Search - Gerry Goffin, Carole King :: Goffin & King: A Gerry Goffin and Carole King Song Collection 1961-1967

~STUNNING COLLECTION FROM LEGENDARY SONGWRITING DUO~

Bradly Briggs | TOLUCA LAKE, CALIFORNIA | 05/13/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Music lovers around in the great musical sixties enjoyed countless chart-topping hits by legendary songwriting duo CAROLE KING & GERRY GOFFIN married during their early hit making years which is the incredibly prolific period this wondrous collection is drawn from. Starting with a mesmerizing "He's In Town" by THE TOKENS, this mini-masterpiece features a sophisicated and fascinating arrangement complete with great sax & guitar solos swirling around hypnotic vocals...each song in this stunning ACE IMPORT come from a diverse collection of stellar artist's ranging from ARETHA FRANKLIN to THE EVERLY BROTHERS then all the way back to the "White Queen Of Soul" DUSTY SPRINGFIELD who CAROLE herself named as her all-time favorite interperter of her songs! "Wasn't Born To Follow" is an engrossing DUSTY SPRINGFIELD performance and this great legendary singer should have had many more chart-topping #1 hits and Grammy Awards than she had and this haunting classic is a clear example of another lost "hit" song opportunity. Passionate & riveting winners like "Halfway To Paradise" by a soulful sounding TONY ORLANDO still sound great after all of these years and the stunning rhythmic sizzler "I Can't Hear You" by overlooked Soul Icon BETTY EVERETT along with her other classic "near top 10 hits" ("You're No Good" & "It's In His Kiss") should have all gone to #1! "Yours Until Tomorrow" by DEE DEE WARWICK show that anyone from this generation after generation legendary singing family has a great voice and this winner would easily have been TOP TWENTY with any exposure at all yet was only a R&B chart hit...great songs from this era sunk when only going to the R&B charts and the sublime "ATLANTIC SISTERS OF SOUL" is a goldmine collection of lost classic stellar performances and to date this timeless & superb collection is the finest "DIVA FEST" available and a must have for lovers of great soul singers and these great ladies really do get down!!! ERIC & THE ANIMALS burn the house down & "Don't Bring Me Down" is a rocking & soulful classic while THE RIGHTEOUS BROTHERS "A Man Without A Dream" is another glorious example why this classic duo went on to have an amazing career spanning decades. While all mesmerizing songs in this tremendous collection from greats such as BOBBY RYDELL, JACKIE DESHANNON, BOBBY VEE & others have that classic sixties hit sound, another engrossing collection would be to have a "TOP TEN COLLECTION" of those numerous classics from this amazing songwriting duo who both continue to this day writing volumes of great songs making them trailblazing giants who long ago went to legendary status both individually and collectively! Like all great ACE IMPORT COLLECTION'S, the "GOFFIN & KING" collection is rich in sound and the generous liner notes make for informative & fascinating reading! Bravo to CAROLE KING & GERRY GOFFIN for making music an enjoyable, memorable and wondrous listening experience throughout the great musical sixties and then beyond...definitely the greatest songwriter/composers from the past few generations and again...beyond"

SUPERB COLLECTION OF HITS & RARITIES

Steve Sleeve | Waikanae New Zealand | 02/02/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"ACE have done a superb job in sourcing the original tracks for this reverential compilation, going more for the lesser-known and harder-to-find than the already available smash hits. This CD is clearly aimed at the converted; all others will prefer the instantaneous thrills of Goffin and King's stratospheric successes (of which there'd be more than a CD's worth and with few exceptions are readily available elsewhere).



A 24-page booklet, packed with photos of artists, old vinyl 45s, record sleeves and lots of background information, accompanies the CD. The booklet is well-written, meticulously detailed and attractively organized. In outlining Goffin and King's 1960s song-writing successes, the booklet treads a path familiar to their fans, but also fills in enough gaps along the way to make the booklet possibly the most informative overview of Goffin and Kings 1960s output. In addition to song-writing credits, Goffin and King were often involved with other aspects of many of these tracks, with, for example, Goffin producing and King on backing vocals.



Succinct commentaries accompany each track. A very recent interview by Al Kooper of Gerry Goffin supplements the track-by-track commentary, suggesting that Goffin knew of the track selection. His quotes, although helpful, occasionally have a gossipy quality such as his identifying by sexual orientation one of the male session singers and his disclosure about his own and others' extramarital affairs. I suppose the latter helps us better understand the more adult themes that emerged in Goffin and King's later songs. By contrast, the most recent quotes by Carole King are sourced from 1980s radio broadcasts. Was she also approached to provide her own commentary?



