Customer Reviews

Hotcakes

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This collection of music from 1974 is my personal Carly Simon favorite. Back in 74' I was blown away by Joni Mitchell's classic "Court and Spark" and although nothing during that year from a female artist would top that, this came out and was also classic stuff with a vocal and attitute to match the music. "Safe and Sound","Haven't got time for the pain", "Mind on my man", "Older Sister", "Misfit", "Forever my Love" this whole collection, though not a "rock and roll" album helped define the best pop rock of this era. Carly went on to make many more classic recordings but none as uniform as on this CD.

Carly Simon has recorded some exceptional work since this one, but "Hotcakes" remains her best. In a time when most contemporary artists base album sales on the strength of one or two "hits," Simon crafted a flawless work with nothing but winners.

"Mockingbird," featuring then-husband James Taylor, is a rockingly good gem. "Man on My Mind" and "Forever My Love" are beautifully performed. "Safe and Sound" and "Misfit" are pop enigmas, blending superb vocals with enchanting orchestrations. "Older Sister" is a reflection for anyone who is or has that particular sibling.

"Haven't Got Time for the Pain" is sincerely delivered by the singer/songwriter and the band outro...WONDROUS!

I have always loved Carly Simon and this is one of my favorites.
She recorded this album after her marriage to James Taylor and
during her pregnancy with daughter Sara (Sally). This album is
all about making that decision of what do you do after the success of a hit album "No Secrets" which produced the hit
"You're so Vain" Well you go into the studio and record another
smash which will sell like hotcakes. this album has "Mockingbird" on it which she sings with James Taylor. This
song is one of the best remakes ever done and Carly and James
were at their happiest. Other standouts-"Older Sisrer","Think
I'm Gonna Have A Baby" the great opener "Safe and Sound" oh
all the songs are great. One of my favorites is "Haven't Got
Time for the Pain" one of Carly's greatest songs. I think Carly
Simon's greatest CD is Boys In the Trees" but "hotcakes" is
like a friend the songs are so personal.

Length:: 2:43 Mins

Probably half the overage guys in the country have had a vicarious crush on Carly at some point in the last 35 years. She has had a lot of great albums, and this is one of the best. [The recent "Moonlight Serenade" shows her voice to be as good as ever]. This recording is a joy-filled journey back to the 70's, and has a great singer in her absolute prime.

The two BIG HITS here are "Mockingbird" and "Haven't Got Time For The Pain". For those of us now in the grandkid years, "Think I'm Gonna Have a Baby" will sure bring back some memories, most of them wonderful. I kind of liked "Older Sister", and I suppose the title cut was meant as a joke.

Carly has also had some fabulous album covers, but I think that this tops them. WOW! Sexiest album jacket I ever saw. Anywhere. The girl absolutely glows. Proof that sexy isn't the same as provocative; she's completely covered except for hands and face, but, again, WOW. How James Taylor could be fool enough to let her get away is beyond me. Just one overage guy's opinion....

I have been on a Carly kick for awhile now and decided I was going to go through her back catalog and snatch up all of her 70's CDs. Hotcakes, Carly's fourth album was recorded while she was pregnant with her first baby, the follow up to her highly successful No Secrets ("You're So Vain") album, this followed along those same lines though I have to say the songs are a tad more peppy and in a happier mode than her previous records. I'm sure this had something to do with the glow of her marriage and pregnancy. Opening with the hilarious yet poignant "Safe & Sound" Carly describes how the world is going crazy, Hong Kong's divorce rate is high, the Mexican touradors "have all gone gay, the Roman [...] have quit to seek a better way" and motorcycle gangs are driving around naked down Hollywood Boulevard but as long as Carly and her man can stick together through all the madness they'll be safe from all of it. "I Think I'm Having A Baby" is pretty straight forward and her chorus of "they're making too many phonograph records" leaves you wondering whether she's contemplating giving up her career for her family. In a clever little line she lets us know she "won't be naughty for the sake of naught/or different just to differ." The excellant "Grown Up" is typical Carly reflections remembering how she viewed the grown ups at her parent's cocktail parties and now she's one of those people, quite excellant in delivery and lyrical; "I've just gotten older/ I've just gotten taller" and the crazed little jazz fest that is the title track is something you wouldn't expect to hear. The lyrics are just insanity about making pancakes, which perhaps is a child's nursery rhyme I'm not familar with, no matter what the intent it's a little dose of fun. The two singles released "Haven't Got Time For The Pain" and the romping duet with husband James Taylor in "Mockingbird" are nice little additions that don't necessarily take away from the rest of the album. Next to 1975's Playing Possum, this is probably my favorite of the Carly Simon albums in my collection thus far.

