“Carole King: Home Again” Review
Recently unearthed footage from 1973 has been complied into an incredible concert film. “Carole King: Home Again” sees the titular artist captivate an audience of thousands in one of Central Park’s first free concerts.
There are two genres of films that, for me, are pretty hard to screw up: sports dramas and concert films. Don’t get me wrong, there’s an art to both and some are better than others but they almost always please me. Who can’t get behind an underdog going for the title or one of your favorite artists leading an audience into euphoria through music? This week I had the opportunity to see a concert film that elated me from start to finish and just so happened to focus on one of my favorite singer/songwriters: Carole King.
“Carole King: Home Again” is a concert film that not only depicts the music of its titular artist, but also the beginning of a musical trend. Set on May 26, 1973, the film sees King perform one of the first free concerts at Central Park’s Great Lawn, which would be continued by artists like Elton John in 1980 and Simon & Garfunkel in 1981.
What I like about this film is that director George Scott doesn’t just jump into the concert with all of this incredible footage that was just locked away in some vault. He gives you context as to why this concert was so important to both King and Central Park. The first 15 minutes of “Home Again” contains modern interviews with King and some of the people that were instrumental to her career and this concert, like her producer Lou Adler. These interviews show us King’s history up until 1973 including her childhood in New York City, how she and her then-husband Gerry Goffin were the top songwriters of Tin Pan Alley (writing songs that were covered by artists like Aretha Franklin, The Monkees, The Beatles, The Drifters and many more), how she decided to move to Los Angeles to be a singer as well as a songwriter and how she exploded into popularity with albums like “Tapestry.”
The weight of this concert is made more apparent because not only is it the first time she’s been touring with a big band, but this is also the first time she’s playing live for a crowd in New York City with her new sound. For King, this is a homecoming celebration. However, despite getting modern interviews for the audience to understand this concert, there are no cutaways to modern footage. Every frame of film is contemporary to keep up in the world of 1973.
If you enjoy Carole King’s music, you’re definitely going to like this film just as I did. The footage that was captured on that day is excellent with so many great angles being captured. Containing all of the energy of great concert films, such as “The Last Waltz” and “Summer of Soul,” the film also showcases what I love about Carole King. What I like about her and her music is that she’s someone who writes substance-filled songs and has a very humble, salt-of-the-earth persona. Like Bob Dylan, The Band, Joni Mitchell and James Taylor, there’s an honesty to her and she’s not too concerned with being flashy.
When King graces that stage, she doesn’t do anything outrageous. She just sings these beautiful songs with the sweetest look on her face. Nevertheless, the audience still goes wild with her every word. King doesn’t have the persona of a rock star, but she can certainly bring down the house like one. The concert and its attendees have those lingering feelings of free love and peace that you can see in films like “Woodstock.” One particularly good moment involves a fan in the middle of the crowd who wants to give yellow roses to King and the audience passes them to her on stage.
As for the music itself, it frankly reminded me of Bob Dylan’s sets during the infamous 1966 tour he did with The Band as his backing group, only minus the swearing, bottle throwing and booing. King starts off her set with minimal backing. It’s just her and her piano playing songs from her first few albums, including the masterpiece that is “Tapestry.” It’s very subdued and intimate. For the second half of her show, King brings on a full band, complete with a huge horn section, to play the sounds from her then-unreleased album “Fantasy,” which has more funky sounding tracks. Whether you dig King’s early work or her more experimental tunes, this film will make you fall in love with everything this woman wrote.
To the possible disappointment of my fellow “Gilmore Girls” fans, King did not play “Where You Lead.” However, to be fair, that song wasn’t the most popular on “Tapestry” and wasn’t even released as a single. It only became popular when King and her daughter, Louise Goffin, rerecorded the song for the hit series. If that’s the biggest problem with this film, you can just imagine how great it was to experience this in a theater.
“Carole King: Home Again” was everything a good concert film should be. Not only do you get to experience good music from an artist you like, but you also get to be transported back to a long since gone time period. While most of you will probably see the film on home media or streaming, being able to see this film in an arthouse cinema with an audience at least 20 years my senior was an experience that was most worthwhile.
