Search - Carly Simon :: Coming Around Again

Big Sister on Life and Love

J. Collins | 06/11/2000

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Carly's first album for Arista Records is a valiant effort that succeeded in putting her back on the charts, but has too much mediocre material to be an essential part of any Simon collection. This process of mixing hits and misses may work for most Pop artists, but with a writer/performer like Carly, it is a disappointment.The "losers" in this collection are easy to spot: "Do The Walls Come Down" is bad poetry set to big beats, "It Should Have Been Me" is a Bryan Adams original that he should have kept to himself, "You Have To Hurt" is cliche', and "Two Hot Girls" is lukewarm at best. The absolute worst arrives on her remake of "Hold On To What You've Got": Carly's spoken encouragements are un-intentionally hilarious, if not just painful to listen to.Balancing all these pallid excuses for Pop Music is a set of tight, tuneful performances that remind you why you can never count Carly out of the running. The title tune (echoed in "Itsy Bitsy Spider") tackles domestic disharmony without sounding preachy or pat. "Give Me All Night" is a blissfully direct song about satisfaction and self-assertion. "The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of" leans toward conventional romanticism, but it's unrelenting melodic hook will win you over any way. My personal favorite is Andy Goldmark's uptempo "All I Want Is You," a potent mix of lust and love featuring Roberta Flack in the airy vocal backdrop.Unlike some of Carly's earlier albums, the lyrical focus of a lot of these songs is on helping others to understand or adapt to life and love. In essence, Carly plays "big sister" to her listeners, offering hard-won insights in an effort to spare them similar heartaches. This is a commendable position to take, especially for an artist who has often titillated and/or intrigued her fans with songs that amounted to "kissing and telling.""Coming Around Again" isn't a watermark or instant classic, and could well be 'passed on' in favor of a compilation that includes it's best tracks. Those of you who enjoy hearing her original songs in context probably already own this CD; if not, it's worth checking out just for the unsettling interplay of hits and misses.-Mic"

The title song makes the CD worth buying

P. J. Golda | Luxembourg | 06/11/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"My review must be biased because I really love the title track, about love coming around again - the tune is hauntingly beautiful and sad, but with hope floating above it. The other excellent tracks off the album must be "Give Me All Night" and "All I Want Is You". I must agree with a previous reviewer that the rest of the tracks do seem to become less interesting after some time, and hence the four star rating. Nevertheless, the good tracks mentioned make this CD worthwhile, and I recommend it strongly.If you are new to Carly Simon, then this is as good a place to start as any I think. Expect soft-pop female vocal, with good production, but perhaps a bit too common and commercial-sounding in some areas."

Yummy

anoniemoose | East Coast, USA | 07/08/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"A delicious blend of Carly's amazing voice and rich imagery. From the hauntingly sad "Coming Around Again" to the sparkling "Two Hot Girls (On A Hot Summer Night)"..."like crystal and pennies...", this album is a beautiful lyrical and musical achievement. Carly glows! Includes the beautiful, classic "As Time Goes By" ~ joyous celebration of resilient love and time honored romance. Rich with emotional honesty about the complexities of vulnerability and hope as well as disappointment and hurt. Eloquently balanced. Highly, highly recommended."