Carole King wrote a lot of great soul songs, but she's not a soul singer, and so she seems very out of place with the kind of loose, rolling funk. It really is a very enjoyable listen from beginning to end if you are into that lovely, soft and slightly comforting seventies sound. The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. In it, Carole King tells us: “Maybe I’m living/With my head in the sand/I just want to see people giving/I want to believe in my fellow man.

In five cuts, Carole King “fantasizes” an ethnic persona, for which she has single-handedly provided the most tepid, tokenistic “soul” backgrounds imaginable. Vote up content that is on-topic, within the rules/guidelines, and will likely stay relevant long-term. Apparently, Carole King has forgotten that they are, and no amount of well-meaning altruism can make up the difference.In “Fantasy End,” the album’s coda, Carole King announces: “Now that I’ve expressed my soul/I’ll step back into my real-life role. Unusually, this takes the form of a literal fantasia; a steady, safe, stream-of-consciousness flow of moreish MOR. There aren't any game-changing standouts (Joni doesn't necessarily have these either) but there doesn't need to be. True Carole,James Taylor and Carley Simon really helped popularize the style but at the same time the black community were paying attention as well.

You’ve Been Around Too Long” expresses an early civil rights mentality: “… you’ve been around too long/Not to realize what’s going on inside/I’m just like you/I’m doing the best that I can do to make my stride. Believe In Humanity" is a more blatant humanist statement set to a more blatant groove out of the Billy Preston style school;all of this is extrodinarily funky stuff. Carole relates all of this news with her superhuman skills, writing all lyrics and music, playing all keyboards, singing everything including background vocals, and arranging and conducting the strings and horns. The soul-styling of “Welfare Symphony” transitions into the string-laden “You Light Up My Life,“ which moves on to the Latin-sounding “Corazon”and then onto the jazzy “Believe In Humanity.

It's got the pleasant melancholy and strong melodies that characterize most Carole King albums, but there's an extra dose of grooviness here that, as another reviewer has mentioned, sounds inspired by Marvin Gaye's landmark What's Going On.

This one feels a little underrated to me - it is perhaps Carole's other best album behind Tapestry, Whereas Tapestry perfects a certain sound, Fantasy is almost a break away from it.

The technique does not truly hit home until tracks 5 and 6, when such a level of pure melodic bliss is reached that I cannot help but to be utterly bowled over.