What did the unique, individual artist Carly Simon come up with after taking the music world by storm with "No Secrets" and its HUGE hit "You're So Vain"? She was a newlywed (to James Taylor) and expecting their first child. It was, obviously, a very happy period for her and staying true to her own muse, she served us up the bright, sunny "Hotcakes".

There she is, dressed in white, sitting casually in a white room drenched in bright, white light, her bright white smile beaming at us over her protruding belly...

So it is with this paean to bucolic bliss that not a really cross word or sour note is uttered. We are treated to a warm, homespun collection of songs giving us a glimpse into Carly Simon's contentedly nested world at the time.

On "Hotcakes", she continues to write songs with meaning so deep: wry, tongue-in-cheek observations of life and love ("Safe And Sound", "Misfit"); admittances of sibling admiration and awe ("Older Sister"); and, of course, testimonials to love ("Just Not True", "Forever My Love" - one of the few things she ever composed with James). Her take on being a pregnant woman at the pinnacle of fame with a record company and public hungry for more in "Think I'm Gonna Have A Baby" is just great! When she sings, "There puttin' out too many phonograph records...", she's telling the music moguls not to treat her like a commodity. I just love that! Musically belying it's nursery-sounding title, it rips along until, by the end, you can't help but tap your toes and sing along on the "la-la's".

Speaking of the actual musical sound of "Hotcakes", I really like the way Carly continued to mix in her usual diversity: "Older Sister" has a really fun 50's do-wop sound going while "Grownup" has a lush, piano-driven art-song nature to it; and, of course, there's the fun, bouncy pop-rock hit "Mockingbird". An important note of serious whimsy is added with the minute-long title track.

Carly's singing here has the usual magic: I particularly love the chiding tenderness she employs in "Just Not True", the pitch-perfect eloquence of "Grownup", the vocal theatrics of "Forever My Love" and the jubilance of the closing proclamation (and big hit, too!), "Haven't Got Time For The Pain".

With "Hotcakes", Carly Simon continued her career by focusing her artistic ability towards showing a mature woman evolving within an important phase of her life. In the process, she did what she had done before and continued to do throughout her career - take her personal musings and project them in a way in which we all can relate.

It's a great album... I'm a big JT fan... and that's why I got into Carly..... it sticks with you... it's Jazzy.... it'll take you back.....

This album sparkles from the first to the last track! It's Carly Simon aaaaaaabsolutely at her best. *sigh* How I wish she would go back to her roots and make albums like this one.

I'm a major Carly fan. She and Linda Ronstadt have always had my heart and I could relate to them more than any other female artists of the 70's. I've listened to this recording religiously since I was 17 and I just love it! Although, always compared and overshadowed by Joni Mitchell, I've always thought Carly was much better and Mitchell extremely overrated.

I love the lyrics and the way she sings "Man On My Mind." Simply beautiful. "Safe and Sound" and "Gonna Have A Baby" are precious. The weakest cut on this recording, if there is one, is "Mockingbird." Of course, James is all over this one, but it's Carly's finest and happiest moment and you can hear it on the entire record. For once, a woman that can sing happily about "positive moments" in her life.

Highly recommended, I smile everytime I hear the tune "Hotcakes."