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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
If you're into Carole King..., March 19, 2000
...this is certainly worth hearing. This is a CD reissue of the only album released by the Carole-fronted group, The City--the group also included the now legendary session player Danny Kortchmar on guitar & vocals. This album was originally released in 1968 & available for quite a short time, & here it is given a proper reissue treatment. Fans of albums such as "Tapestry" & "Music" etc., will find this to be no less than a good listen. 2 of these tracks, which were later on hits in versions by other artists, were featured on the 2 CD "Ode Collection" set, "Hi De Ho" being one of the highlights. The TOTAL gem from this album is "Snow Queen", a somewhat jazzy, gloriously melodic, lush pop-rock tune with a fantastic lead vocal from Carole as well as great harmonies, & it sparkles on this CD with the remastered sound--it's one of the very best songs of her entire career--why it wasn't included on the "Ode Collection" is beyond me. Carole fans ought to give this album a spin.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
First Carole King Album & one of the best, December 30, 2004
I bought this in vinyl when it was new, and before King became a solo star. I was stunned. I was equally surprised that it had been reissued, as it is never mentioned in articles about Carole King. The sound is wonderful and clean: no fancy mixing, just some great folk/rock tunes sung for fun. As others noted, Danny Kortchmar, who continued to back King & James Taylor in live concerts in the early 70s plays guitar & sings one song. Pretty good stuff. But the world realized that King was the star, and this band disappeared. It has all of King's voice, without the overmixing that became part of her later commercial successes. Definitely should be added to the Carole King collection, but judging from how far down the list of King albums is it on Amazon, not many people know of it even now.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hidden Treasure, March 19, 2004
By A Customer
This is beautiful, near-perfect record. It should have been a huge hit. All the ingredients which made "Tapestry" so popular a few years later are here: catchy songs driven by Carole King's piano riffs, great harmonies, and a brilliant backing band. In fact I prefer this to her solo records - this album is a little less self-consciously sensitive than her seventies singer-songwriter period. The album has a relaxed, fun, pop-ish feeling, like a folksy "Pet Sounds", and the arrangements are a lot more punchy - imagine if The Band or maybe Big Brother and Holding Co. had backed Carole up on Tapestry instead of James Taylor etc....With Carole King pounding away on piano, organ, and harpsichord, it's beautiful. A neglected classic, if you have any interest in Carole King this is required listening.
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