Make no doubt about it, this is possibly
Carole King
's most important work since
Tapestry
, and why a similar album didn't follow
or its follow-up,
Music
, was a marketing blunder and a mystery. Missing here is
Lou Adler
's production, though
King
and her co-producer
Mark Hallman
are hardly inefficient. It's just that some songs get more attention than others. "Dancin' With Tears in My Eyes" opens the collection, a pleasant new addition to their repertoire, but next to "Locomotion," "One Fine Day," "Chains," and "Snow Queen," its purpose is more to bring the album full circle than to try to compete with these classics. "One Fine Day," the song
the Chiffons
brought Top Five, was the hit, going Top 15 from this set 17 years later. The reworking of the
Freddie Scott
/
Bobby Vee
Donny Osmond
hit "Hey Girl" is breathtaking. Here
is backed by lush production and a bluesy vocal that surpasses anything else on this record, as well as much of what was on the charts at this time.
Pearls: Songs of Goffin and King
is the set the artist's longtime fans craved when
made her more than a household name. This album deserves its place right next to
. ~ Joe Viglione