Parallel to the track commentary is a jam-packed listing of the Goffin-King songs that made the American and British charts, plus the ones that never charted at all. If it cracked Billboard's Top 100, it'll be listed here. I have long thought that it would be wonderful to have a complete listing of every song Goffin and King ever published. Does such a list exist?



A compilation that favours rarities and lesser hits over the bigger sellers may risk mistaking hard-to-find for worth finding. The verdict: The overwhelming majority of 26 tracks are gems, with just one I could take or leave (Bobby Vee's The Idol; it's not hard to guess why this tired, cliche-ridden lament about the price of fame was not released until decades after it was first recorded). Here, in no set order, are some of those gems:



"HALFWAY TO PARADISE"

This remains Goffin and King's grandest-sounding song of all, from its inspired imagery (i.e., paradise just out of reach), through to the theme of a teasing would-lover intent on remaining unavailable, this song is a gift to the Drama Queen lurking in most singers, wanna-be and professional alike. With lyrics carried by a perfectly simple yet sad melody, the song relentlessly builds and builds to an ear-tingling crescendo. The song reminds us about the expressive forces unleashed when love is thwarted by the love object herself. Even without orchestral backing, this song packs a punch. It is all the more powerful sounding when the full orchestral treatment swarms in as the so-near-but-so-far yearning momentum builds to a climax. Surprisingly, never a big hit in the States, it has effortlessly attracted numerous versions over the decades, of which Tony Orlando's is the first.



"ANOTHER NIGHT WITH THE BOYS"

Some years ago I heard that this song was first composed by Goffin and King with the Everly Brothers in mind. This seemed unimaginable, given that the best known version was by the Drifters - until, that is, I heard Carole King's demo tape where the vocals ached with those inimitably sweet Everly Brothers-inspired harmonies. This is not to detract from the Drifters' more subdued and soulful reading, but it underscores how a truly great song as this can be interpreted with conviction in more than one way. Goffin tells us this was never a big hit for the Drifters. True; but I suppose it never stood a chance, backed as it was by the exquisite Goffin-King gem, Up On The Roof.



"I DIDN'T HAVE ANY SUMMER ROMANCE"

This sweetly sad little song has a long history of being over-looked: Firstly, as the B side to the flop follow up to Carole's 1962 hit, It Might As Well Rain Until September and a few years later this more polished version by the Satisfactions - a version which has remained unissued for more than forty years until now. Both versions are worth seeking out. The Satisfaction's has an undeniably lusher sound than Carole's whose own version nicely hints at the pared-back simplicity of her best work of the 70s.



"I'LL LOVE YOU FOR A WHILE"

Echoing the sentiments of Gale Garnett's earlier smash "We'll Sing In the Sunshine", the lyrics unapologetically declaim that the love on offer will be "for a while and then I'll be on my way". A most unusual theme for either a man or a woman to so explicitly announce to a lover, this Goffin-King number does not sink under the melancholic weight that eerily threatened to torpedo "We'll Sing in the Sunshine". The beat is cleverly supple and insistent with the singer delivering this seemingly callous message with an air of immovable detachment. Perhaps because of the lanquid defiance of the message, it sounds more disturbing delivered by a woman. One asks, What elicited the message in the first place? A too clingy lover or one who took too much for granted? What is the lover to do when she or he hears the all-too-clear message? Jill Jackson convincingly and boldly tackles this song, but for the heart-stoppingly best version seek out Dusty Springfield's.



"I CAN'T HEAR YOU"

Betty Everett's reading of this Goffin/King classic grows in stature yearly. Never a big hit for anyone, it has justly remained a frequently covered song. Long after many Number One songs fade, this lesser chart hit will still be around. Everett's scintillating delivery has not quite been stolen by Dusty Springfield's own stunning version, but some days they are neck and neck, as when the two versions are played one after the other. Wow!



"YOURS UNTIL TOMORROW"

Regardless of quality, almost every compilation disc has at least one track that easily rises above the pack. When a compilation has as many gems as this one does, it becomes harder to pick the very, very, very best one. While it might otherwise be a futile endeavour, not so with this great compilation. One gem stands out, lyrically, musically and vocally: Dee Dee Warwick's "Yours Until Tomorrow". Dee Dee's yearning reading wipes from memory Gene Pitney's stridently anguished version (a Top 40 UK hit for him in 1968). Never has getting the last few drops out of a dead relationship sounded less like an act of desperation and more like an act of in-the-moment self-sacrifice.



While Goffin and King fans will instantly savour this compilation, others may take longer to warm to it; but they'll be rewarded by the wait. A simply stunning collection.

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