The daughter of Richard Simon, co-founder of the Simon and Schuster publishing company, Carly got her start in music singing in coffee houses with her sister Lucy in the early 60s. After an unsuccessful attempt to launch a solo career, Carly burst onto the music scene in 1971 with her first Top 10 hit “That’s The Way I’ve Always Heard It Should Be,” which won her the Best New Artist Grammy Award and set the stage for an enormously successful career. After her second hit, “Anticipation,” Carly roared to the top of the charts with her album NO SECRETS, and its #1 hit “You’re So Vain.” Newly married to James Taylor, Carly piled up a series of bestselling albums, including PLAYING POSSUM (1975), which featured controversial cover art of a scantily-clad Carly, although there had always been a sort of subtle sexuality on many of her album covers before (and after); however, none were as blatant as this particular one. Her career marched on, and in 1977, Carly performed her first movie-theme, “Nobody Does It Better,” from THE SPY WHO LOVED ME, and it became an international smash. Her sales high continued with 1978’s “You Belong To Me” and the album BOYS IN THE TREES, but after the release of her hit “Jesse” in 1980, Carly’s career started to wane. Although she released a series of interesting albums in the ’80s, none of them were commercial successes. After her divorce from James Taylor, she also retired from performing live. But then in 1987, Carly wrote the theme for HEARTBURN - “Coming Around Again” - and her career was revitalized. The song was a big hit and the album of the same name was a best-seller and charted for well over a year. By that point, she was a legend and was then able to release albums at a more relaxed pace, which allowed her to be more adventurous in her writing and creativity. Since then, all of her work has been very well received, most notable “Let The River Run,” which she wrote for WORKING GIRL and won her her first Oscar. Carly’s album THE BEDROOM TAPES (2000) reflected her personal trials more overtly than any of her other albums up to that point, particularly a case of writer’s block as well as her breast cancer ordeal and the accompanying depression she experienced due to chemotherapy. Nevertheless, Carly is now healthy and content and remains a notable presence in the media and music industry, including her cameo on Janet Jackson’s “Son of a Gun,” as well as the televised tribute to Beach Boy Brian Wilson.

It was with a small degree of trepidation that I inserted NEVER BEEN GONE into my CD player; how would one of my favourite singer/songwriters sound some forty years after I first heard her, and how would some of her classic pop anthems sound in an acoustic environment? Opener, ‘The Right Thing To Do’, really had me worried. Carly sounded off-key, and aged, not in a good way. However, the song sounded better than I thought it would played acoustically, and the backing vocals from Ben Taylor and David Saw do add some magic (although the ‘Hallelujays’ added at the end of the song sounded really weird). By track two, ‘It Happens Every Day’,  Carly sounded great, at ease and even laughed at the beginning of the track - a nice touch. ‘Never Been Gone’ is interpreted in light country-pop style with a strong piano backdrop and multi-layered vocals that work well in bringing this song into the new decade.

Orchestral strings and guitar strums introduce ‘Boys In The Trees’, which is given a relatively dark treatment overall, and sounds pretty good. ‘Let The Riverrun’ mixes acoustic and orchestra in an interpretation that works surprisingly well, for a song that was something of a belting anthem when originally released. Carly has, however, not buried it in simple acoustics and retained some of its oomph. She performs the same trick on ‘You’re So Vain’ and included excellent backing vocals that add depth and drama. So this version works, and Carly vocal is one of the best in this collection. There are two ‘new’ tracks here in ‘No Freedom’ and ‘Songbird, the former a quite funky vibe that is very different, while the latter is a reflective and quite beautiful ballad with orchestral backing - a gentle highlight of the album.

Another highight arrives with this new acoustic version of one of the lady’s greatest hits, ‘Coming Around Again.’ It’s a tad darker and here sounds more reflective and more emotional. Love it! The arguments will rage over what songs should or should not have been included here, and whether the album should have been recorded in the first place. I have no such criticisms, only gratitude that it’s worked so well and serves as a happy and more intimate reminder of songs that I love, but have not heard for a while.

4/5

http://www.carlysimon.com/music/albums/Albums.html