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Never Been Gone

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Never Been Gone
Studio album by
Carly Simon
ReleasedOctober 27, 2009
Recorded1970,[1] Summer 2008–2009
GenrePop, adult contemporary
Length49:25
LabelIris
ProducerCarly Simon, Ben Taylor, Larry Ciancia, Peter Calo, David Saw, Ben Thomas
Carly Simon chronology
Carly Simon Collector's Edition
(2009) 		Never Been Gone
(2009) 		Original Album Series
(2011)
International version CD cover

Never Been Gone is the 23rd studio album by American singer-songwriter Carly Simon, 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.[2] The International version peaked at No. 45 on the United Kingdom's UK Albums Chart in 2010.[3] It was given away free with The Mail on Sunday newspaper on March 28, 2010.[4]

Background

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The album was conceived in the summer of 2008, during which time Simon was having problems promoting her previous album, This Kind of Love, which had been released through Starbucks' Hear Music label. Simon claimed that the company had failed to promote it properly.[5] 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.[1] The album was recorded at her home on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.

Reception

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Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic56/100[6]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[7]
Entertainment WeeklyB [8]
The Guardian[9]
Los Angeles Times[10]
PopMatters[11]

Never Been Gone received overall mixed reviews. Entertainment Weekly rated the album B and stated "Underproducing these performances mostly works wonderfully" and credited Simon's son and producer Ben Taylor.[8]

The Los Angeles Times 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" 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," 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."[10]

PopMatters 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" 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."[11]

Track listing

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Credits adapted from the album's liner notes.[12]

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."The Right Thing to Do"Carly Simon3:46
2."It Happens Everyday"Simon4:19
3."Never Been Gone"
2:55
4."Boys in The Trees"Simon4:26
5."Let the River Run"Simon3:16
6."You're So Vain"Simon5:09
7."You Belong to Me"
4:14
8."No Freedom"
  • Simon
  • David Saw
  • Ben Taylor
3:39
9."That's the Way I've Always Heard It Should Be"
  • Simon
  • Brackman
5:19
10."Coming Around Again"Simon4:53
11."Anticipation"Simon4:52
12."Songbird"Simon2:37
Total length:49:25

Notes

  • The original version and International version contain the same track listing.

Credits

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  • Elena Barere – Concertmaster, Violin
  • Margaret Bell – Vocals (Background)
  • Adrian Benjamin – Viola
  • Jacob Brackman – Composer, Lyricist
  • Peter Calo – Arranger, Bass (Acoustic), Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Baritone), Lap Steel Guitar, Vocals (Background)
  • Giulia Casalina – Vocals (Background)
  • Larry Ciancia – Arranger, Cajon, Djembe, Drums, engineer, Percussion
  • Stephanie Cummins – Celli
  • Chris Davies – Engineer
  • Jill Dell'Abate – String Contractor, Vocals (Background)
  • Frank Filipetti – Engineer, Mixing, Vocals (Background)
  • John Forté – Engineer, Guitar (Acoustic), producer, Programming, Vocals (Background)
  • Toni Glickman – Violin
  • Teese Gohl – Arranger, Conductor, Orchestration, Piano, String Arrangements, String Pads
  • Yana Goichman – Violin
  • Steven Jurgensmeyer – Artwork, Design
  • Dave Kreiger – Art Direction
  • Meghan La Roque – Personal Assistant
  • Derik Lee – Engineer
  • Anne Lehmann – Violin
  • Vince Lionti – Viola
  • Katherine Livolsi – Violin
  • Richard Locker – Celli
  • Bob Ludwig – Mastering
  • Nancy McAlhany – Violin
  • Eugene J. Moye – Celli
  • Paphiopedilium – Producer
  • Jimmy Parr – Guitar (Synthesizer), Engineer
  • Carlo Pennisi – Engineer
  • David Saw – Arranger, composer, Guitar (Acoustic), Vocals (Background)
  • Meredith Sheldon – Vocals (Background)
  • Carly Simon – Arranger, Bass, composer, Cover Photo, engineer, Guitar, Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Synthesizer), Instrumentation, Keyboard Programming, Layout Design, lyricist, Mixing, Piano, Vocals
  • Alyssa Smith – Viola
  • Ben Taylor – Arranger, composer, DJ, Drum Programming, engineer, Guitar (Acoustic), Loops, Piano, Vocals (Background)
  • Sally Taylor – Vocals (Background)
  • Ben Thomas – Bass, Drum Programming, Organ, Piano, Piano (Electric), producer, String Arrangements
  • Christopher Thomas – Bass

Charts

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Album – Billboard (United States)[13]

Year Chart Position
2009 Billboard 200 134
Folk Albums 11
Independent Albums 22

Album – International[3]

Year Country Chart Position
2010 United Kingdom UK Albums Chart 45

References

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  1. ^ a b Mitchell, Gail (October 23, 2009). "Carly Simon has "good time" revisiting old songs". Reuters. Archived from the original on April 22, 2023. Retrieved October 23, 2009.
  2. ^ Trust, Gary (November 5, 2009). "Michael Jackson's "This Is It"". Billboard. Archived from the original on April 24, 2023. Retrieved November 5, 2009.
  3. ^ a b "UK Charts > Carly Simon". Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on June 30, 2023. Retrieved January 4, 2014.
  4. ^ Sime, Ian (April 9, 2010). "Carly Simon, Never Been Gone (Warner) ***; Reba McEntire, 50 Greatest Hits (Humphead) ***". The Press. Archived from the original on April 22, 2023. Retrieved April 9, 2010.
  5. ^ Ragogna, Mike (March 18, 2010). "Never Been Gone: A Conversation with Carly Simon". Huffington Post. Archived from the original on April 27, 2023. Retrieved December 6, 2010.
  6. ^ "Never Been Gone by Carly Simon". Metacritic. Archived from the original on June 29, 2018. Retrieved October 3, 2016.
  7. ^ Jurek, Thom. "Never Been Gone". AllMusic. Archived from the original on October 21, 2022. Retrieved July 12, 2010.
  8. ^ a b Willman, Chris (October 23, 2009). "Never Been Gone". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on June 7, 2010. Retrieved August 21, 2014.
  9. ^ Costa, Maddy (February 23, 2010). "Carly Simon: Never Been Gone". The Guardian. Archived from the original on August 22, 2017. Retrieved August 21, 2014.
  10. ^ a b Lewis, Randy (February 23, 2010). "Album review: Carly Simon's 'Never Been Gone'". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on May 12, 2016. Retrieved August 21, 2014.
  11. ^ a b Leftridge, Steve (October 26, 2009). "Carly Simon: Never Been Gone". PopMatters. Archived from the original on November 4, 2012. Retrieved August 21, 2014.
  12. ^ Never Been Gone (booklet). Carly Simon. Iris. 2009.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  13. ^ "Carly Simon – Chart history". Billboard. Archived from the original on October 21, 2022. Retrieved December 27, 2014.
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