Third Man Records vinyl exclusives, Part 51: Carole King “Home Again: Live From The Great Lawn, Central Park, New York City, May 26, 1973” (2022)
The 51st set of exclusive vinyl items offered to members of Third Man Records’ Vault service was mailed out to the members in April of 2022. For those who are unaware, Third Man Records is the label owned by Jack White, who is the leader of the White Stripes, the Raconteurs, and the Dead Weather, and is now a solo artist. The Vault service promises to deliver exclusive vinyl-only records (usually one full-length album and one 7” single) to its members every three months.
The 51st Vault package featured a 2-LP live album from jazz-pop legend Carole King titled Home Again: Live From The Great Lawn, Central Park, New York City, May 26, 1973, pressed in brick-red-colored vinyl. The package also contained a DVD documenting the same concert, and a 7-inch single containing covers of two King songs recorded by contemporary singer-songwriter Lucy Dacus.
The concert documented on Home Again took place two years after the release of King’s landmark 1971 Tapestry album. King performed the outdoor show in New York’s Central Park for a reported crowd of 100,000 people. Although there are six songs selected from the mega-selling Tapestry, the majority of the setlist is drawn from King’s then-forthcoming Fantasy album. In some ways, the 1973 Fantasy album was designed like a concept album from the progressive rock era, with songs that are segued together like classical suites, with the general theme of dreaming of a better world from the point of view of different characters. However, Fantasy holds up quite well today if it is not thought of as a ‘70’s post-hippie magnum opus, but instead as an album of individual songs with poignant messages that could apply to either that time period or any time period since then.
During this free concert, King performed 10 of the 13 songs from Fantasy in linear fashion. For that reason, Home Again invites comparison to the commercially released 2019 CD/DVD Live At Montreux 1973, which documented another King concert from that same period with a similar setlist. The Montreux concert is the slightly better one in the audio medium, mainly because the indoor acoustics at that Swiss jazz festival seemingly resulted in a better sound recording. But in the visual medium, the Home Again DVD captures a more unique event, showing the love that King had for her hometown of New York City, and the love that King's fans in that city had for her.
The first disc/side contains the song selections from the first 25 crowd-pleasing minutes of the show, in which King performed five songs from Tapestry and one apiece from the two albums which followed it. (The second side of the first disc merely has an art etching in the vinyl, based on the logo for the 1973 Fantasy Tour). These jazz-pop classics are finely performed by King alone with a piano, aside from a horn section assist on “Sweet Seasons”. Her soulfulness and piano skills are more than enough to carry these excellent songs. Mistakes are only occasional and forgivable (a few strained notes here, one or two raspy voice moments there), and a noticeable change in phrasing during “It’s Too Late” seems more like an emotional moment than an error. The show opens beautifully with the near-flawless “Beautiful”. The slightly faster-tempo “Smackwater Jack” foreshadows the storytelling style of some of the Fantasy selections to come.
The two sides on the second disc feature King joined by eleven supporting musicians, performing ten of the 13 songs from the Fantasy album in sequence. King was attempting artier and more ambitious ground on that album, with a funky Spanish-language tune called “Corazón”, and moments of social commentary (although a few of those particular songs were left out of this live set). “Haywood” is a sympathetic song about a troubled youth; “Being At War With Each Other” and “Believe In Humanity” could have been about Vietnam, but could just as easily have been comments about society in general. Although these songs are agreeable, the songs about relationships are equally moving: “You Light Up My Life” (not the Debby Boone hit) and “That’s How Things Go Down” can withstand comparison to the better-known songs from Tapestry. The high point of this disc comes at the end, after the Fantasy songs are finished: the show-closing “You’ve Got A Friend” is a warm, heartfelt dedication to King’s longtime friend and frequent collaborator James Taylor.
The 64-minute DVD shows the professionally filmed Central Park concert in its entirety, and it is the better way to experience the show. King interacts well with the large but respectful crowd, which reportedly numbered around 100,000 people. Although King had to tell some audience members not to climb the scaffolding at one point – and the camera amusingly zoomed in on someone smoking a joint at another point – this festival-size crowd was mostly well-behaved, giving viewers a very positive impression of King’s fans from the time period, as well as their love for the performer. Watching the filmed event is equally as enjoyable as listening to the music, and the occasional mistakes are less noticeable. This concert certainly was a good moment in time to capture on film for posterity.
