''Never Been Gone'' is the 23rd and final studio album by American singer-songwriter
Carly Simon
Carly Elisabeth Simon (born June 25, 1943) is an American singer-songwriter, memoirist, and children's author. She rose to fame in the 1970s with a string of hit records; her 13 Top 40 U.S. hits include "Anticipation" (No. 13), " The Right Thin ...
, released by Iris Records, on October 27, 2009.
Featuring acoustic versions of many of Simon's past hits along with two new songs, "No Freedom" and "Songbird", the album peaked at No. 134 on the U.S.
''Billboard'' 200. The International version peaked at No. 45 on the United Kingdom's
UK Albums Chart
The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...
in 2010.
It was given away free with ''
The Mail on Sunday
''The Mail on Sunday'' is a British conservative newspaper, published in a tabloid format. It is the biggest-selling Sunday newspaper in the UK and was launched in 1982 by Lord Rothermere. Its sister paper, the '' Daily Mail'', was first pu ...
'' newspaper on March 28, 2010.
Background
The album was conceived in the summer of 2008, during which time Simon was having problems promoting her previous album, ''
This Kind of Love
''This Kind of Love'' is the 22nd studio album by American singer-songwriter Carly Simon, released by Hear Music, on April 29, 2008.
Simon's first album of original material since ''The Bedroom Tapes'' in 2000, it is also her most recent albu ...
'', which had been released through
Starbucks
Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational chain of coffeehouses and roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It is the world's largest coffeehouse chain.
As of November 2021, the company had 33,833 stores in 80 c ...
' Hear Music label. Simon claimed the company had failed to promote it properly.
Simon's son, Ben Taylor, convinced her to channel her energies into making a new album.
''Never Been Gone'' features new acoustic versions of many of Simon's hits spanning her career, plus two previously unreleased songs — "No Freedom", a new song written years before with her son, Ben Taylor, and singer-songwriter David Saw, and "Songbird", a demo written in 1970 and finished for this album.
The album was recorded at her home on
Martha's Vineyard
Martha's Vineyard, often simply called the Vineyard, is an island in the Northeastern United States, located south of Cape Cod in Dukes County, Massachusetts, known for being a popular, affluent summer colony. Martha's Vineyard includes the s ...
, Massachusetts.
Reception
''Never Been Gone'' received overall mixed reviews. ''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...
'' rated the album B+ and stated "Underproducing these performances mostly works wonderfully" and credited Simon's son and producer Ben Taylor.
The ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'' rated the album 3 out of 4 stars and stated "Artists who re-record touchstone songs from their catalogs take on the burden of coming up with something different enough to make that material newly relevant. Perhaps not surprisingly, Simon's tour through her nearly four-decade catalog succeeds best when she mixes things up the most," "The opening reading of "
The Right Thing to Do
"The Right Thing to Do" is a song written and performed by Carly Simon that first appeared on her 1972 album '' No Secrets''. The song was recorded at Trident Studios in London's Soho. It was released as the second single to the album, following ...
" is pleasant, but things pick up with the vintage R&B groove of "It Happens Everyday," then deepen with a sophisticated treatment of "Boys in the Trees", while "
You Belong to Me" is given a sultry Latin jazz arrangement, possibly an outgrowth of her Brazilian-tinged 2008 album ''
This Kind of Love
''This Kind of Love'' is the 22nd studio album by American singer-songwriter Carly Simon, released by Hear Music, on April 29, 2008.
Simon's first album of original material since ''The Bedroom Tapes'' in 2000, it is also her most recent albu ...
''," and concluded "What Simon does here is flip through the musical photo album and talk honestly about what place those old memories hold in her life now."
''
PopMatters
''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...
'' was less positive, rating the album 3 out of 10 stars and writing "Why would a legendary artist go back into the studio and re-cut her best-loved hits for a new release? What makes Carly Simon’s new project especially confusing is that no one thinks her classic singles need the least bit of tinkering with; those mellow-groove adult-contemporary folk-rock vibes are what made Simon a ‘70s superstar in the first place. A few tracks were singled out for praise, such as "
Anticipation
Anticipation is an emotion involving pleasure or anxiety in considering or awaiting an expected event. Anticipatory emotions include fear, anxiety, hope and trust. When the anticipated event fails to occur, it results in disappointment (if posit ...
" which they stated as "harkening back to a world before squeeze bottles; the song is given a softer, slower acoustic-guitar reading, which works better as it sounds fresh without being gimmicky," "The Right Thing to Do” and the terrific "
Coming Around Again" are fairly straightforward readings, but are certainly not improvements, leading back to the questions about the project’s overall purpose."
Track listing
Credits adapted from the album's
liner notes
Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes.
Origin
Liner notes are desce ...
.
Notes
*
The original version and International version contain the same track listing.
Credits
Charts
Album –
''Billboard'' (United States)
Album – International
References
External links
Carly Simon's Official Website''Never Been Gone'' Official web page
{{Authority control
Carly Simon albums
2009 albums