Love Makes The World

There are two Carole Kings. One is the composer of too many great pop hits to mention. The other is the performer who created one of the finest albums in the ’80s with Tapestry and helped define the singer-songwriter genre. (Thanks for that, Carole.) Her new album, her 24th and on her own label, is riddled with guests, many of them superfluous and barely earning their space on the credits.

You should already be familiar with her ‘Oh No Not My Baby’ co-written with Gerry Goffin and a hit for Manfred Mann, Rod Stewart and Maxine Brown, a creditable version of which is included here.

Elsewhere, the title track, a duet with breakbeat/housers PopRox, maintains its mor dignity, but it was totally unnecessary to have Celine Dion ooze all over such a fine song as ‘The Reason’, although the meaty guitar solo just about makes amends.

‘Safe Again’ benefits from a wistful wind trio and strings to make it vintage King. She piles on layers of vocals to fine effect on ‘This Time’, with drummer Russ Kunkel keeping two steady hands on the tiller. King rediscovers her roots in pop meets r’n’b on ‘You Will Find Me There’ and k d lang swaps emotive lines with her on a majestic ‘An Uncommon Love’, one of the best tracks on offer.

‘I Wasn’t Going To Fall In Love’ features sparkling trumpet inserts from Wynton Marsalis, but the gospel-tinged ‘I Don’t Know’ is the only track to dirty it up a little, with in-your-face percussion and Paul Brady adding some dandy electric piano.

Elsewhere you get cameo appearances from Steve Tyler, David Foster, Nathan East and others, all piling in with their nominal contributions as if King is some kind of charity case.

Melodically beguiling, lyrically intelligent and vocally potent, if musically unadventurous, Love Makes The World may not be another Tapestry, but it proves that King is still hanging in there with the best of them.