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28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Classic Torch at its Slit-Your-Wrists Best, February 24, 2004
At first glance Carly Simon would seem an unlikely talent for a collection of 20th Century pop classics--her unique vocals, that mix the quality of speech with music, would seem at odds with the strictness of the material. But instead of approaching the music with the full orchestrations of Bette Midler or Linda Ronstadt, she offers a stripped down interpretation, and the resulting music has the feel of a smoky, almost-empty nightclub, where the singer sits on a stool surrounded by a bare-bones band and sings not for you, but very powerfully for herself.1981's TORCH is an incredible recording. Opening with "Blue on Blue" and continuing through such classics as "I Got It Bad and That Ain't Good," "Body and Soul," and "Hurt," Simon demonstrates a range of emotion that transcends her more typical off-the-cuff sound, a combination of fire and ice that recalls the great jazz singers of the 1940s and 1950s but which somehow never sounds less than absolutely contemporary. This is classic torch at its slit-your-wrists best, a bonfire of dying emotions. It is impossible to select a favorite from the material Simon offers on this recording, but if I were pressed, I would likely pick the closing "Not a Day Goes By"--curiously, the only greatly then-contemporary piece in the collection, written by Broadway's Stephen Sondheim for the play MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG. Again, Simon and Sondheim are not a combination that you would think would work... but with this recording Simon makes it her own, and it is difficult to imagine any other singer who could best her. Strongly recommended. GFT, Amazon Reviewer
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35 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hot, hot, hot, April 5, 2000
Long before what's-her-name...Linda something...did that album with Nelson Riddle and everyone from Toni Tenille to Pia Zadora rushed out to make a standards album, Carly did it first and better. This is the second album in the Mike Mainieri trilogy, and a total departure for Carly. "Torch" was recorded after the break-up of her marriage to James Taylor, and every song is about unrequited love and longing. It is very intimate and personal, one of those rare works where the life of the artist fully merges with the art. Mainieri's arrangements are sparse, tight, elegant, and gorgeous, while Carly's interpretations of these classics are heartfelt and moving. Her original compositions ("Blue of Blue," "From the Heart" and "What Shall We Do with the Child") blend in seamlessly alongside the old warhorses "I Got It Bad and That Ain't Good," "Spring Is Here," and the album's triumph, "Body and Soul." "Pretty Strange" with its muted trumpet is also a knock-out as well as the Sondheim closer "Not a Day Goes By." It's all deliciously depressing, and very carthartic following a break-up. Carly's two subsequent standards albums ("My Romance" and "Film Noir") aren't in the same league, but "Torch" is among the best of her albums ("No Secrets," "Boys in the Trees," and "Hello Big Man.") Speaking of "Hello, Big Man," Carly's third Mainieri album is inexcusably out of print. Too bad.
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Feeling Blue??, Tread VERY Carefully!, July 14, 2005
Carly Simon released this tour de force as she was going through her public divorce with James Taylor. Needless to say things were not going her way at this time, and if you can not feel the pain in her soul from the recordings on this album, you have no emotion!
I remember first listening to this on vinyl back in the late 70's when it was first released, on a snowy night, alone at the then very deserted off season Jersey Shore. If I could get through a listen under those conditions, anyone can.
Her gut renching read of "Body and Soul", "I Got It Bad", "Hurt" and others give early Blueswomen (Lady Day, Ethel Waters and the like) a run for their money.
The mosy haunting track to me is "What Shall You Do", that song had me yearning to call child protective agencies.
This album is that haunting.
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