This Kind of Love (Dig)

Carly Simon - This Kind of Love (Dig)

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CD Details

Artist: Carly Simon
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2008-04-29
Music Label: Hear Music
Soundtracks:

This Kind of Love (4:56)
Hold Out Your Heart (3:27)
People Say A Lot (6:27)
Island (4:24)
How Can You Ever Fogert (2:41)
Hola Soleil (4:55)
In My Dreams (4:21)
When We're Together (4:18)
So Many People To Love (3:51)
They Just Want You To Be There (4:19)
The Last Samba (3:16)
Sangre Dolce (4:23)
Too Soon To Say Goodbye (3:42)

Music reviews of This Kind of Love (Dig)

Music Review: The Vineyard is not Ipanema
Rating: 4 Stars

Seven years or so after "The Bedroom tapes" were released, here is the long-awaited come back of the immense songwriter, overgifted singer and glamorous lady that Carly Simon is, with a new album of new material.

Simon has been charming our hearts and ears during more than three decades as one (if not the most) moving, brillant and talented singer-songwriter of her generation. Impeccable road, unforgettable hits (yes and again "You're So Vain" or "Let the River run"!) and records ("Anticipation", "No Secrets", "Hot Cakes", the extraordinary "Another Passenger"). Even in the 80's, where most or her colleagues sank, she came up with gems as "Hello Big Man", "Spy" or "Come Upstairs" (and regrettably with the disposable "Spoiled Girl", certainly her carrier's weakest opus). The 90's, as for some of her challengers in the domain of music, saw a renewal of Simon's creativity -at a slower pace though-, with a set of three outstanding albums : "Have You Seen Me Lately", "Letters Never Sent" and "The Bedroom Tapes". The three of them delivering superb oeuvres with songs as "Waiting At The Gate", "Don't Wrap It Up", 'Life is Eternal", "Like A River"", "Touched By The Sun", "Private", "Davy", "Scar", "Cross The River", "Whatever Became Of Her", "In Honor of You (George)", to quote only a few.

Therefore highly anticipated, "Some Kind of Love" is alas as much disappointing -at first listening anyway. Which "The Bedroom Tapes" were not, immediately strong, intoxicating and intriguing an album as it was.

BUT... in all fairness, one must also say that "This Kind of Love" does grow on you after a while -talented Carly will always remain talented Carly!-, and ends up being a lush, very pleasing and melodic album, which one indulges into playing more and more, finding new merits at each listening (yes, I swear that does happen, as unbelievable it might seem for the disappointed fans on Amazon who claimed they abandonned the record after giving it a few tries...) -Lush and charming, nothing more, nothing less. And I admit, this of course is not exactly the level of what one could expect from someone who wrote "Memorial Day", "We're So Close", "Libby" or "Darkness Til' Dawn"...

Most certainly the feeling of flatness that "This Kind of Love" leaves behind, is due to a misconception at its very early writing stage, if not in the idea itself of making it.
It seems that the problem comes with the proclaiming throughout the sleeve of how inspiring Brazilian music was to Simon, and how synchronicity beautifully worked when Jim Webb proposed to her to make a "Brazilian" album just at the time when she -funilly enough- was willing to make one. Well, sorry to say that it is way deceptive on the Brazilian angle, as a few exotic, soft and gentle guitar chords will never be enough to transform a Lady of Martha's Vineyard into a Girl from Ipanema.

Because even if trying one's best, one does fail to finding what could make this album more "Brazilian" than its predecessors.
When it does attempt being so, it unmistakably misses its target, particularly with "Hola Soleil" -not necessarily a bad tune, but its naive exoticism, repetitive refrain and predictable rhythmics make you wonder whether Carly Simon, Jacob Brackman, son Ben Taylor, Jimmy Webb and the rest of the people involved into the making of that album, ever listened to Jorge Ben or Gilberto Gil, notably because of an unwelcome as heavy use of strings, which prevents -between other things- this piece to sound Brazilian.
It also simply misses the point when it pretends to color up other tracks with Brazilian musicality, as for instance with "When We're Together", written by daughter Sally Taylor or "Island" written by Sally's brother Ben -both excellent gentle songs enlightened by grace, soul and charming melodies, but which definitely have nothing to do with Antonio Carlos Jobim, to whom Carly unwisely pays homage in the credits of her album.

