Customer Reviews

The Very Best of Carly Simon: Nobody Does it Better

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Since Carly's career didn't stop in 1975, Elektra's "The Best Of Carly Simon" has been less satisfying with each passing year. So this import, with the exception of its price tag, was a welcome sight. Warning: it drops "Attitude Dancing" (but so does the box set) and "Night Owl" from "Best Of", but it has all the Arista hits through 1995's "Angel From Montgomery". Also included is 1982's "Why", a hit in England and in dance clubs but ignored by U.S. radio. The only other big hit missing I can think of is 1980's "Jesse", which is available on one of Rhino's "Radio Daze" CDs. Sound quality is fine. The booklet has nice photos and publishing info but no liner notes. 19 tracks in all; almost all your Carly Simon needs on one compact, efficient disc.

Singer and songwriter Carly Simon magically walked the tightrope between what was commonly referred to as 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!

This single-disc CD contains 19 highly-worthy tracks from the inimitable Carly Simon.

From "Anticipation" to "The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of" to "You're So Vain" to "Coming Around Again", they're all here. It's a well-balanced selection of Carly hits, which also includes some of my other favorites: "Haven't Got Time For The Pain", "Give Me All Night", and "All I Want Is You".

This "Very Best Of" collection is worth every penny.

Carly has had long and distinguished career but this collection manages to include most of the essentials. Personally, I think Carly really deserves more than one CD and if Anthology (an American double CD containing all but one of the songs here and much else besides) had been available when I bought this, I would have bought that instead.

From my perspective, there were two peaks in Carly's career - her seventies hits and her late eighties album, Coming around again. Between them, they dominate this collection, although there are other great tracks here, most notably Why.

Carly began her successful period in the seventies via the American hits That's the way I've always heard it should be and Anticipation. Britain then discovered her music and subsequent hits charted in both the UK and USA, though Carly remained more popular in America. Her international hits from the seventies include You're so vain, The right thing to do, Mockingbird (a duet with James Taylor) and Nobody does it better (a James Bond theme). Carly's only big hit of the early eighties was Why, although she released some interesting albums during that time. In the late eighties came the album Coming around again, possibly her best ever. It is represented by four tracks - The stuff that dreams are made of, All I want is you, Give me all night and the title track. A few later tracks are also included, most notably the Oscar-winning Let the river run (from Working girl).

For many years (until the more recent Reflections compilation), this was easily the strongest single-CD collection of Carly's music but the import price is about the same as the double CD Anthology, so buy that or Reflections instead.

This is an updated review as although the original still holds, but there are is one and soon will be another that were not available when I bought this in late 2001, and I wanted to share the news with you guys as you have helped me for so many years.

This was the very first 1 CD release of Carly's work that had almost every song of hers that I wanted to hear. Even the 3 CD box set did not include her Arista hits and was a must for all fans when I originally bought it. I overlooked the import steep price as it was worth more than worth it. I finally got to hear "Let The River Run" from the soundtrack to "Working Girl" next to all my favorites.

At the time I said that I wished that more companies would cooperate with one another to produce greatest hits collections that reflect the career of artists who may have had more than one home during their career. If it's about money, they can split it on a hit by hit basis, and in the end more products will sell. Well, I guess that I was not the only one to see the advantages of putting together ALL of Carly's better known work as in 2002 Rhino release the magnificent 2 CD release titled "Anthology," which is even better than this one as it is obviously more comprehensive and BMG Heritage will be releasing a remastered 1 CD release in early May, 2004 so based on the play lists I would recommend these two domestic releases over this one, which still warrants 5 stars and was the first release to shoot for more than just a part of Carly's career.

Carly's so vain...she probably thinks this review's about her. And she's right, but not vain. Rather than go the Elektra-years compilation, I chose this import because it included the singles from both her that era and her later BMG years, plus included my favourite song by her and an Oscar winner for best song. But Carly Simon played an important role in the emergence of the soft rock and singer/songwriters following the radicalism of the 60's. In its place were songs of a more personal, vulnerable, and introspective nature, putting her in the same league as her husband from 72-83, James Taylor, Carole King, and Joni Mitchell. Here are highlights from the 19 songs here.

