If I know you (and I believe we have at least a passing familiarity, having seen each other around town that summer the cicadas seemed to have forgotten everything they are accused of knowing), you are wondering whether you can consolidate your six or seven Carly CDs into the new Reflections: Carly Simon's Greatest Hits.
Almost. Carly is arguably the finest of the Phoni Mitchells, and the top nine here, from "That's The Way I've Always Heard It should Be" through "You Belong To Me" make a slow, languourous offer that's pretty hard to refuse.
After that, the disc promises nothing and delivers, which is itself informative about how thin the Joniesque movement was; I should run the numbers, but suspect the Next Bob Dylans included five artists with at least ten fine songs, especially if you include Bruce Springsteen and Ani DiFranco.
This collection is wise enough to include "Nobody Does It Better" on the front end; it is, indeed, one of the three best Bond sndtrk songs ever (with -- I'm sorry Ms. Bassey -- "For Your Eyes Only" and "Live And Let Die"). What breaks the disc's heart is the absence of "Boys In The Trees," a failure about which one can only throw up one's hands (and it's not a label issue; songs from that record appear here). So, in short, after you've downloaded a quality mp3 of "Boys," you can trot down to the store and trade in your Carly Simon discs to your heart's content.
While you're acquiring said file online (not against the law: sharing is controlled, downloading is free, man, in Paris), pick yourself up Tori Amos's live version, which ranks among her very best soft rock covers, matched only by "For Emily, Wherever I May Find Her."
Posted by jane at April 21, 2004 01:21 PM | TrackBack