Carole King – Music

Mobile Fidelity did a great job last year resurrecting Carole King’s Live At Carnegie Hall double album. The reissue label backs it up with Music, mining major treasure from the early 70s master tape. While King’s third album failed to match the 11-times platinum success of Tapestry, Music achieved gold status soon after its release. It also contains a handful of hits that were more successful for artists that later covered them than they were for King.

Using an early Ode copy for comparison reveals the original pressing possessing more sparkle on the top end, but more surface noise, too. Thanks to the MoFi edition’s extra resolution, it’s much easier to hear the expressiveness of King’s voice and keyboard overdubs. Listeners with cartridges featuring a more romantic tonal balance might be a bit disappointed. My Koetsu Urushi Blue is too polite for this record, yet the more resolving Rega Apheta is suited to extracting every bit of detail. Both the original and remaster suffer from modest distortion lurking in the loudest passages. However, said offense is nowhere as egregious as that plaguing Joni Mitchell’s Court and Spark.

Mobile Fidelity 180g LP