Carole King
Love Makes the World – Deluxe Edition
Rockingale
Carole King is the epitome of the Sensitive Singer-Song writer, but she also connects back to the Tin Pan Alley days when writing music and lyrics was a trade more than an art. Ms. King got her start writing hits for the Shirelles, Roberta Flack, and Little Eva. Then she recorded one of her own songs, and “You’ve Got A Friend” cemented her place in rock history. Obviously it takes more talent to sing and compose than either skill alone, but she became the standard of excellence in the do-it yourself ’70s. Twenty releases later, she has broken free of the Big Evil Record companies, and her personal label “Rockingale” is re-mastering and re-releasing her old material.
This first disc is the 2001 “Love Makes the World.” It includes five new songs in MP3, an extensive bonus CD with videos and interviews, and is thoroughly enjoyable. The title track is one of those warm, friendly love songs that makes perfect sense after enough dates to feel comfortable, but before that first big fight over something trivial. The album continues in that positive vein, and even the breakup song “I Wasn’t Gonna Fall in Love” makes you feel good about the experience.
All the digital content is shuttled off to a second bonus disc. You get some nice videos of Carole playing while the camera pans around her, and interviews that focus mostly on saying nice things about her collaborators over the years. None of the bonus material is stunning, but Carole King comes across as a nice, sincere artist who’s had some of the biggest successes possible in the pop music industry.
