Comes in Waves, by Carly Simon
Music fans of a certain age were startled earlier this year when singer/songwriter Carley Simon, long absent from the public eye, disclosed that she had been living with Parkinson’s Disease. The one-two punch concluded shortly thereafter when the 83-year-old artist underwent cancer surgery on her face for basal cell carcinoma.
Nothing good can come from such diagnoses, but there still is a light burning brightly. On Aug.14, Simon released Comes in Waves, her first album of original music since 2008. Its songs, packed with empathy and delivered in maturing tonalities that speak to time and age, but not infirmities, deliver warmly rendered images and thoughts of one of the era’s finest and most articulate songwriters.
There also is wry turn to some of the songs typical of her past works. Is “Maybe I Never Loved You” a reflection on her marriage to fellow songsmith James Taylor? I am not the first to pose that question. Like her previous songs, notes from Simon’s life weave their way through the album’s 12 cuts., and listeners once again get a brief peek inside her heart and her mind. Expect “Howl,” the album’s first cut, to gain some significant airplay.
Recorded primarily at her home on Martha’s Vineyard and produced by longtime collaborator Frank Fillipetti, Simon taps into her personal song archive, creating 43:05 minutes of music that concurrently represent her musical life, her personal feelings, and the poetic heritage she leaves in her wake.
On the album she’s joined by son Ben Taylor and daughter Sally Taylor, the late rapper and record producer John Forte’ and Swiss New-Age harpist Andreas Vollenweider, whose notes in “Slowly” add an ethereal quality to the work. But the album is fully Carly, centering on her emotions and storytelling, yet drawing on the talents of those who can help her best tell and, in some cases, share her story.
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Comes in Waves has an intimate quality, like sitting by a warm fire and sharing stories about mutual friends, dreams that were, and many that never were. If this turns out to be Carly Simon’s final album, it’s a fitting and much appreciated parting gift, and one for which we all thank you.
Listen here:
