Letters Never Sent

Letters Never Sent is singer-songwriter Carly Simon's twentieth album, and eighteenth studio album, released in 1994.

Letters Never Sent
Studio album by
Carly Simon
ReleasedNovember 1, 1994
Recorded1994
StudioRight Track Recording, The Hit Factory, Edison Studios and Sound On Sound (New York, NY); Cadiloon Sound (Pawling, NY); Room With A View Studio (Hamburg, Germany).
GenreRock
Length52:07
LabelArista
ProducerFrank Filipetti and Carly Simon
Carly Simon chronology
Romulus Hunt: A Family Opera
(1993)		 Letters Never Sent
(1994)		 Clouds in My Coffee
(1995)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic link

Simon has stated the inspiration for the album came when she found an old box of letters that she'd written, but never mailed.[1] She wrote "Like A River" in honor of her mother, Andrea Simon, and "Touched By The Sun" for her dear friend, Jackie Onassis,[2] both of whom died from cancer in 1994.

The album features backing vocals by Marc Cohn and Simon's son Ben Taylor (who also appears as vocalist on "Time Works On All The Wild Young Men", the bridge song between the 4th and 6th tracks). Andreas Vollenweider plays the harp on the track "Davy".[3]

Promotion and Reception

Simon made music videos for the songs "Like A River" and "Touched By The Sun". She performed the latter on Late Show with David Letterman on two occasions.[4] Simon also embarked on a co-headlining tour with Hall & Oates in support of the album.[5]

Entertainment Weekly graded the album B+, and called it "funky, fascinating, and sumptuous" and concluded it as "A daring move that pays off".[6] AllMusic wrote that the album "represents a fresh start" and that "Simon has returned to passion as her main subject matter, confessing, "I can never be in love, I can only be in heat." She gives off that heat in many of the album's songs" and concluded "It's an unusually coquettish performance for a woman of 49, and practically weightless."[7]

Track listing

All songs written by Carly Simon, except where noted.

  1. "Intro" – 0:18
  2. "Letters Never Sent" (Simon, Jacob Brackman) – 4:45
  3. "Lost In Your Love" – 4:52
  4. "Like A River" – 6:03
  5. "Time Works On All The Wild Young Men" (Simon, Ben Taylor) – 0:44
  6. "Touched By The Sun" – 5:28
  7. "Davy" – 3:41
  8. "Halfway 'Round The World" – 4:33
  9. "What About A Holiday" – 0:32
  10. "The Reason" (Simon, Danny Kortchmar) – 5:29
  11. "Private" – 4:37
  12. "Catch It Like A Fever" – 0:23
  13. "Born To Break My Heart" – 5:00
  14. "I'd Rather It Was You" – 5:42

Live at Grand Central
Live at Grand Central (VHS)

Live at Grand Central is a 1995 concert Simon gave in the middle of New York City's Grand Central Terminal. The surprise concert was a prelude to her first concert tour in 14 years. Directed by English music video and film director Nigel Dick, the special aired on Lifetime Television, and shortly after was released on VHS and LaserDisc.[8] It has yet to be released on DVD. For this special, Simon was nominated for two CableACE Award's, winning one.

Track listing

CableACE Awards

Year Work Award Result
1995 Live at Grand Central Performance in a Music Special Nominated
"Touched by the Sun" Original Song Won