Her signature tune, "You're So Vain," from her third album, and the famed refrain, "you probably think this song is about you, don't you?" targeted either her earlier squeeze Warren Beatty or Mick Jagger, who sang backup vocals-I'm not sure what the jury's decided. Hardly surprising that a line from this song, "clouds in my coffee" was used as the title of her box set. Yet, a pleading sensitive song like "You Belong To Me" penned with Michael McDonald, with its "you don't have to prove your love to strangers" could be a less caustic way of preventing a sig. other from becoming an ex-sig. other.

The 70's was also a period of feminism, and its influence can be felt in the haunting and questioning piano and strings "That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be" from her self-titled Elektra debut. The deadlock and misery of "silent noons, tearful nights, angry dawns" in her friends' marriage caused her to question the effectiveness of marriage, an institution where one "moved in together, and raised a family of our own/you and me."

Speaking of marriage, the cover of Inez and Charlie Foxx's "Mockingbird" was a #5 duet with her husband James Taylor, and it's clear that he benefitted more, as his previous albums never went beyond gold.

"Anticipation" is another early classic hit, but it rankles me that it was used in a ketchup commercial. Thank goodness for plastic squeeze bottles!

Carly's film songs numbered quite a bit, and they include the string-arranged slow-dancing ballad from The Spy Who Loved Me, the Carole Bayer Sager/Marvin Hamlisch-penned "Nobody Does It Better." I'll bet 007 got an ego trip from hearing "you're the best" from her #2 hit. Her piano and synth-oriented song "Why" was used in Jonathan Kaufer's Soup For One and was a UK hit in 1982. It asks that question "Why does your love hurt so much?"

Two of her film songs were for Mike Nichols films. The first one is my favourite song by her, from Heartburn and the title track of her first Arista album, Coming Around Again. "I know nothing stays the same/but if you're willing to play the game/it's coming around again/so don't mind if i fall apart/there's no room in a broken heart." One of the producers was the person she found comfort in following her divorce from James Taylor, drummer Russ Kunkel. And the other songs from that album, such as "The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of" and "All I Want Is You" showed she had lost none of her touch, although songs like "Give Me All Night" showed 80's-stylings in her music.

Finally, the Oscar winner, "Let The River Run" from Working Girl, featuring rock guitar, gospelish choirs, religious references ("the new Jerusalem") and soaring vocals.

"Like A River" is a 1994 song showing that her talent hasn't exhausted. The aftermath of a mother's death and the fighting over the inheritance, a "metaphor for what's wrong with us," leads to her asking her mother what's she doing now, and being reminded of past memories, but most of all, she accepts that while their time together on Earth is over, there's always the afterlife.

A worthwhile retrospective to a woman who conveyed her inner spotlight into poetry, verse, and then song.

Like a prior reviewer said, the price is a bit steep, but boy is it ever worth it! Every hit (even a couple of lesser known or small hits)is on this disc, minus Attitude Dancing. Start out with the classic of all Classics by Carly, You're So Vain. Have some great stuff in between, like Why, Coming Around Again & You Belong to Me. Finish it off with the still powerful to this day Let the River Run. 80 minutes that will make you wonder why you didn't get this one before. Let me know what you think! :)

You'd have to be nuts to buy this CD.There asking 30 bucks for it at the record stores.For only ten more dollars you can get Carly's Box Set,with all her songs,and Jessie's not even in this Greatest Hits CD.

This long-overdue second single-disc compilation from Simon continues where her previous BEST OF left off over twenty years ago, including not only hits from her Elektra catalog but more recent offerings from her commerical uptick on Arista in the mid-to late-eighties. While the usual suspects are here('You're So Vain, 'Nobody Does It Better'), latter day classics that didn't get nearly the attention justified them are also present, particularly the moderately successful 'Coming Around Again' and the sterling 'The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of'(one of her best and most overlooked compositions). Highly recommended for Simon fans, as well as fans of the singer-songwriter style....

The CD is made in England and is very well planned and sounds great. I enjoy the CD Mostly because when I was younger I liked Carly Simon. That makes me Bias to begin with. However the Carly Simon box set sells for ... and it includes all of her songs. It's a better value for the money. You may want to consider this before buying. However if you do purchase this CD you'll enjoy the music. Very high quality. The CD itself is put out by Global, which is tied in with Warner so you can trust the quality of workmanship even though they're stamped out like cookies by the millions. I bought and love it and so will you..Regards Frank....