Singer/songwriter Carole King has an amazing track record with plenty of hits during her long and successful career. “Tapestry,” released in 1971, is her masterpiece and an absolute listening delight from start to finish. It is a flawless recording filled with gorgeous songs that have been covered dozens of times like “It’s Too Late,” “So Far Away,” “You’ve Got A Friend,” “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” and “I Feel The Earth Move.” Although King has released several other albums, she has never achieved the same incredible artistic results. In 2001 she released “Love Makes The World,” her first collection of new material in eight years. That record marked her first collaboration with Humberto Gatica, who masterly oversaw the whole project. David Foster appeared as co-producer and co-writer of “It Could Have Been Anyone.” Written by Foster, King, and another very talented tunesmith, Carole Bayer Sager, it is a love ballad with tender lyrics and a pretty melody. Foster’s arrangement effectively mixed his trademark sounds with King’s timeless songwriting. Her voice is as lovely as ever and the vocal arrangement is really soothing.
“Love Makes The World” is quite good and there are several other moments on this cd worth a listen, including the up-tempo title track. Céliné Dion covered “The Reason” on her “Let’s Talk About Love” cd and she also appeared on this version. Be sure to take a listen to “I Wasn’t Gonna Fall In Love,” a sweet jazzy jam with special guest and trumpeter extraordinaire Wynton Marsalis. Superstars Babyface and k.d. lang also share their talents on this offering from King.

Listen

[audio:https://www.fozfan.com/archives/clips/it_could_have_been_anyone.mp3|titles=It could have been anyone|artists=Carole King]

Lead & Backing Vocals, Vocal Arrangement & Piano: Carole King
Guitar: Rudy Guess
Bass: Nathan East
Piano & Keyboards: David Foster
Programming: Simon Franglen
Produced by Carole King, David Foster & Humberto Gatic

Lyrics

Do you know that you know me like nobody else
All of my secrets and lies
Do you know that you made me believe in myself
Made me believe I could fly
All the things that you say
That I wait for each day
You’re almost too good to be true

It could have been anyone, oh, anyone
A stranger out of the blue
It could have been anyone, oh anyone
That I gave my heart up to
But it was you

Well you just never know when
the moment will come
When love is about to begin
Something about someone reaching out
And letting someone in
And I’m glad I was there
When out of thin air
We both had nothing to do

One day we’ll find out
Why you were sent to me
Now we’re together
It must be the way it was meant to be

“Tapestry Revisited” was released in 1995 as a tribute to one of the best selling albums of the seventies, Carole King’s “Tapestry.” Many big names were recruited to sing new versions of songs like “I Feel The Earth Move,” “It’s Too Late,” “You’ve Got A Friend,” and “Will You Love Me Tomorrow.” These are timeless melodies that marked a huge influence on the pop singers and songwriters of the past thirty years. Among the stars involved in this project were Richard Marx, Amy Grant, Faith Hill, The Bee Gees, Manhattan Transfer and Céliné Dion who, with David Foster’s help, gave new life to the immortal melody of “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman.” Other winning moments on the record are Grant’s “It’s Too Late” produced by Keith Thomas, Marx’s “Beautiful” and, especially, the Arif Mardin produced “You’ve Got A Friend” by Bebe & Cece Winans with Aretha Franklin.
Foster arranged and produced “So Far Away,” a beautiful song performed by Rod Stewart. Here the Scottish singer gives a restrained but effective performance that matches well with King’s melancholy lyrics. David Foster contemporized the tune with his typical use of keyboards and synths while Michael Thompson’s elegant guitar almost duets with the singer throughout the song. “So Far Away” was released as a single and went to #2 on the Adult Contemporary charts. David Foster and Rod Stewart first collaborated in the seventies when the Canadian musician was one of the top session guys in the music world. He played on Stewart’s hugely successful albums, “A Night On The Town” and “Foot Loose And Fancy Free.”

Listen

[audio:https://www.fozfan.com/archives/clips/so_far_away.mp3|titles=So far away|artists=Rod Stewart]

Lead Vocal: Rod Stewart
Keyboards: David Foster
Guitars: Michael Thompson
Synclavier Programming: Simon Franglen
Produced & Arranged by David Foster

Lyrics

So far away
Doesn’t anybody stay in one place anymore
It will be so fine to see your face at my door
And it doesn’t help to know that your just time away
Long ago I reached for you and there you stood
Holding you again could only do me good
Oh how I wish I could
But you’re so far away

One more song about moving along the highway
I can’t say much of anything that’s new
But if I could only work this life out my way
I’d rather spend it being close to you
But you’re so far away
Doesn’t anybody stay in one place anymore
It will be so fine to see your face at my door
And it doesn’t help to know you’re so far away
So far away, yeah you’re so far away

Travelling around sure gets me down and lonely
Nothing else to do but close my mind
And I sure hope the road don’t get to own me
There’s so many dreams that I’ve yet to find
But you’re so far away
Doesn’t anybody stay in one place anymore
It will be so fine to see your face at my door
And it doesn’t help to know
You’re so far away, you’re so far away
You’re so far away, you’re so far away
Oh I need to get in touch with ya baby
You’re so very, very, very far away
You’re so, so far away