mixed bag

Let me first warn you that I am a huge Carly fan, so I am a bit biased. This is a strange album, a blend of the clasic haunting Caly love songs of regret like "we're so close", perhaps one of her most heartfelt songs on any album, a few rocky numbers perhaps made with an eye on the charts , like "vengeance", with Tim Curry of "Rocky Horror" fame and the truly bizarre almost experimental "memorial day"...hey, whoever told Carly that her fans would like a drum solo??????. Like I said, a mixed bag. Carly fans will get a lot out of it, newcomers to Ms Simon
should start with the sublime achievement that is the album "Boys in the Trees"

The End Of An Era

I brought this album shortly after I saw
Carly perform "Vengeance" and "We're So Close"
on the Midnight Special when I was 12. It was
my first contemporary rock album i bought and I wore it
out, invented harmonies to sing along with her
to every track I could. Definitely an exciting
time for my musical developing ear. Before this
Streisand was my only musical muse. This album opened me
to an idea I still have to this day. Good music
is universally able to transcend boundaries of race,
class, and age. Looking back at her catalog "Memorial
Day" is still an epic of mystery to me-a road Carly
went down artistically that she arguably hasn't been
to since.

What are fans waiting for???

Back in 1979 SPY presented me with a problem. As a fan you always want MORE......more songs......more typical Carly Simon songs. And then suddenly Carly presents you here with some differenet material too.That`s not a bad thing to do. In fact, I respect that very much, it means the artist is not afraid, especially not of selling figures.But back in 1979 it did not work for me. I was 18 and I did not like a song like MEMORIAL DAY. It just was not what a young fan (like me then) was waiting for. Time went by and time gave me a chance to listen to the eight other songs on the SPY album, which I disregarded when I was young. And they are songs of great quality. And meanwhile "we`re so close" is considered as one the best songs Carly has ever written.......SO here`s an album which can present you with MAYBE some problems, and CERTAINLY with some of the best of Carly. This makes SPY one of the most interesting albums by Carly Simon. You should have your own opinion regarding this album, so then, go........., listen.......