Never Been Gone

Entertainment Weekly - "Underproducing these performances mostly works wonderfully: 'You're So Vain' takes on new life..." -- Grade: B+

After the release of 2008's 'This Kind Of Love' Carly Simon took the advice of her son Ben Taylor - who also produces here - and re-entered the studio to re-record songs from her back catalogue. 'Never Been Gone' sees Simon strip back her originals to just vocals, guitar and minimal backing, breathing new life into such classics as 'Boys In The Trees', 'Let The River Run' and perhaps her most famous song 'You're So Vain'.|

After the 2008 commercial disaster that was Carly Simon's This Kind of Love, issued on the now-defunct Starbucks' Hear Music imprint, this collection of rearranged and re-recorded versions of her hits seems like a logical step backward in order to move forwards. Released on the Iris imprint and produced by "Paphiopedillium" (a group effort comprised of Simon, her son Benjamin Taylor, Larry Ciancia, Peter Cato, and David Saw, the band of players on this set), Simon's on acoustic guitar with her voice right up front. The arrangements are considerably starker than their original versions (she doesn't have the same kind of recording budget as she did when she was with the major labels, but perhaps she would have chosen this manner of delivering these songs even if she had), and her voice is considerably lower, dictating that she transpose keys on many of these selections. That said, hearing songs such as"Boys in the Trees," with its faux-Brazilian rhythms and her ever-so-slightly more raspy delivery is, in some ways, preferable to its original single version, simply because it is more believable. Also included are a lightly funky "You Belong to Me," with its rubbery bassline and accented backing chorus. The notorious "You're So Vain" sounds here like it comes out of time and space; as if she is singing the song from the place of painful memory and reminiscence, rather than as a song that relates the importance of the learning experience it originally provided for her. It's more fragile, less militant, less angry, and is far lower in pitch than its original version. "Anticipation" is so utterly tender and wispy, it feels like a brand new song -- and yes, that's a good thing. The melody is there, the arrangement is beautifully supportive, but the song is sung from the palace of wisdom here; and while it cannot replace the original, it does become a righteous addendum to it. The melancholy and darkness in "That's the Way I've Always Heard It Should Be" is utterly present in this version, which is all the mores striking given when it was written; it comes off as a song of surrender. This kind of "redo-the-hits" project is very common from veteran artists in the 21st century. ~ Thom Jurek