NOW THAT EVERYTHING'S BEEN SAID by THE CITY

We all know the Carole King who wrote some of the biggest hits of the �60s, from "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" to "Pleasant Valley Sunday," via "The Locomotion" and "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman."We also know the singer-songwriter behind Tapestry, the album that launched King as a solo singer in her own right. But in between�and not nearly as well known�is King�s band, The City, and their album, Now That Everything�s Been Said. By the mid-�60s, King�s marriage to Gerry Goffin, with whom she�d written many of those wonderful hits, had hit the rocks. A divorce loomed, and King all but retired to raise their two daughters. She headed west to Laurel Canyon in �67, taking the children with her, and made the previously unlikely move of joining a progressive folk-rock band. King formed The City with future husband Charles Larkey on bass and Danny Kortchmar on guitar and vocals. With King on piano and vocals, they created a folk rock sound that pre-empted the singer-songwriter boom of the �70s. Produced by Lou Adler and featuring Jimmy Gordon on drums, The City�s sound is deep and soulful, imperfect but passionate. And the songs, with King writing or co-writing all but one, are as exceptional as you�d expect and as widely covered as her factory work. "Now That Everything's Been Said" was a hit for American Spring, "A Man Without A Dream" was tackled by The Monkees, and "Hi-De-Ho (That Old Sweet Roll)" was a hit for Blood, Sweat & Tears. Central to the album�s appeal is King�s own stirring reading of her track "Wasn�t Born To Follow," covered masterfully by The Byrds for the Easy Rider soundtrack. King had been used to a life on the sidelines, and her stage fright left the trio unable to tour the LP which adversely affected their fortunes. That, plus some behind-the-scenes distribution problems, meant the album was quickly deleted, and it remained so for the next thirty years�partly at King�s request. Even so, its failure was a surprise to those concerned. �I was 26 when Now That Everything�s Been Said was released in 1968,� King says in the liner notes. �[We] expected it to zoom to the top of the charts within, at most, a few weeks. Individually and together, we optimistically imagined the album�s success as if it had already happened. Danny and Charlie kept telling each other, 'It�s a great album. The City is gonna be Number 1 with a bullet!�" Listening now, you can feel the threads that lead to Tapestry and to the hugely successful performing career that followed. It�s not so much an oddity in King�s work as the missing link between her two lives. Reissued here in deluxe vinyl, this is, at long last, a chance to own this lost album.