her classic songs are in this fantastic 2CD box set, including her greatest masterpiece "Tapestry" in its entirety. This collection is really fantastic and it also includes her two top ten singles "Jazzman" which I think is one of the best songs that she ever wrote,(excellent saxsophone solo) and "Corazon" which she actually sings in Spanish. There are only two songs that I can think of that should of been included in this collection but sadly were omitted and those are "Hold On" from her LP "Simple Things" this is a beautiful track that she wrote as well and I especially love the soft mellow acoustic guitar that she herself plays on this song. The other is one called "Morning Sun" which she wrote and recorded for the closing credits of the movie "Wanda Nevada" starring Peter Fonda and Brooke Shields from 1979. Overall this is a the best Greatest Hits collection ever assembled on this unique artist who is highly regarded as the most successful and influential female songwriter of her generation. The songs of Carole King are as timeless like the woman who wrote and recorded them.

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.

Completely forgetting about her early Dimension singles(some of which, like "It Might as Well Rain" and "Nobody's Perfect", are gems)and choosing iffy album tracks over songs I've loved for years(like one of my favorites, "You Go Your Way, I'll Go Mine", arguably one of King's best songs), this 2-disc set still offers great moments and the entire "Tapestry" album(although the recent "Tapestry" remastering includes a bonus leftover not included here!). Two songs by King's unheralded pre-"Tapestry" band The City were enough to hook me("Wasn't Born to Follow" is gorgeously earnest)and a live track with James Taylor is a lotta fun. B+

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

I bought this 2 disc set before attending the recent James Taylor/Carole King concert. I thought that these discs do a great job of showing her work over an extended period of time. ALL the hits were there! I would recommend this album to any Carole King fans

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"

Wow. The sound is excellent. The song choices are perfect, especially including the entire Tapestry album. A few unreleased tracks, a few live tracks, and super highlights of Carole's most accessible period of artistry to the general public. The booklet is in-depth without providing excruciating detail. Lots of nice photos. IMO, this is a better option than the ESSENTIAL 2.0 or 3.0, which I considered. The second disc on those sets are Carole's songs performed by other artists, most of which I already had, leaving only 1 and a little more (in the case of the 3.0 version)than 1 cd of Carole performing Carole. And that's what I'm looking for.