Carole King was reunited with Lou Adler -- the man responsible for her legendary Ode albums, including Tapestry and Music -- for this disappointing experiment in digital sound and synthesizers.
If there's one artist utterly at odds with state-of-the-art technology, it's Carole King.
The charm of her best albums was that they sounded like demos, and her performances never needed clever sonic trickery or up-to-the-minute studio wizardry in order to be good.
Dragging her forcibly into the '80s was not the brightest of Adler's ideas.
The result is ten songs, all adequate, some fine, struggling to overcome totally unsympathetic arrangements.
"Computer Eyes" is a case in point; an engaging midtempo break-up song, choked half to death by pointless, frantically sped-up synthesizer arpeggios.
"Crying in the Rain," originally recorded by the Everly Brothers, is given a similarly stultifying synth makeover.
"Alabaster Lady" allows King to get back behind an acoustic piano (at least for a minute or two), and in doing so, provides this album's moment of magic.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Computer EyesGerry Goffin, Carole King | Carole King | Play | 03:08 | 7 MB | 63 MB |
| 2 | One Small VoiceGerry Goffin, Carole King | Carole King | Play | 02:54 | 6 MB | 56 MB |
| 3 | Crying in the RainHoward Greenfield, Carole King | Carole King | Play | 02:32 | 5 MB | 51 MB |
| 4 | Sacred Heart of StoneGerry Goffin, Carole King | Carole King | Play | 03:48 | 8 MB | 74 MB |
| 5 | Speeding TimeGerry Goffin, Carole King | Carole King | Play | 04:53 | 11 MB | 92 MB |
| 6 | Standin' on the BorderlineGerry Goffin, Carole King | Carole King | Play | 02:54 | 6 MB | 58 MB |
| 7 | So Ready for LoveGerry Goffin, Carole King | Carole King | Play | 05:39 | 13 MB | 115 MB |
| 8 | Chalice BorealisGerry Goffin, Carole King | Carole King | Play | 02:32 | 5 MB | 49 MB |
| 9 | DancingGerry Goffin, Carole King | Carole King | Play | 04:03 | 9 MB | 81 MB |
| 10 | Alabaster LadyGerry Goffin, Carole King | Carole King | Play | 05:38 | 12 MB | 103 MB |
| 38 mins | 87 MB | |||||
| 38 mins | 747 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lou Adler | Producer |
| 2 | Bob Glaub | Bass |
| 3 | Gerry Goffin | Composer |
| 4 | Sherry Goffin | Vocals |
| 5 | Howard Greenfield | Composer |
| 6 | Brian Hagiwara | Design, Photography |
| 7 | Bobbye Hall | Percussion |
| 8 | Bobby Hata | Mastering |
| 9 | Chet Himes | Engineer |
| 10 | Plas Johnson | Sax (Tenor), Wind |
| 11 | Carole King | Composer, Guitar, Piano, Primary Artist, Synthesizer, Vocals, Vocals (Background) |
| 12 | Robbie Kondor | Harmonica, Keyboards, Programming, Synthesizer |
| 13 | Danny Kortchmar | Guitar, Vocals |
| 14 | Russ Kunkel | Drums |
| 15 | Steve Meador | Drums |
| 16 | Lee Ritenour | Guitar |
| 17 | Jim Shea | Cover Photo |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |