A Holiday Carole, Carole King (Hear Music)

Get it? The title pun? Yeah, yeah. Many of us remember her magnum opus Tapestry, the mega-seller of the 1970s that was in the record collection of every woman over 14 in the English-speaking world from 1971 onward, at least until we were well into the Madonna era anyway. Carole is a rock 'n roll totem for her co-writes with Gerry Goffin, which turn up in the repertoires of everyone from the Beatles and Monkees to Ben E. King and Isaac Hayes to Linda Ronstadt and Amy Winehouse, not to mention her co-writes with everybody from her ex-spouse to Mariah Carey and Elvis Costello. But as has been the case with original rock era stars recording in the modern day, there's not much rock 'n roll to be had here. Indeed, this 2011 collection might be considered the holiday edition of Tapestry, as Carole's voice, piano playing and whole approach is similar here. The differences: No original songwriting from the star of the show, although producer-daughter Louise Goffin contributes three co-writes, "Christmas in the Air," "Christmas Paradise" and "New Year's Day," which aren't bad but make you wish Carole had whipped out her pen for a few more selections. And the stripped-down intimate sound of Tapestry, which made so many female listeners feel like Carole was singing just for them, gets augmented with more orchestral touches here. There are some good choices of covers, like the Stax hit "Every Day Will Be Like a Holiday" and Donnie Hathaway's "This Christmas," and Carole brings her daughter and grandson together for, Hanukkah Alert, "Chanukkah Prayer." A lot of women my age will love this, but regular Mistletunes readers will want something with a bit more roughage.