Fantasy

Product Information

I would describe this album as the intersection between Tapestry, Make Way for Dionne Warwick, What's Going On, and Watertown.

Up through Rhymes And Reasons, Carole King wrote songs that, in their specificity of detail, personal revelation, and narrative force, embodied an extraordinary populist feeling and musical vitality. That's not to say there are any thematic concepts running through the material like there are on What's Going On; moreso the record uses the lack of pauses as a way of just allowing the tunes to flow in the most natural form possible. Oh, and we've got ~socially conscious~ lyrics on here, but they're socially conscious in that overly earnest early 70s way that has not aged well at all. In five cuts, Carole King “fantasizes” an ethnic persona, for which she has single-handedly provided the most tepid, tokenistic “soul” backgrounds imaginable.Well, I bring those previous points up because unlike the rest of Carole's discography which even with all the merits contained within has a habit of blending together, Fantasy kind of stands out as a singular statement in a way the albums before and after it don't (excluding Tapestry of course). The technique does not truly hit home until tracks 5 and 6, when such a level of pure melodic bliss is reached that I cannot help but to be utterly bowled over. The greatness of Carole King’s songwriting career has been the self-contained, simple perfection of her individual songs, and their utter lack of pretentiousness. Fantasy is her jazziest endeavor outside of The City (whose sole album is also fantastic and overlooked).

If she can make ME feel better about the world situation, then she must know what she's talking about. Fantasy gets my vote as Carole King’s most underrated album, and deserves a lot more accolades than it generally receives. Vote up content that is on-topic, within the rules/guidelines, and will likely stay relevant long-term. The main thesis here appears to be "bad things exist, but the best way to create a better world is to just believe in the existence of a better world, in a very abstract way".That's a mood which is missing on all the rest of Carole's non- Tapestry records where too often it feels as though she's just simply going through the motions for the most part. There were problems in the ghettos ("Haywood" and "Welfare Symphony"), and the world's environment and very existence were in jeopardy ("Being At War With Each Other"). And I'm not even talking about taking (or not taking) action, I feel like this album is emotionally disengaged with the social problems it addresses--the things that made Marvin Gaye want to holler, but Carole here is afraid to even do that.