Rating:
Genre:
Rock
Release Date: 11/05/2002
For
Carly Simon fans looking for something a little more extensive than a single-disc greatest-hits collection, but not something so large and expensive as her
Clouds in My Coffee 1966-1996 box set,
Anthology is a good deal. The two CDs include 40 songs from 1971 to 2000, among them nearly two dozen chart hits (though some of the later ones only made the
adult contemporary charts). For the more cold-blooded fan who wants to zero in on her best and most popular work, there might well be more than she or he wants to hear, particularly on disc two, devoted entirely to post-1980 material, which reflects her move from tenuously
folk-rock-related
singer/songwriting to blander
adult contemporary music. For those who see her early work as her best,
The Best of Carly Simon remains about all you need; for those who appreciate her whole career, the lengthier single-disc anthology
The Very Best of Carly Simon: Nobody Does It Better will likewise suffice. There's not much in rarities on
Anthology either -- nothing from her pre-
Elektra recordings as part of
the Simon Sisters, and nothing previously unreleased, though 1995's
"Touched By the Sun" was only on the
Live at Grand Central video, and four tracks are taken not from
Simon albums but from film soundtracks (including, of course, her massive 1977 hit,
"Nobody Does It Better"). All of this might be too much carping. This does, after all, gather material from more than half a dozen labels, presented respectfully with a 40-page booklet, though the liner notes are much heavier on fawning affection than historical details.
~Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide