Pop & Miscellaneous

Carly Simon - Anticipation (1971)

2010-06-06T12:12:47Z

Carly Simon - Anticipation (1971)


01. Anticipation – 3:18
02. Legend In Your Own Time – 3:42
03. Our First Day Together – 3:26
04. The Girl You Think You See (Simon, Jacob Brackman) – 3:05
05. Summer's Coming Around Again (Simon, Paul Glanz, Jimmy Ryan) – 4:10
06. Share The End (Simon, Brackman) – 3:56
07. The Garden (Simon, Brackman) – 4:07
08. Three Days – 3:18
09. Julie Through The Glass – 3:20
10. I've Got To Have You (Kris Kristofferson) – 4:43

Personnel:
- Carly Simon – acoustic guitar, guitar, piano, vocals
- Paul Glanz – piano
- Jim Keltner – drums
- Del Newman – horn arrangements
- Andy Newmark – percussion, drums
- Jim Ryan – acoustic guitar, bass, guitar, electric bass, electric guitar
- John Ryan – bass

Carly Simon's second album found her extending the gutsy persona she had established on her debut album, notably on the title track and "Legend in Your Own Time" (both of them hit singles), and "I've Got to Have You." The latter especially suggested a frankly passionate person whose vulnerability was a source of strength, not weakness, a valuable feminist trait and one Simon would pursue in her later work. ---William Ruhlmann, Rovi

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Carly Simon - Never Been Gone [2009]

2009-10-25T16:38:25Z

Carly Simon - Never Been Gone (2009)


01. The Right Thing To Do 3:44 
02. It Happens Every Day 4:19 
03. Never Been Gone 2:54 
04. Boys In The Trees 4:26 
05. Let The River Run 3:16 
06. You're So Vain 5:08 
07. You Belong To Me 4:13 
08. No Freedom 3:38 
09. That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be 5:18 
10. Coming Around Again 4:52 
11. Anticipation 4:51 
12. Songbird 2:36

After the 2008 commercial disaster that was Carly Simon's This Kind of Love, issued on the now-defunct Starbucks' Hear Music imprint, this collection of rearranged and re-recorded versions of her hits seems like a logical step backward in order to move forwards. Released on the Iris imprint and produced by "Paphiopedillium" (a group effort comprised of Simon, her son Benjamin Taylor, Larry Ciancia, Peter Cato, and David Saw, the band of players on this set), Simon's on acoustic guitar with her voice right up front. The arrangements are considerably starker than their original versions (she doesn't have the same kind of recording budget as she did when she was with the major labels, but perhaps she would have chosen this manner of delivering these songs even if she had), and her voice is considerably lower, dictating that she transpose keys on many of these selections. That said, hearing songs such as "Boys in the Trees," with its faux-Brazilian rhythms and her ever-so-slightly more raspy delivery, is in some ways preferable to its original single version, simply because it is more believable. Others, however, don't fare so well. "You Belong to Me" has a lite-funk bassline and backbeat with the swirling piano; her voice is unable to fill a microphone the way it once could, and relies heavily on backing chorus vocals in a way that it never did before. The notorious "You're So Vain" sounds here like it comes more out of time and space, as if she is singing from the place of painful memory and reminiscence, than as a song that relates the importance of the learning experience it originally provided for her. It's more fragile, less militant, less angry, and is far lower in pitch than its original version was. The backing musical accompaniment lends the track a touch of immediacy, but it doesn't redeem the feeling of nostalgia in the vocal. "Anticipation" is so utterly tender and wispy, it feels like a brand new song -- and yes, that's a good thing. The melody is there, the arrangement is beautifully supportive, but the song is sung from the palace of wisdom in this version, and while it cannot replace the original, it becomes a beautiful addendum. The true melancholy and even darkness in "That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be" is utterly present in this version, which is all the mores striking given when it was written; this comes off as a song of surrender more than one of joy (which is what it's usually associated with). This kind of "redo-the-hits" project -- very common from veteran artists in the 21st century -- is almost always a mixed bag, and Never Been Gone is no exception. ---Thom Jurek, Rovi

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Carly Simon - No Secrets (1972)

2010-06-06T22:04:39Z

Carly Simon - No Secrets (1972)


01. The Right Thing To Do – 2:58
02. The Carter Family (Simon, Jacob Brackman) – 3:29
03. You're So Vain – 4:17
04. His Friends Are More Than Fond Of Robin – 3:00
05. We Have No Secrets – 3:55
06. Embrace Me, You Child – 4:07
07. Waited So Long – 4:27
08. It Was So Easy (Simon, Brackman) – 3:07
09. Night Owl (James Taylor) – 3:48
10. When You Close Your Eyes (Simon, Bill Mernit) – 3:05

Personnel:
- Carly Simon – acoustic guitar on 5, 6, 7, 8, piano on 1, 2, 3, 4, vocals, backing vocals on 1, 7
- Andy Newmark – drums on 1, 2, 6, 8, 10
- Jimmy Ryan – acoustic guitar on 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, bass on 1, 10, electric guitar on 3, 6, 7, 8, 9
- Klaus Voormann – bass on 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
+
- Ray Cooper – congas on 1, 9
- Jim Gordon – drums on 3, 5
- Nicky Hopkins – piano on 7, 9
- Jim Keltner – drums on 7, 9
- Paul Keough – acoustic guitar on 5, 8
- Vicki Brown, Liza Strike – backing vocals on 1
- Richard Perry – percussion on 3
- David Henshaw – ARP synthesizer on 4
- Peter Robinson – piano on 6
- Lowell George – slide guitar on 7
- Bill Payne – organ on 7
- James Taylor – backing vocals on 7
- Bonnie Bramlett, Linda McCartney, Paul McCartney, Doris Troy – backing vocals on 9
- Bobby Keys – tenor saxophone on 9
- Mick Jagger – backing vocals (uncredited) on 3

Carly Simon's best album, No Secrets was also her commercial breakthrough, topping the charts and going gold, along with its leadoff single, "You're So Vain." That song set the album's saucy tone, with its air of sexually frank autobiography ("You had me several years ago/When I was still quite naïve") and its reflections on the jet-set lifestyle. But Simon's honesty meant that her lyrical knife was double-edged; now that she felt she had found true love ("The Right Thing to Do," another Top Ten hit, was her celebration of her relationship with James Taylor), she was as willing to acknowledge her own mistakes and regrets as she was to point fingers. But it wasn't only Simon's forthrightness that made the album work; it was also Richard Perry's simple, elegant pop/rock production, which gave Simon's music a buoyancy it previously lacked. And Perry paid particular attention to Simon's vocals in a way that made her more engaging (or at least less grating) to listen to. ---William Ruhlmann, Rovi

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Carly Simon – Anthology 2002

2011-06-26T08:44:19Z

Carly Simon – Anthology 2002

CD1:

01. Carly Simon - That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be (4:17)
02. Carly Simon - One More Time (3:35)
03. Carly Simon - Anticipation (3:22)
04. Carly Simon - Legend In Your Own Time (3:45)
05. Carly Simon - Julie Through The Glass (3:25)
06. Carly Simon - You're So Vain (4:19)			play
07. Carly Simon - We Have No Secrets (3:58)
08. Carly Simon - The Right Thing To Do (2:59)
09. Carly Simon - Mockingbird (With James Taylor) (4:12)
10. Carly Simon - Haven't Got Time For The Pain (3:55)
11. Carly Simon - Older Sister (3:08)
12. Carly Simon - Waterfall (3:32)
13. Carly Simon - Attitude Dancing (3:56)
14. Carly Simon - In Times When My Head (3:30)
15. Carly Simon - Nobody Does It Better (3:44)
16. Carly Simon - You Belong To Me (3:53)
17. Carly Simon - Devoted To You (With James Taylor) (2:31)
18. Carly Simon - Boys In The Trees (3:15)
19. Carly Simon - Vengeance (4:13)
20. Carly Simon - Come Upstairs (4:20)
21. Carly Simon - Jesse (4:18)

CD2:

01. Carly Simon - Not A Day Goes By (2:43)
02. Carly Simon - Why (4:05)
03. Carly Simon - It Happens Everyday (2:47)
04. Carly Simon - Orpheus (3:53)
05. Carly Simon - Come Back Home (4:24)
06. Carly Simon - Coming Around Again (3:42)
07. Carly Simon - Give Me All Night (4:04)
08. Carly Simon - The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of (4:57)
09. Carly Simon - All I Want Is You (3:59)
10. Carly Simon - Let The River Run (3:42)
11. Carly Simon - My Romance (2:35)
12. Carly Simon - Better Not Tell Her (5:13)
13. Carly Simon - Love Of My Life (3:34)		play
14. Carly Simon - Like A River (4:47)
15. Carly Simon - Two Little Sisters (Theme From ''Marvin's Room'') (3:24)
16. Carly Simon - Film Noir (3:38)
17. Carly Simon - Scar (5:34)
18. Carly Simon - Actress (4:51)
19. Carly Simon - Touched By The Sun (Live At Grand Central, 1995) (5:38)

Personnel includes: 
Carly Simon (vocals, acoustic guitar, whistle, piano, electric piano, synthesizer, percussion, programming); 
James Taylor (vocals, acoustic guitar); 
Jimmy Ryan (acoustic guitar, electric bass); 
Mike Egan, Paul Keough (acoustic guitar); 
Eric Gale, Lee Ritenour, Robbie Robertson (electric guitar); 
Nile Rodgers (guitar); 
Jeff Baxter (steel guitar); 
Eric Bazilian (mandolin); 
David Sanborn (alto saxophone); 
Michael Brecker (tenor saxophone); 
Randy Brecker (trumpet); 
Michael MacDonald (electric piano); 
Dr. John (piano, organ); 
Richard Tee (electric piano, Clavinet); 
Robert Sabino (keyboards); 
Will Lee (bass, background vocals); 
Bernard Edwards, Doug Wimbish (bass); 
Steve Gadd (drums); 
Roberta Flack, Carole King (background vocals).

Inevitably described as leggy or toothy, Carly Simon emerged in the early '70s as a kind of finishing-school sex symbol. She's the daughter of publisher Richard Simon, as in Simon and Schuster, and her very personal early songs were informed with a familiarity and uneasiness with the trappings of wealth and prominence. The finely detailed "That's the Way I've Always Heard It Should Be" best captures the young Simon. At a time when her counterculture peers were singing about buildings going up in flames, 26-year-old Carly focused on the glow from her brooding father's cigarette as she slipped by his study. "That's the Way" was the first of a string of top-10 hits Simon produced through the '70s and into the '80s. Anthology includes the lot of them--from "Anticipation" through "You're So Vain" past "Let the River Run" (better known as the theme from Working Girl). Far surpassing the 10-song Elektra retrospective, The Best of Carly Simon, this two-disc, 40-song collection spans three decades in the career of an artist who clearly believes that confession is good for the soul. ---Steven Stolder

Carly Simon straddled the world between folk and pop music in the early 1970s and gradually emerged from the shadow of other folk titans to become a pop singer of verve and moment, earning herself a place in the pantheon of very successful singers like Joni Mitchell, Judy Collins, and a number of others like Carol King who were on the pop charts and in the folk clubs earlier in their career. This album is a wonderful summary of the best of her efforts throughout her career, including those early years. From her breakthrough hits like -That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be- and -Anticipation- to later smash singles like -Loving You Is the Right Thing To Do- and -You're So Vain- (rumored to be written about everyone from James Taylor to Mick Jagger, but more likely a joke aimed at actor Warren Beatty) is all here.

This collection successfully gathers the best of those early years in one place, and then adds to it those superb follow-on efforts with a second CD that reprises her second stage efforts with another collection of more adult-centered pop hits. Even though I usually prefer to sample an artist in context in their early albums, even I have to admit this is a great comprehensive overview of the collective efforts from Carly Simon. There are a lot of good songs here, like the terrific -Legend In Your Own Time- about then beau James Taylor, and the rocking -Mockingbird-, a duet done with Taylor.

Indeed, there are other interesting, provocative, and beautiful selections here, including my own personal favorite, -I Haven't Got Time For The Pain-. This is a great look at a fascinating artist who later made a terrific comeback album called -Coming Around Again-, with hits such as the title cut, as well as superb numbers like -The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of- to regain her audience and popularity, which she used to great advantage in the years since, with a number of hits included here from -Better Not Tell Her- to -All I Want Is You-, and from -It Happens Every Day- to -Like A River-. It is one of her best and most representative greatest hits albums yet, and it gives us an interesting vantage point with which to understand her better. This is a terrific greatest hits album by an artist who is often under-appreciated. This is one I heartily recommend. Enjoy! ---Barron Laycock

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Carly Simon – Spy (1979)

2012-02-09T09:39:46Z

Carly Simon – Spy (1979)


01. Vengeance – 4:12
02. Just Like You Do – 4:11
03. We're So Close – 5:08
04. Coming To Get You – 2:46		play
05. Never Been Gone (Simon/Jacob Brackman) – 3:34	play
06. Pure Sin (Frank Carillo/Simon) – 3:54
07. Love You By Heart (Simon/Libby Titus, Jacob Brackman) – 3:57
08. Spy (James Taylor, Simon, Arif Mardin) – 4:11
09. Memorial Day – 8:24

Personnel:
- Carly Simon - guitar, piano, lead vocals
- James Taylor - guitar, backing vocals
- John Hall, Frank Carillo, Joe Caro, David Spinozza - guitar
- Warren Bernhardt, Don Grolnick, Mike Mainieri, Richard Tee - keyboards
- Billy Mernit, Ian McLaughlin - piano
- Kenneth Bichel - synthesizer
- Cliff Carter - synthesizer, bass
- Will Lee, Tony Levin - bass
- Steve Gadd, Rick Marotta - drums
- Errol Crusher Bennett, Rafael Cruz - percussion
- Michael Brecker - tenor saxophone
- Hubert Laws - flute
- Tom Bones Malone - trombone
- David Sanborn, Peter Ballini - alto saxophone
- Lew Del Gatto - baritone saxophone
- Randy Brecker - trumpet
- Gail Boggs, Ullanda McCullough, Lucy Simon, Tim Curry - backing vocals
+ strings

Carly Simon was onto something, naming her album after Anais Nin's book of erotic fiction A Spy in the House of Love, and she used the concept to come up with songs about maintaining the passion in a long-term relationship. But she didn't follow through completely, devoting two songs (including the singles chart entry "Vengeance") to attempts to remake "You're So Vain" and returning to producer Arif Mardin and his New York jazz-pop session men for an inappropriately slick and overdone sound. (Whoever expected a Carly Simon album with a drum solo on it?) Commercial considerations, in other words, marred what could have been an interesting concept album which still, despite the compromises, contained several good songs. And, of course, the commercial considerations were misplaced -- the album became Simon's worst seller and prefaced her departure from Elektra Records. --- William Ruhlmann, allmusic.com

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