Carly Simon – The Bedroom Tapes

Carly Simon
Artist: Carly Simon
Title: The Bedroom Tapes
Label: Arista
Rating: 5/10

Carly Simon was the chic chick in the seventies, but since the dawn of the age of egotism and then later grunge, the songs that Simon sang lost their potency. After years of doing shabby pop covers, Simon is back with the personal and introspective The Bedroom Tapes.

“Our Affair” sounded very much like the Carly Simon I remembered from days long past, but “Big Dumb Guy” is quite the opposite. It’s full of tired cliches and observations that go over very poorly. Simon bounces back with “Scar”. The heartbreak is felt and held dear.

The album was originally to be called When Manhattan Was A Maiden because it revolves around her time spent living there. The overtones are all around, from “Cross The River” to “In Honour Of You (George)”, which is also a bow to Gershwin.

Then there is a track like “Actress”. I tried increasingly hard to enjoy it, but it felt like a knife in my side. The same goes for “We, Your Dearest Friends”. If this isn’t an Alanis rip off, I don’t know what is. I think Simon would have been better off to just cover Alanis rather than calling this an original, especially when it isn’t as good as the song she’s borrowed it from.

The Bedroom Tapes goes from enjoyable to painful to enjoyable. The album is up and down. While it pains me to say any negative words about such a legend as Carly Simon, this album is often tough to swallow.

+ rae gun


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