From a long-lost folk rock project to a late career R&B-inflected rebirth, here’s our pick of the veteran artist’s overlooked gems‘It shook me to my core’: 50 years of Carole King’s TapestryCarole King’s 1971 album Tapestry, turning 50 this week, is a landmark record: a flag-bearer for the evolution from songwriting-for-hire to the rise of the singer-songwriter; a plainspoken, full-hearted totem passed from mothers to daughters; “a speckless mirror where we girls and
Women saw ourselves reflected”, as Natalie Merchant puts it so gorgeously in our all-star tribute . Understandably, it towers over the rest of King’s back catalogue – much of which is equally deserving of celebration. Let Alexis Petridis guide you through five more of the best from an auspicious legacy. Laura Snapes