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Music > Albums > Carole King - Fantasy (1991) Retail CD
added on April 10, 2007, at 13:59 by allcdcovers

After the radio-friendly pop of her previous four albums (which included the world wide hit 'Tapestry'), 1973's 'Fantasy' marked a radical change of direction for Carole King. Instead of being a collection of relatively unrelated songs, 'Fantasy' is a concept album from start to finish, addressing the social problems of urban America. As such, it bears favourable comparison with Marvin Gaye's 1971 classic 'What's going on'. The concept of the album holds together successfully throughout, with a unity in musical style and at times quite a 'soulful' feel. Carole's musical involvement in the album was even greater than in its predecessors, as she was the sole composer, arranged the strings and horns, and played all keyboards. Many of the tracks link into one another, and the acoustic piano is so much the dominant instrument that it even forms the basis of the album cover design. However, the requirements of the 'concept' do not cause the quality of the songs to suffer, and many of the tracks stand up well in their own right, such as the r&b styled 'Believe in humanity', the latin-flavored 'Corazon', and the ballads 'Being at war with each other' and 'You light up my life'. Issued at a time when concept albums were all the rage, 'Fantasy' might well have been considered risky or even pretentious for an artist not previously associated with 'social conscience' music. However, Carole made a very creditable effort here, and proved that she amounted to much more than just a writer of three minute love songs. This must be one of Carole King's most neglected albums, and it compares very well to 'Tapestry' and 'Music'.

back 1035 x 800 px

front 711 x 702 px

inside 798 x 800 px