The 7-inch single, pressed in lawn-green vinyl, contains covers of two of King’s songs from Tapestry by indie-rock artist Lucy Dacus. Dacus lends an ambient-folk vibe to her renditions of “Home Again” and “It’s Too Late”, which have less-sparse but still gentle sounds. Her interpretation of “Home Again” on the A-side is fairly effective at conveying a feeling of loneliness and longing in a winter cabin-type setting, perhaps because it was “recorded at Jake’s house” (presumably referring to Jake Finch, who played various instruments on the single). Dacus basically sings the ballad in the same style as King, doing so less effectively but quite sincerely. Although this version is guitar-based instead of piano-based, an unexpected bit of ambient noise halfway through is the only thing that differentiates this version much from the original. Dacus does better with her rendition of “It’s Too Late” on the B-side. Changing up the sound to contemporary alt-pop, Dacus finds a less-sparse but still subtly moving way to express the mournful yet accepting break-up song.
A note for fellow vinyl aficionados: the practice of engraving text in the dead wax, or the runout grooves between the sticker and the last track’s grooves, is present on the records in this package. Side One of the first disc (the side without the Fantasy etching) has “agotti” etched, and the second disc has “ollyard” and “emarco” etched. The Dacus single has “home side” carved in the A-side, and “late side” carved in the B-side.
Carole King “Home Again: Live From The Great Lawn, Central Park, New York City, May 26, 1973” (Third Man Records TMR-755) 2022
Track Listing:
Disc One
1. Beautiful
2. Been To Canaan
3. Way Over Yonder
4. Smackwater Jack
5. Home Again
6. Sweet Seasons
7. It’s Too Late
Disc Two
8. Fantasy Beginning
9. You’ve Been Around Too Long
10. Being At War With Each Other
11. That’s How Things Go Down
12. Haywood
13. A Quiet Place To Live
14. You Light Up My Life
15. Corazón
16. Believe In Humanity
17. Fantasy End
18. You’ve Got A Friend
Carole King “Home Again: Live From The Great Lawn, Central Park, New York City, May 26, 1973” (Third Man DVD TMR-755) 2022
Track Listing:
1. Beautiful
2. Been To Canaan
3. Way Over Yonder
4. Smackwater Jack
5. Home Again
6. Sweet Seasons
7. It’s Too Late
8. Fantasy Beginning
9. You’ve Been Around Too Long
10. Being At War With Each Other
11. That’s How Things Go Down
12. Haywood
13. A Quiet Place To Live
14. You Light Up My Life
15. Corazón
16. Believe In Humanity
17. Fantasy End
18. You’ve Got A Friend
Lucy Dacus “Home Again” (b/w “It’s Too Late”) (Third Man single TMR-756) 2022
a. Home Again
b. It’s Too Late
Reviews of other Third Man Records Vault packages
The 51st Vault package featured a 2-LP live album from jazz-pop legend Carole King titled Home Again: Live From The Great Lawn, Central Park, New York City, May 26, 1973, pressed in brick-red-colored vinyl. The package also contained a DVD documenting the same concert, and a 7-inch single containing covers of two King songs recorded by contemporary singer-songwriter Lucy Dacus.
The concert documented on Home Again took place two years after the release of King’s landmark 1971 Tapestry album. King performed the outdoor show in New York’s Central Park for a reported crowd of 100,000 people. Although there are six songs selected from the mega-selling Tapestry, the majority of the setlist is drawn from King’s then-forthcoming Fantasy album. In some ways, the 1973 Fantasy album was designed like a concept album from the progressive rock era, with songs that are segued together like classical suites, with the general theme of dreaming of a better world from the point of view of different characters. However, Fantasy holds up quite well today if it is not thought of as a ‘70’s post-hippie magnum opus, but instead as an album of individual songs with poignant messages that could apply to either that time period or any time period since then.
During this free concert, King performed 10 of the 13 songs from Fantasy in linear fashion. For that reason, Home Again invites comparison to the commercially released 2019 CD/DVD Live At Montreux 1973, which documented another King concert from that same period with a similar setlist. The Montreux concert is the slightly better one in the audio medium, mainly because the indoor acoustics at that Swiss jazz festival seemingly resulted in a better sound recording. But in the visual medium, the Home Again DVD captures a more unique event, showing the love that King had for her hometown of New York City, and the love that King's fans in that city had for her.
The first disc/side contains the song selections from the first 25 crowd-pleasing minutes of the show, in which King performed five songs from Tapestry and one apiece from the two albums which followed it. (The second side of the first disc merely has an art etching in the vinyl, based on the logo for the 1973 Fantasy Tour). These jazz-pop classics are finely performed by King alone with a piano, aside from a horn section assist on “Sweet Seasons”. Her soulfulness and piano skills are more than enough to carry these excellent songs. Mistakes are only occasional and forgivable (a few strained notes here, one or two raspy voice moments there), and a noticeable change in phrasing during “It’s Too Late” seems more like an emotional moment than an error. The show opens beautifully with the near-flawless “Beautiful”. The slightly faster-tempo “Smackwater Jack” foreshadows the storytelling style of some of the Fantasy selections to come.