Personnel
  • Carly Simon – lead vocals, acoustic guitar (3, 6, 7, 11, 14), acoustic piano (4), electric piano (4), drum programming (4, 10, 13), keyboards (10, 13), strings (13)
  • Teese Gohl – string arrangements and conductor (2, 5-14), keyboards (2, 10, 14), synthesizer (3, 6, 8, 11), orchestral arrangements (4), acoustic piano (4), sailor (8), strings (13)
  • Mick Rossi – acoustic piano (3, 6, 11)
  • Carlos Alomar – electric guitar (2), guitar (13)
  • Jimmy Ryan – electric guitar (3), dobro (14), hammered dulcimer (14)
  • Ben Taylor – acoustic guitar (5), lead vocals (5), backing vocals (6, 8), sailor (8)
  • Peter Calo – acoustic guitar (6, 8, 11), guitar (13)
  • Dirk Ziff – lead guitar (6)
  • Dave Stewart – acoustic guitar (8), electric guitar (8)
  • Danny Kortchmar – acoustic guitar (10), electric guitar (10), slide guitar (10)
  • Doug Wimbish – bass (2, 13)
  • T-Bone Wolk – bass (3, 13)
  • Pino Palladino – bass (4, 6, 10)
  • Gregory Jones – bass (6, 11)
  • Sammy Merendino – drums (2, 14)
  • Andy Newmark – drums (3)
  • Robin Gould – drums (4)
  • Rick Marotta – drums (6, 11)
  • Walter Keiser – drums (7)
  • Paul Samwell-Smith – Grand Cassa bass drum (8), tambourine (8), sailor (8)
  • Steve Ferrone – drums (10)
  • Jimmy Bralower – additional drum programming (13)
  • Andy Snitzer – tenor sax solo (3), tenor saxophone (11)
  • Emile Charlap – string contractor (2, 4-14)
  • Arif Mardin – arrangements and conductor (3)
  • Joe Mardin – arrangements and conductor (3)
  • Gene Orloff – string contractor (3)
  • Jeffrey Halpern – orchestra conductor (4)
  • Andreas Vollenweider – electric harp (7), lead vocals (7)
  • Taj Mahal – harmonica (8), backing vocals (8)
  • Beth Miller – fiddle (8)
  • Jerry Barnes – backing vocals (2)
  • Katreese Barnes – backing vocals (2)
  • Curtis King – backing vocals (2)
  • Dexter Redding – backing vocals (3)
  • Otis Redding III – backing vocals (3)
  • Luretta Bybee – backing vocals (4)
  • Jeff Hariston – backing vocals (4)
  • Wendy Hill – backing vocals (4)
  • Marc Cohn – backing vocals (6)
  • Gregory Keller – sailor (8)
  • Julia Simon – backing vocals (10)
  • Sally Taylor – backing vocals (10)
  • Rosanne Cash – backing vocals (13)

Production
  • Producers – Carly Simon and Frank Filipetti (Tracks 1, 3-7 & 11-14); Teese Gohl (Track 2); Paul Samwell-Smith (Track 8); Danny Kortchmar (Track 10).
  • Production Coordination – Jill Dell'Abate
  • Engineered and Mixed by Frank Filipetti
  • Second Engineer – Jay Militscher
  • Assistant Engineers – Jim Caruana, Matt Curry, Carl Glanville, Al Theurer and Yvonne Yedibalian.
  • Additional Engineers – Gary Chester and Jay Militscher
  • Mastered by Ted Jensen at Sterling Sound (New York, NY).
  • Art Direction and Front Cover Collage – Carly Simon
  • Design – Jim Lebadd and Susan Mendola
  • Photography – Bob Gothard and Richard L. Simon
  • Hand Tinting – Amy Finkle
  • Collage Research – Tamera Weiss

Charts

Album - Billboard (North America)

Year Chart Position
1994 The Billboard 200 129[9]
gollark: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/ielx5/5/6021970/06021978.pdfSome actual reasonable arguments against nuclear power.
gollark: And if you fall into water, your phone will also break.
gollark: Then you would have other problems.
gollark: Perhaps we need some way to get people to not do that...
gollark: You could probably make a bootleg version with a cheap transparent screen (these must surely exist) and a small computer and battery attached to a hat or something.

References
  1. "Carly Simon Official Website - Letters Never Sent". Web.archive.org. Archived from the original on October 12, 2012. Retrieved 2014-06-16.
  2. ultimatejackie.blogspot.com. "Ultimate Jackie". Retrieved 4 May 2014.
  3. "Album review and info". AllMusic. Retrieved 26 July 2014.
  4. "Touched By The Sun on Late Night". YouTube. Retrieved March 31, 2017.
  5. "Carly Simon Comfortable On Tour With Hall And Oates". Hartford Courant. Retrieved June 15, 2014.
  6. Schwartz, Robin J. (November 11, 1994). "Album Review". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved August 9, 2014.
  7. Letters Never Sent. "Album review". AllMusic. Retrieved 31 Mar 2017.
  8. "Carly Simon: Live at Grand Central". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 4 May 2014.
  9. "Carly Simon - Chart history | Billboard". Billboard.com. Retrieved 2015-01-04.
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