On her first album with original songs in nearly 20 years, is still working on some old demons and still determined to outlast them.
鈥淢aybe I never loved you / But anyway, I thought I did / I married you, we had a kid,鈥� she sings in a ballad you could imagine Simon addressing to her ex-husband, . 鈥淎nd maybe you never loved me / Although God knows you said you did.鈥�
Simon announced last month that she had been while recording 鈥淐omes in Waves,鈥� and that she also had surgery to remove a cancerous skin growth. But this album feels less like an ending than a continuation of themes and events that have inspired and defined her from early in her career 鈥� yearning, discontent, desire, uncertainty, her marriage to Taylor and the loss of her father, the publisher Richard Simon, who died when Carly was in her teens.
鈥淗owl鈥� is the album’s lead track, first single and table setter 鈥� a midtempo rocker addressed to a heartbroken friend (or to herself?) whom Simon urges to 鈥淕et it out of your system / Bang your fists and beat your brow.鈥�
The other songs unfold as if to dramatize the album’s title, as Simon’s mood shifts from defiance to regret to melancholy to resolve and a willingness to try again, a cycle cushioned (to a fault) by the literal-minded production and arrangements of David Spencer, Frank Filipetti and son Ben Taylor among others.
鈥淐omes in Waves鈥� includes a remaster of Simon’s decades-old political song 鈥淪hare the End,鈥� and elsewhere echoes moments from her previous records. 鈥淢aybe I Never Loved You,鈥� inspired by the late playwright Tim Mayer, feels like Simon’s version of 鈥淚 Get Along Without You Very Well (Except Sometimes),鈥� the Hoagy Carmichael standard she covered on her 1981 鈥淭orch鈥� album. 鈥淭he Father-Daughter Dance鈥� suggests the pain of a ballad about her father from the early 1970s, 鈥淓mbrace Me, You Child.鈥�
Simon also teases courtship (鈥淧eaches鈥�); celebrates parenthood (鈥淢other of Pearl,鈥� a tribute to daughter and 鈥渃hild of divorce鈥� Sally Taylor); and savors life’s 鈥渨ild ride鈥� (鈥淟ove the Way I Do鈥�).
The catchiest song is by a departed friend, the late Judy Belushi, widow of comedian : 鈥淔our in the Morning鈥� has a close-up, tiptoeing pace fitting for lyrics about an unhappy wife who slips away from her snoring husband.
Simon, who turned 83 this year, doesn’t hit all the notes of her best known but she has lost none of her gifts for taking hold of a melody, and putting her whole self into the words. Her musical journey has always been personal, and longtime Simon fans are the most likely to enjoy catching up with her. Others may feel like they had to be there.
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鈥淐omes in Waves,鈥� by Carly Simon
Three stars out of five
On repeat: 鈥淟ove the Way I Do,鈥� 鈥淔our in the Morning鈥�
Skip it: 鈥淪hare the End鈥�
For fans of: Carly Simon, most of all, and of pop torch singers in general.
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