40 Year Itch: Top 20 Albums August 4, 1973

1. Chicago VI

2. Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon

3. Carpenters Now And Then

4. George Harrison Living in the Material World

5. Seals and Crofts : Diamond Girl

6. Carole King Fantasy

7. Paul Simon There Goes Rhymin Simon

8 Deep Purple Machine Head

9 Sly and the Family Stone Fresh

10 Leon Russell Leon Live

11 Deep Purple Made In Japan

12 Jethro Tull A Passion Play

13 Led Zeppelin Houses of the Holy

14 Al Green Call Me

15 Carlos Santana and Mahavishnu John McLaughlin Love Devotion and Surrender

16 Curtis Mayfield Back to the World

17 John Denver Farewell Andromeda

18 Doobie Brothers The Captain and Me

19 Paul McCartney and Wings Red Rose Speedway

20 Diana Ross Touch Me in the Morning

Top 3 Single Debuts

1. Paul Simon "Loves Me Like a Rock" (US#2)

2. Elton John "Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting" (US#7)

3. Cher "Half Breed" (US#1) 

40 Year Itch : The Sweet Tastin' Good Life

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   On  May 26th 1973, the notoriously shy Carole King was met with huge cheers from a huge crowd ( 65,000 strong) when she sat down at her piano on a stage  in Central Park and performed a free concert. At this point Tapestry was the biggest selling rock album in history. 112 weeks since it's release it was still in the Billboard album charts at #131.The songs on the live Disc 2 of the most recently remastered versions of Tapestry are from Carole's 1973 tour. Some are from Columbia , MD. Some from Boston and some from this very show ( though I'll be damned if I can figure out which are which).

      As the concert came to an end, Carole King asked the audience to clean up their trash. They did. For that, both King and her fans received a commendation from the New York Parks Department Deputy Commissioner.

   She was willing to sing in front of thousands but she wouldn't be interviewed which led to The Washington Post's Tom Zito to write : "Carole King, who has sold more than 15 million albums in the past three years, would rather not talk about it."

  Weeks later the press had their revenge when King released her risky, self-orchestrated concept album  Fantasy, which still went gold despite mixed reviews.