And one wonders what the semi hip-hop/rap piece entitled "People Say a Lot" could either bear in terms of ressemblances with anything pretending to evoke Brazilian music. In the first place it has of course nothing to do with either Samba or Bossa Nova genres, by definition.
But worse, being the "hot" title that it is, it could be allusive to the most radical and electrical grooves of the Brazilian "hip" scene of today. Problem being that even to this category, it remains a perfect stranger (ever heard of Lenine? Just check).
So, like the vast majority of the other tracks on "This Kind of Love" (with the only exception of "The Last Samba", a gentle Bossa Nova-styled tune with soft guitar and arrangements worthy of some of the best of the genre), "People Say a Lot" is no Brazil but just plain Carly.
And a very interesting and energizing piece, plus ! Firstly because of its poisonous jagged-edged lyrics and its strong catchy harsh groove that show that Carly Simon is still very much of a tiger lady whenever she decides to forget about these Samba vapors that unfortunately she obviously failed to capture in this record; secondly, because it sacarstically pins down the dark side of the character which Melanie Griffith impersonated in Mike Nichols' "Working Girl" (for which Simon composed a fantastic score including the extraordinary "Let the River Run"), by making clear that Tess McGill's adorable stubborness for getting the right job can easily turn in real life into barracuda Eve Harrington's ugly delinquent manoeuverings.

So the main problem with "This Kind of Love" appears to raise through a wrong positioning, which creates immediate frustration to listeners who worship both Simon's music and Brazilian moods. On a Brazilian point of view it sounds tasteless, approximate, over-promising, and therefore quite deceptive. Sorry folks, pack up your swimsuit back in their drawers, there's nothing about Copacabana here -as elsewhere in this album, anyway.

This being said, according to a Carly-Simon-standard-album point of view, the album is a decent and polished collection of songs, sometimes unexpectedly shadowed by Carly's slightly laid-back vocals and more annoyingly by its lavish production (for which Frank Filipetti, Jimmy Web, Jimmy Parr, Frank Calo are credited) because sometimes too slick and silky, to the point of making the whole piece sound like some by Elaine Elias or Diana Krall (which in both latest's case would be a compliment if they were compared to Simon, but in Carly Simon's case is not because her original compositions deserve way more nerve and innovation than mainstream semi-jazz n' bossa nova classy ambiance).
Eventually "This Kind of Love" happens to be an album which is not Simon's best for sure (apart from two gems, "They Want You To Be There" and "Sangre Dolce", which range into some of her best work, and which, incidentally, she wrote alone -but for the rest of the record, it will probably not leave an indelible imprint as some of her previous records did).

May be she should have released a cover album of Brazilian standards -where I'm sure she would have excelled, as this is a category where she has proven to reach the top ("Torch", "Film Noir", "Into White")-, and on the other hand, she should perhaps have chosen to concentrate on -and to chisel more- her own compositions, as she demonstrates she still can with the two above quoted songs out of this album.

Conclusion: beyond sheer disappointment, there are still two good reasons to get "This Kind of Love". First, seven years seem to get by now before Carly Simon releases anything new, so let's not turn our nose up. This one is always good to take.
Secondly, if not exceptional, "This Kind Of Love" is a very charming album. And way above anything else by other older or younger fellow female musicians of today or yesterday. Indeed the worst by Carly Simon will always top the best of others. And admittedly "This Kind of Love" is very far from being the worst...

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Description of This Kind of Love (Dig)

Grammy Award-winner Carly Simon is one of the most respected vocalists and songwriters in music today. This Kind of Love ranks among her most personal albums, as well as one of her most stylistically diverse excursions, with songs ranging from gorgeous melodies to driving rhythms.

This Kind of Love ranks among Simon's most personal albums as well as one of her most stylistically diverse excursions with songs ranging from gorgeous melodies to driving rhythms. The CD is co-produced by Simon, Frank Filipetti and Jimmy Webb who also wrote or co-wrote most of the arrangements. Filipetti worked his talent as the engineer as well as producer. The three first teamed up for Film Noir, Simon's album of standards that Webb produced in 1997. On This Kind of Love, Simon delivers 10 of her own songs (some of which she co-wrote), including the gently swaying title love song, the funky castigation of conniving celebrity-identity thieves ("People Say A Lot"), the catchy "How Could You Ever Forget" (one of Simon's personal favorites), the r&b-vibed "So Many People," the lyrical gem, "Sangre Dolce," and a waltz-time homage to her close friend, the humor columnist Art Buchwald, who passed in January 2007 ("Too Soon to Say Goodbye").