Carole King, Hyde Park, review: 'Belated, but triumphant' performance of her 1971 hit album Tapestry
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Your support makes all the difference.A solo reprise of her deathless hit “You've Got A Friend” – tweaked to reference London – made a fitting finale to Carole King’s belated but triumphant attempt at a whole-album set.
It came from Tapestry, the 1971 album that saw her blossom from New York hit-factory operative to magisterial Laurel Canyon singer/songwriter, pioneering the era's mellow, introspective aesthetic.
In something of a coup for the Hyde Park series, headlined this year by everyone from Massive Attack to Take That, King was playing the work in full for the first time. For this historic moment, she was introduced on video by, among others, Sir Elton John, Tom Hanks and David Crosby.
Not that Tapestry needed such a leg-up, as the core of the composer’s set proved its status as an unimpeachable classic all the way through. The royal park brought out the warming group-hug positivity of “Beautiful”, with “I Feel The Earth Move” as a giddy party-starter.
Yet there was space too for the aching vulnerability of “So Far Away” and “Home Again”. Elsewhere, King met head-on the challenge of familiar tunes better known by other artists, none more so than Aretha Franklin's “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman”.
Its writer brought her own understated brand of soul, born of hard-worn wisdom, with a weathered vocal that added to her everywoman charm.
Throughout, she was ably backed by a five-piece band that recreated the intimacy of the original recording, with well-judged guitar breaks from another Tapestry survivor, a leathery Danny “Kootch” Kortchmar.
After her masterwork, the evening often descended into more schmaltzy vibes, starting with a medley of numbers from her pre-Tapestry career, culminating in an over-stretched “Hey Girl” with King unable to capture its intensity.
The night was bookended by a blousy cameo from the cast of Beautiful, the musical about King’s life story. Better to remember an appearance from King’s daughter Louise Goffin on a touching “Where You Lead”, the pair demonstrating the familial bliss for which much of the 1971 King was yearning.
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