Getting high on Carly Simon

If you are one of those now enjoying the pleasures proffered by Rod Stewart in his new Great American Songbook collection, you might as well complete the treat by also buying Moonlight Serenade by Carly Simon. There are plenty of similarities between them. Both started their careers in the late ’60s and went on to well-deserved fame. They are two of the most daring among their peers and are never afraid to take on new challenges. Best of all, both are excellent vocalists who can turn the simplest of poems into the most moving songs.

Carly Simon is the girl singer who recorded hits like That’s the Way I Always Thought It Should Be, Anticipation, The Right Thing to Do, Haven’t Got Time for the Pain, Attitude Dancing, You Belong to Me, Jesse, and Nobody Does It Better. She was once married to James Taylor and they had a hit with Mockingbird. Long before Rod Stewart envisioned he would be recording an album of standards one after another, Carly already had her own series of aching torch songs.

There are several reasons why Carly is one of my favorites. There is her gorgeous alto, so unlike others, so full-bodied and expressive. There is her number one selling song You’re So Vain. Pop music lore says she composed the song for Warren Beatty. Other accounts say it was for Mick Jagger who even sings back-up. But no matter for whom she wrote the song, You’re So Vain broke accepted norms for female artists 30 years ago. Carly didn’t sing of unrequited love. Instead, she took a man to task about his vanity, something men then refused to admit to.

The best reason I listen to a lot of Carly though is that she recorded Torch, which to me is the ultimate heartbreak album. It was a remarkable production because it was the first instance when a pop/rock artist recorded the standards. Carly did I’ll be Around, Spring is Here, I Get Along without You Very Well, Hurt, I Got It Bad and That Ain’t Good and Body and Soul. These were mixed with her originals, Blue of Blue and From the Heart. There was a cover of a Stephen Sonheim song Not a Day Goes By.

Carly’s unique mix of rock and pop sensibilities, the careless elegance in her singing, the pared-down bar-room arrangements and the fact that she was going through a difficult divorce from Taylor at the time spawned one fantastic album that remains her best.

The success of Torch started the series. A few years later, Carly recorded the just as sweet and heartbreaking Film Noir which has songs like Every Time We Say Goodbye, Laura, I’m a Fool to Want You, Last Night When We were Young and a duet with John Travolta in Two Sleepy People. This was followed by the lighter-tinged My Romance which has Bewitched, Time After Time, My Funny Valentine, Something Wonderful, Little Girl Blue, In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning plus others.

As you can see, Carly has been doing the standard stuff for years now. The albums were just never promoted as a series. I always looked forward to the arrival of each one though and these did come out over the years, interspersed with a pop set or two. Not one of them disappoints. Of course, Moonlight Serenade is no Torch. That one will be hard to equal. But it has beautiful old songs and has Carly’s unerring vocal delivery that is such a joy to listen to.

The Glen Miller classic Moonlight Serenade leads the pack made up of I’ve Got You Under My Skin, I Only Have Eyes for You, Moonglow, Alone Together, In the Still of the Night, The More I See You, Where Or When, My One and Only Love, All the Things You Are, How Long Has This Been Going On, My Foolish Heart. Because it is almost Christmas, Let It Snow fittingly brings it to a close.

Top ten albums in the US

Here are the top 10 albums of the week in the US as per Billboards Top 200 albums list: The Road and the Radio by Kenny Chesney; Get Rich or Die Tryin’ the motion picture soundtrack featuring 50 Cent; Now 20 by Various Artists; 12 Songs by Neil Diamond who is back in a big way for the geriatric revolution in the pop charts; All the Right Reasons by Nickelback; Monkey Business by The Black Eyed Peas; Flo’ Ology by Floetry; All That I Am by Santana; No. 1’s by Destiny’s Child and Breakaway by Kelly Clarkson.

The top 10 singles of the Hot 100 are Run It! by Chris Brown; Gold Digger by Kanye West featuring Jamie Foxx; My Humps by The Black Eyed Peas; Soul Survivor by Young Jeezy featuring Akon; Photograph by Nickelback; We Be Burnin’ by Sean Paul; Laffy Taffy by D4L; Because of You by Kelly Clarkson; Stickwitu by The Pussy Cat Dolls and I’m Sprung by T-Pain.