The two sides on the second disc feature King joined by eleven supporting musicians, performing ten of the 13 songs from the Fantasy album in sequence. King was attempting artier and more ambitious ground on that album, with a funky Spanish-language tune called “Corazón”, and moments of social commentary (although a few of those particular songs were left out of this live set). “Haywood” is a sympathetic song about a troubled youth; “Being At War With Each Other” and “Believe In Humanity” could have been about Vietnam, but could just as easily have been comments about society in general. Although these songs are agreeable, the songs about relationships are equally moving: “You Light Up My Life” (not the Debby Boone hit) and “That’s How Things Go Down” can withstand comparison to the better-known songs from Tapestry. The high point of this disc comes at the end, after the Fantasy songs are finished: the show-closing “You’ve Got A Friend” is a warm, heartfelt dedication to King’s longtime friend and frequent collaborator James Taylor.
The 64-minute DVD shows the professionally filmed Central Park concert in its entirety, and it is the better way to experience the show. King interacts well with the large but respectful crowd, which reportedly numbered around 100,000 people. Although King had to tell some audience members not to climb the scaffolding at one point – and the camera amusingly zoomed in on someone smoking a joint at another point – this festival-size crowd was mostly well-behaved, giving viewers a very positive impression of King’s fans from the time period, as well as their love for the performer. Watching the filmed event is equally as enjoyable as listening to the music, and the occasional mistakes are less noticeable. This concert certainly was a good moment in time to capture on film for posterity.
The 7-inch single, pressed in lawn-green vinyl, contains covers of two of King’s songs from Tapestry by indie-rock artist Lucy Dacus. Dacus lends an ambient-folk vibe to her renditions of “Home Again” and “It’s Too Late”, which have less-sparse but still gentle sounds. Her interpretation of “Home Again” on the A-side is fairly effective at conveying a feeling of loneliness and longing in a winter cabin-type setting, perhaps because it was “recorded at Jake’s house” (presumably referring to Jake Finch, who played various instruments on the single). Dacus basically sings the ballad in the same style as King, doing so less effectively but quite sincerely. Although this version is guitar-based instead of piano-based, an unexpected bit of ambient noise halfway through is the only thing that differentiates this version much from the original. Dacus does better with her rendition of “It’s Too Late” on the B-side. Changing up the sound to contemporary alt-pop, Dacus finds a less-sparse but still subtly moving way to express the mournful yet accepting break-up song.
A note for fellow vinyl aficionados: the practice of engraving text in the dead wax, or the runout grooves between the sticker and the last track’s grooves, is present on the records in this package. Side One of the first disc (the side without the Fantasy etching) has “agotti” etched, and the second disc has “ollyard” and “emarco” etched. The Dacus single has “home side” carved in the A-side, and “late side” carved in the B-side.
Carole King “Home Again: Live From The Great Lawn, Central Park, New York City, May 26, 1973” (Third Man Records TMR-755) 2022
Track Listing:
Disc One
1. Beautiful
2. Been To Canaan
3. Way Over Yonder
4. Smackwater Jack
5. Home Again
6. Sweet Seasons
7. It’s Too Late
Disc Two
8. Fantasy Beginning
9. You’ve Been Around Too Long
10. Being At War With Each Other
11. That’s How Things Go Down
12. Haywood
13. A Quiet Place To Live
14. You Light Up My Life
15. Corazón
16. Believe In Humanity
17. Fantasy End
18. You’ve Got A Friend
Carole King “Home Again: Live From The Great Lawn, Central Park, New York City, May 26, 1973” (Third Man DVD TMR-755) 2022
Track Listing:
1. Beautiful
2. Been To Canaan
3. Way Over Yonder
4. Smackwater Jack
5. Home Again
6. Sweet Seasons
7. It’s Too Late
8. Fantasy Beginning
9. You’ve Been Around Too Long
10. Being At War With Each Other
11. That’s How Things Go Down
12. Haywood
13. A Quiet Place To Live
14. You Light Up My Life
15. Corazón
16. Believe In Humanity
17. Fantasy End
18. You’ve Got A Friend
Lucy Dacus “Home Again” (b/w “It’s Too Late”) (Third Man single TMR-756) 2022
a. Home Again
b. It’s Too Late
Reviews of other Third Man Records Vault packages
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